However terrifying it might be sounding, but the last festival of Sicilian wines took place almost a year ago. Almost a year without Sicily! Horrible! You must have had enough time to forget of such grape as Nero d’Avola… Ok, we are here to remind, as well as to introduce you to the new varieties too. For this we will resort to the help of one of the most dynamic wineries of Sicily, and perhaps of the whole Italy – Calatrasi.

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This Tuesday (September 5th) we will start a new mini-wine-festival. A very nice bottle of Chianti Classico Riserva from the very nice vintage of 1999, Coltassala carries both classical and modern traits. On the one hand, the wine is made from traditional Tuscan grapes Sangiovese and Mammolo, on the other, it spends 18 months in Allier barriques. In fact, since the first vintage of 1982 and until 1998 Coltassala was qualified as Super-Tuscan and only then the owners of Volpaia village Giovannella Stianti and her husband Carlo Mascheroni have decided to bring the wine into a noble family of Chianti Classico.

Now, it would be rather pleasant experience to provide some hints regarding the portrait of the Castello di Volpaia’s wine. Here is what you should be able to discover in your glass: the refined bouquet combined with the graceful structure and smooth texture. And we are keen on leaving you tete-a-tete with Coltassala so that the joy of deciphering all the particular fruits and spices of the wine will be all yours.

If you happen to be in Kiev despite the holiday season, you may want to entertain yourself with the new mini-wine-festival. Starting this Wednesday (August 15th) we’ll be serving by the glass a very serious Chardonnay from Abruzzo made by Gianni Masciarelli and named after his wife Marina Cvetic. The wine spends more than a year in French oak thus all the ripe, fat, exotic-fruits-and-vanilla-driven warm character. BUT!!! Just add to this roasted hazelnuts, juniper, butter, buckwheat honey and medlar!.. If you feel like interested, osteria Pantagruel will be at your service for the wonderful tasting.

By the way, soon the Chardonnay will be replaced by another monster from Masciarelli. Follow our announcements, get subscribed to our mailing list!

“So, Sardinia… The island-paradise amidst the Mediterranean Sea. As for the wine-making, it was practiced in Sardinia as far back as before Christ, and up to now proud and independent Sards have been producing wine of unique varieties of grapes, not hurrying to join “the international river” of Cabernet, Merlot and Chardonnay…

The present, the third in the row festival of Sardinian wines is dedicated to co-operative Santadi.

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First of all, a very rare wine called Studio di Bianco from the Friulean producer Borgo del Tiglio just arrived to Kiev. Only 60 bottles of an experimental blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling and Tocai Friulano. Starting this Wednesday we will serve a limited number of these precious bottles by the glass! Just a few days of an unprecedented trial!

Secondly, we are glad to announce two highlights of the current special menu: Squash flowers stuffed with ricotta cheese and Risotto with chanterelle. Both are not to be missed as the window of opportunity is rather narrow…

We will show three Pinot Grigio. The one from Russiz Superiore will please you with exclusive harmony of fruits and acidity. This year’s Gambero Rosso guide named the enologist of Villa Russiz Mr. Gianni Menotti the best wine-maker of Italy; his Pinot Grigio is interesting, apart from fruit aromas, due to aroma of white bread toasts and to a fragile and very comfortable sweetness (don’t worry, the wine is dry, of course). And, at last, Ronco del Gelso (cru Sot Lis Rivis) that underwent fermentation in new oak barrels, which imparted it an additional weight and significance.

Our two Barbera come from the wineries called Sottimano and La Spinetta. Both are mighty, massive, meaningful and immense. Both have actively communicated with French oak. Both will be getting better and better with time. But who will wait when they already give us an ocean of impressions?

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What was Baron Ricasoli regaled with? The tasting menu was as follows: langoustine carpaccio; pappardelle with cuttlefish and its ink; ravioli with nettle; tagliatelle with bone marrow and black truffles. Then came the time for desserts. What wine was served? Chardonnay Torricella, Super-Tuscan Casalferro and Chianti Classico Castello di Brolio. The desserts were accompanied by Passito di Pantelleria from Donnafugata.

Sergei Gusovsky  

Do you happen to know where Apulia is? You won’t even need a map to get the tip, certainly you remember that Italy resembles greatly a jackboot. So, Puglia is the heel of this jackboot. South. Very deep South of Italy. Very southern people and very southern wines. Tasty, juicy names of the local grapes: Negroamaro, Bombino, Palumbo, Aleatico… And the wines themselves are quite juicy, dense, thick. Especially red wines. As for me personally, they rather quickly convert me to their views – southern, lazy… And making myself comfortable, I settle back in the chair…and never mind the cold summer. In the South I am. Ah, those Puglian wines, they shut softly my eyelids and hand me over carefully to the arms of Morpheus…

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Well, only Lupicaia was not in stock back then … The conversation took place last year, and I just got a good reason to recollect it. I think you’ve already guessed: the Pantagruel’s collection has been supplemented with two more ‘aia’ – the very Lupicaia (harvest of 2001) and its nearest kin Tassinaia (1999). Both super-Tuscan wines are produced by winery Castello del Terriccio. Repeatedly mentioned on our web-site oenologist Carlo Ferrini and the owner of Castello del Terriccio, a horse-breeder named Gian Annibale Rossi di Medelana Serrafini Ferri (for friends – just Pucci) have came up with a nice Bordeaux blend (90% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot) for Lupicaia. And for Tassinaia the composition of grapes stands for 40% Sangiovese and 30% of each of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Rather expensive wines (especially, in case of Lupicaia), but who would dare to say they are not an ultimate definition of a real super-Tuscans!

Hurray! Here comes the summer and a new season of wine festivals comes along! And a famous producer from Umbria – Lungarotti – is opening the season. The winery was founded in 1962, and today it may be worthily considered among classical ones.

During the festival we will serve five wines from Lungarotti by the glass, including one of the most famous reds of Italy - Rubesco Riserva, Vigna Monticchio, vintage 2000.

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During the course of this French expansion we tried to analyse “the unconscious”, which brought a revelation: we were driven by desire to create a group of sophisticated cognacs while avoiding all those pompous Richards, Louis etc. And we are happy to name the recent founds of osteria Pantagruel: Chateau de Beaulon (Tres Vielle, 1976) and two XO cognacs from   Tesseron, - Tradition, Lot 76 and Exception, Lot 29. By the way, the last one is composed of spirits produced in the 20s and 30s of the last century. That is a marvelous creation indeed! Unfortunately, 25 grams will set you back for 135 Hryvnas, but try to imagine the cost of the same type of cognac from those gurus of marketing and fans of Baccarat…

Just one more thing: besides nice cognacs there is also a fine armagnac from Marcel Trepout that you might decide to enjoy. The vintage of 1975. 

Sergei Gusovsky  

You won’t believe it, but during the whole week we are going to serve three Brunello by the glass! Three producers that we chose for the festival represent both old-school of wine-making (Biondi Santi, Costanti) and moderately modern one (Argiano). There is no mistake in the previous phrase – yes, we will serve Brunello from Biondi Santi by the glass. Obviously that type of extravagance can not be possibly sustained for more than a week. Need to know what Brunello is? It’s a dry red wine from Tuscany.

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Our first wine festival of 2006 is dedicated to one of classical wines of Italy, namely, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. Copious history, particular locality and climate, indigenous grapes… what else needed to be high in wine ratings? Right you are – there should be personalities: smart owners, gifted oenologists… And we’ve got some… And so, the festival shows: 4 producers, 8 wines (five of which of Riserva calibre) and 4 vintages (1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002).

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The final wine festival of the 2005 season!
Pre-historical vineyards from the Naples’ vicinity!
Famous Falernum and Caecubum wines!
Incredible pasta!

Our new wine festival is dedicated to the famous Tuscan producer - Fattoria di Felsina. Here is the list of wines that will be served by the glass: white - I Sistri (100% Chardonnay); reds – two Chiantis (Classico and Classico Riserva Rancia) and two super-Tuscans: Fontalloro (100% Sangiovese) and Maestro Raro (100% Cabernet Sauvignon).

The new festival is a good occasion to meet:

•  two white wines of Franz Haas: Pinot Bianco (feels like a more concentrated version of Pinot Grigio) and Manna (an incredible blend of Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Gewurztraminer);
• three reds from Montevertine, including two vintages (2000, 2001) of famous Le Pergole Torte;
• another child of Franz Haas: beautiful and unique dessert wine from Moscato Rosa.

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Believe it or not, but after just a week of rest we will be starting a new wine festival. This time it is dedicated to a new star of the Sicily. An incredible rise of popularity of the Cusumano winery can easily be explained by their dedication to the quality of wine combined with modest pricing. In the recent edition of respected Gambero Rosso wine guide not less then four Cusumano’s wines went into final tasting and two of them received a coveted “three glasses” award. All four wines will served by the glass during the festival.

I wonder if there are Italian wine connoisseurs who never heard of Vintage Tunina. I also doubt if the wine’s father (Silvio Jermann) would mind when osteria Pantagruel will be serving such an acclaimed beauty by the glass. Yes, the whole week of Vintage Tunina (joined by Pinot Grigio and Capo Martino) by the glass!