| 19.07.2005 The visit of Bruno Rocca |
 Today chef Costantino Passalacqua
was happily taking care of signore Bruno Rocca that had
a dinner at osteria Pantagruel. Among other dishes marvelous risotto with
chanterelles was served, and ii was great to hear a lively conversation between
the Italians regarding the proper Italian word for the chanterelles. Bruno Rocca
contended that in Piedmont they are called galinacci and chef Passalacqua didn’t
argue about it, confirming that in his native Liguria they are called the
same.
Anyway, it is not the galinacci
that we would like to talk about (still, Bruno remained delighted with the
risotto). Our subject is obviously Barbaresco, - one of the most important
Italian wines. The wine list of osteria contains two creations of Bruno Rocca:
Barbaresco Rabaja (which was called monumental by Gambero
Rosso) and Barbaresco Coparossa, both of the 1999 vintage.
Connoisseurs remember an unbelievable row of excellent vintages (from 1995
through 2001) that nature granted Piedmont with. Many hands suffered from
enthusiastic applauding to the famous 1997, and then 1999 came... We were lucky
to save some money and bought a few Magnums of Rabaja and definitely would not
rush selling them. Of course, if decanted and accompanied by the right food the
wine can be enjoyed even today, but patience and deliberation will be rewarded.
Even if we all think that Bruno Rocca’s Barbarescos are of the modern style, who
would doubt their serious aging potential? By the way, to my direct question
whether he considers himself a modernist, Bruno answered negatively. Out of
various names mentioned in the course of our conversation the name of Paolo
Scavino definitely called for his most lively reaction. That is wonderful,
indeed! Taste his Scavino’s Barolo Bric del Fiasc
and you will see what I am talking about.
When discussing the terroirs of
Barbaresco zone, signore Rocca characterized Neive vineyards as producing the
most structured and powerful wine; those of Treiso, in his opinion, are
responsible for the most perfumed Barbaresco. As far as the very Barbaresco
village is concerned, its terroir is the “Golden Section”. Seems like the right
time to say that the Rabaja vineyard is located exactly there and occupies the
most preferred position. Bruno Rocca, in his turn, owns its precious upper part.
Well, a true creme de la creme…
At the end of the dinner the
conversation turned to winemakers who contrive to produce both Barolo and
Barbaresco (out of the most venerable, Bruno Giacosa and Ceretto cross my mind
straight away). I could not help asking Bruno whether it is in his plans to
purchase a vineyard in one of the communes of Barolo zone. The answer was a
puzzled shrug that could easily be interpreted as “Perche?” And why, indeed? It
is quite enough to produce one wine. The Barbaresco!
Sergei Gusovsky |
 |
|
| 01.07.2005 Festival of Campania wines from Feudi di San Gregorio (1 – 8 July) |
The new festival is dedicated to one of the most fashionable wine producer of Italy, namely, Feudi di San Gregorio. The reasons for this "fashionableness" are quite clear. Magnificent wines produced both from ancient grapes and ubiquitous modern traveler called Merlot...
Read more about Feudi di San Gregorio at the site of Wine Club Pantagruel, Kyiv, Ukraine. |
|
| 30.05.2005 The visit of Giuseppe Mazzocolin |
 Today osteria Pantagruel was honored to serve dinner to Mr. Giuseppe Mazzocolin of Fattoria di Felsina. It is several years that we have happily worked with such a wonderful wines as I Sistri (100% Chardonnay), Chianti Classico Riserva Rancia and outstanding super-Tuscans: Fontalloro (100% Sangiovese) and Maestro Raro (100% Cabernet Sauvignon). Vineyards of Felsina are located in the south of Chianti Classico, not far from the Castelnuovo Berardenga that is in the environs of Sienna.
The undisputable distinctive feature of Felsina’s wines is their refinement and elegance. Those ubiquitous “rich and juicy fruit” wines were never the target of joint team of Giuseppe Mazzocolin and famous enologist Franco Bernabei. Balance, demonstration of the “tipicita” of both the grapes and the territory – these are the ideals that Fattoria di Felsina has been keeping bound to for many years. It is that precious word “finesse” that reflects the style of Felsina most exactly. There are only few wines capable of showing Sangiovese’s natural complexity combined with astounding potential the way Fontalloro does. If you are lucky enough to find a bottle that is ten years old, cast aside cares of the day and start a gripping dialogue with an incredible vis-a-vis who is undoubtedly entitled to represent the essence of Tuscan winemaking… Sergei Gusovsky |
|
| 27.05.2005 Festival of Alto Adige wines from San Michele Appiano (27 May – 3 June) |
After a tedious pause caused both by joyful events (The Lent) and by the wish to guard the precious wines from possible careless consumption during Eurovision, we are happy to continue our acquaintance with the world of Italian wines. This time the festival is dedicated to the northern province of Alto Adige...
Read more about Alto Adige wine festival at the site of Wine Club Pantagruel, Kyiv, Ukraine. |
|
| 26.05.2005 The visit of Salvatore Ferragamo |
 Today the osteria was honored by the visit of the grandchild of the great “shoemaker” Salvatore Ferragamo. Strange as it is, the grandchild also has the name of Salvatore. Unlike his famous grandfather, Salvatore Junior entirely dedicated himself to winemaking and management of the Borro village (in the close vicinity of Arezzo) that has been owned (!!!) by his family since the early 90ies. The village was reorganized into a comfortable apartment complex. Accordingly, Salvatore Ferragamo may be rightfully considered to be its mayor. As usual, we were mostly interested in wines. The choice consists of three Super Toscana wines: Il Borro (50% Merlot, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon, 105 Syrah + Petit Verdot), Pian di Nova (75% Syrah, 25% Sangiovese) and Polissena (100% Sangiovese). It is essential to mention the cooperation of Il Borro winery with the enologist Nicolo D’Afflitto. The same very person is also in charge of the wines of such renowned producers as Frescobaldi and Casa Emma. Speaking of the tasting itself, it went really fine and it is not improbable that the wine list of osteria Pantagruel will soon feature Salvatore Ferragamo’s wines. |
|
| 08.04.2005 Poli |
It is a great pleasure to announce that from now on you could try four magnificent grappas made by famous Poli distillery: Grappa di Bassano, Grappa Moscato, Grappa Poli Barrique 1991 and Grappa di Sassicaia.
More details about Grappa of Poli distillery here... |
|
| 30.03.2005 Eurovision Song Contest 2005 |
| Which role in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005, Kiev, Ukraine may be assigned to an Italian restaurant in Kiev? Osteria Pantagruel, for instance, from May 11th through 22nd will be offering special discounts for all journalists accredited for the Eurovision 2005, Ukraine. Generally speaking, we sincerely hope that besides songs, Klitschko brothers, Dynamo Kiev, Ruslana, Ukrainian women and Ukrainian cuisine (borsht, chicken kiev, varenyky, etc.) the guests of Eurovision 2005 Contest in Kiev will also take interest in such eternal values as Italian wines and homemade pasta. |
|
| 16.02.2005 Festival of Sardinia wines from Sella&Mosca (18-25 February) |
Back in 1899 two wealthy Piedmontese families (one was called Sella and another – Mosca) purchased a big plot of marshy land in the Northern Sardinia. They originally aimed at building a vine nursery, as Italy had just barely survived the attack of phylloxera. Since 1961, the household has been managed by Mario Consorte, who is also honoured to be the President of Association of Italian Oenologists. Namely, this man is solely responsible for the very unfashionable confession of Sella&Mosca to the high-training system of the vine formation known as pergola.
More information about Sardinia wine festival click here. |
|
| 11.02.2005 The visit of Alois Kracher |
 Today (February 11th, 2005) we were honored to serve lunch for the famous Austrian winemaker Mr. Alois Kracher. Hopefully, his wines will be available in the market of Ukraine before too long. |
|
| 25.01.2005 Festival of Lazio and Umbria wines from Falesco at osteria Pantagruel (28 January – 4 February) |
The New Year's celebrations are over and the inauguration of the new president of Ukraine has come about. Now it’s high time to experience the joys of the lesser scale, namely to check Italian wines from the provinces of Lazio and Umbria, produced by the Falesco company.
For more information on Festival of Lazio and Umbria wines click here. |
|
| 18.01.2005 Our new phone numbers are 278-8142, 279-7301 |
| Please note that our phones 228-8142, 229-7301 has been replaced with 278-8142, 279-7301. |
|
| 09.12.2004 Wine Festival: whites of Friuli (from Borgo del Tiglio and Venica&Venica) and reds of Basilicata Paternoster |
Again a national team will enter a wine festival of osteria Pantagruel. For the second time on the row Friuli supplies whites: an elegant Tocai Friulano and refined Malvasia Istriana produced by intelligent Nicola Manferrari (Borgo del Tiglio winery) will join young and teasing Pinot Bianco and overwhelmingly powerful Sauvignon Blanc of Venica brothers (Venica&Venica winery). Reds of Basilicata will be a logical continuation of the recently held wine festival of Campania. These south provinces are neighbors and each of them places high value on their version of the ancient grape sort of Aglianico. Basilicata stands for Aglianico del Vulture that grows primarily on volcanic soil. Paternoster family owns a part of slopes of mount Vulture and only 3 hectares of old vineyard bear fruit for the rare and unique Don Anselmo. Such wines are NEVER served by the glasses but you have a whole week of unprecedented tasting.
For more information on Wine Festival: whites of Friuli click here. |
|
| 26.10.2004 Wine Festival of Friuli whites from Lis Neris and Tuscan reds from Le Pupille |
The theme of the coming festival might be interpreted as a “National Team of Italian Wines”. The stereotypes that sometimes come up to life imply the following statement: white wines come from Friuli and the red ones come from Toscana. Such team is bound to have reservists, but only red wines are impressive – Piemont and the South. As for the main participants both Lis Neris and Fattoria Le Pupille could rightfully claim prize ranks among the world team (interestingly, are there people on the earth that could head it?)
More about this Italian wine festival at Wine club site. |
|
| 07.10.2004 Festival of Campania Wines from Mastroberardino |
Well, who could blame those willing to extend the summer and its warm evenings, light clothes and smooth movements... May be, with the festival of Italian southern wines we will somehow deceive ourselves, You, time...
More about this Italian wine festival at Wine club site. |
|
| 08.09.2004 Festival of Trentino wines from Foradori and San Leonardo. |
If letter “B” is not going to be everything that you know about wine industry in Italy (Barolo, Barbaresco, Brunello), then you should make a lucky acquaintance with letter “T” generating both the obvious (Toscana) and the mysterious (Trentino, Teroldego). It is the province of Trentino, to be more precise – the wines produced there, that osteria Pantagruel is going to feature during forthcoming festival. A true Shangri-La of Italian North, Trentino has an air of attraction in summer (vacation at the lake Garda or climbing in Dolomite Alps) and in winter (skiing resorts, i.e. Madonna di Campiglio). The microclimate of the riverbed of the Adige and various soil of its banks granted the winemakers freedom to dedicate themselves to whites or reds as well as to local or international grapes. Five wines of renowned producers Foradori and San Leonardo will be shown at the festival, one of the wines being represented by a four vintages vertical. And finally, here are few fragments of Italian-English lexicon of the special menu: lamb sopressata, tagliatelle with langoustini, tajarin with sogliola, ossobuco with porcini. May the rest be an enigma, a solution to which might turn to be a joy for the connoisseurs.
More about Trentino wine festival here... |
|
| 11.08.2004 Festival of Tuscan wines from Querciabella |
From August 13 throughout August 20 a festival of Toscana wines of the outstanding producer Querciabella will be held at the osteria Pantagruel. Querciabella is characterized by the impeccable quality of its wines. The amazing white super-Tuscan Batar will leave indifferent neither the fancier of New World’s Chardonnays nor the apologist of great whits of Burgundy. A magical proportion combining 2/3 of Chardonnay and 1/3 of Pinot Bianco is discovered in this mysterious wine. In the opinion of Gambero Rosso it is the best white wine of Toscana. As for the three reds, the Chianti Classico is nicely balanced by two super- Tuscan ones: Palafreno and Camartina, the latter being represented by two vintages (including canonical one of 1997). All the above wines will be available by the glasses. The osteria’s chef Costantino Passalacqua has been preparing an astounding special menu that alongside refined seabass and tuna tartars will feature Tuscan tomato soup pappa al pomodoro, steamed dorada fillet, rabbit risotto, lamb brains ‘al cartoccio’, a half-kilo T-bone steak and certainly fine home-made pasta!
More details on Querciabella wine festival here. |
|
| 23.07.2004 Wine festival of Di Majo Norante |
And, at last! For the first time, the serious winemaker from the South of Italy will be demonstrated in Kiev in all its glory. So far excursus went to Tuscany, Umbria, Sicily and Sardinia. "And where is the rising star of prehistoric Aglianico grape?" - you may ask. "Where is the remarkable white wine Greco di Tufo?" So, delight of the rich Southern wines of the Molise province begins this week. Di Majo family closely cooperates with the leading Italian enologist Riccardo Cotarella, who is often called "favorite wine-maker of Robert Parker". Cotarella's style differs in richness; its irreproachable ripeness won't leave you indifferent. Say, what could be better than meditate lazily once upon a warm summer evening about what dark berries and ripe fruits dominate in Di Majo's top wine called Don Luigi? Better can be only giving up (again, lazily) to your companion's opinion: "well, I'd rather suggest a faint notes of jams, spices and black chocolate!"
And finally, a short quote from the special menu of osteria's Chef Costantino Passalaqua: warm terrine of haricots and prosciutto cotto, tagliatelle with duck and new green peas sauce, trofie pasta with red pesto sauce, risotto with Gorgonzola gratinated with Grana Padano.
More details on Di Majo Norante wines festival here. |
|
| 02.07.2004 Festival of Sicilian wines from Tasca d'Almerita |
Tasca d'Almerita was an absolute leader of the movement, which changed the viniculture in Sicily in mid-90s of the XX century. Count Giuseppe Tasca was a pioneer in working with Nero d’Avola and Inzolia grapes and in the 60s Regaleali Rosso and Bianco debuted as exemplary dry, fruity wines. In 70s Tasca d’Almerita started experimenting with French barriques and planted Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay. The latter have nowadays acquired the status of classical wines. Another extremely successful wines were Nozze d’Oro and Rosso del Conte. The former was conceived in 1985 by Count Tasca to honor the golden anniversary of his wedding with Baroness Franca Cammarata. This elegant wine was made of autochthonous Inzolia grape and a unique sort of Tasca (the name sounds familiar, doesn’t it?) As for Rosso del Conte the minor partner of Nero d’Avola here is another strong character - Perricone. Interestingly, the wines achieve affinage not in 225-liter barriques that nowadays wouldn’t surprise anybody in Italy, but in 350-liter caratti – their influence upon wine is much more delicate.
Chef Costantino Passalaqua will show his ideas of Sicilian cuisine which, he insists, heavily influenced cucina of his native Liguria. Quotes from the special menu: fennel garten with Grana Padano; pappardelle with lamb ragout; orecchiette with kohlrabi and squids; risotto with citrus fruits; tuna steak; veal fillets with chanterelle.
More details on Tasca d’Almerita wines festival here. |
|
| 10.06.2004 Festival of Super-Tuscan wines from Tua Rita |
One of the most important and respected wine territories of the world is the Italian province of Toscana. Many are familiar with Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano... Strong competitors of these classical wines are Super-Tuscan wines. Gourmets and connoisseurs are certainly familiar with such masterpieces as Tignanello, Sassicaia, Ornellaia and Solaia. Still, it is a small part of the unique and irresistibly attractive range of Super-Tuscans. This makes it even more pleasant to announce the wine festival of the famous producer Tua Rita, where five wines will be presented including the beloved wines of Robert Parker: Redigaffi and Giusto di Notri (he rated them from 95 to 100 points)!
As always, during the festival you could taste a number of wines by the glass, supporting them by the dishes of special menu from the osteria’s chef Costantino Passalacqua. A quote from the menu: sea-bass carpaccio, risotto with veal kidneys, ravioli with ricotta and nettle, veal liver with sage and rosemary.
More on Tua Rita wines festival here. |
|
| 21.05.2004 The new 2004 season of wine festivals starts with renowned Piedmont wines: Gavi of La Scolca and Barolo of Paolo Scavino. |
The first wine festival of the 2004 season will be presenting two groups of great Piedmontese wines from two great producers: famous Gavi from La Scolca and a noble Barolo (comfortably called "king of wines and wine of kings") from Paolo Scavino. Quite a number of wines will be served by the glass.
Osteria’s Chef Costantino Passalacqua comes up with a magnificent special menu, including such indulging entries like: Carpaccio from langoustini, tortino di crespelle with octopus velutee, speck-wrapped duck breast with fois gras sauce.
Need we say more? Read at Wine Club site. |
| |
 1 2 3 4 5 |
