Our exclusive wine-tasting dinner with Giuseppe Pariani, export director of the Frescobaldi Estate in Italy, was a huge success.
We held the event to introduce enthusiasts and customers to wines from the estate, which we recently added to our wine list. This followed David’s visit to the Frescobaldi cellars earlier this year, when he was impressed with the wines he tried there.
It was great to be able to return the warm welcome David had received in Italy and invite Giuseppe to Harrogate and to William & Victoria. And he certainly seemed to like what we had to offer: When he first entered the wine bar, he said: “This place has soul!”
We welcomed 15 guests to our wine-tasting dinner. They sampled five courses as well as canapés, which were prepared by our chefs using a range of Yorkshire produce. Each course was paired with a Frescobaldi wine. Giuseppe told everyone all about the history of the estate, how the grapes are grown and how the wine is made using processes based on hundreds of years of experience.
The canapés were served with the Alie Rose, followed by a pairing of the salmon and asparagus terrine with the Vermentino Maremma.
The main course was a choice between Holme Farm Venison Wellington or A Trio of Nidderdale Lamb, paired with the Nipozzano Chianti Ru na Reserva DOCG.
Finally, the Yorkshire Cheeseboard was accompanied by the Lamaione Toscana IGT, an outstanding, robust, 100% merlot with a fully developed structure, which would work equally well with rich red meat dishes such as slow cooked rib of beef, steaks or venison. Leather and tobacco aromas lead to rich, opulent and inviting flavours of black fruit and spice, which opens up into an amazing concentration of layered unctuous bliss.
This Lamaione Toscana is a particular favourite of David’s. He was blown away by it when he tried it in on his trip to the Frescobaldi Estate earlier this year. Often the Frescobaldi wines are made with the Sangiovese grape, and merlot is used to blend. But this is an unusual and unique wine because it is 100% merlot; a deep, dark purple colour which you could pick out in a line up, with a rich and intense flavour and a long finish. A definite stand out wine!
All these wines are now on the list at William & Victoria, so why not pop in and try them for yourself?
Dinner was finished with a sparkling wine, a Frescobaldi Brut, which was exclusive to the event because it is not on our wine list (although we do have some great alternatives!).
All our guests thoroughly enjoyed the evening. One of them sent us a lovely email afterwards, saying: “I hope you can pass on our thanks to the team for such a fantastic evening where the food, wine and service were superb. Would you be able to send me the details of the wines we tasted as we thought they were amazing - especially the red merlot!”
If you like the sound of this event, you might like to know that we’re planning another wine-tasting dinner later this year, focusing on French wine. Our special guest will be Gerard Bertrand, a former professional rugby player for the French national team who is now an award-winning wine maker in the Languedoc-Roussillon region.
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