LA visit Part 2 of 2: Dinner at Drago Centro w/ 64` Vallana and 64` Marchesi, 27` Graham and 27` Rebello Valente Ports

LA visit- part 2 of 2

We recently traveled to LA to visit some dear friends for a 2 night stay and had such a fantastic time. It was centered around a shared passion for all things food and wine and heart felt fellowship.

Our lady host is a former professional caterer and she prides herself on creating special, one of a kind dishes which occurred throughout our stay especially on our first night when we dined in {see Part 1}.

Our host guy is a now retired CEO of a large wine distributorship and has a world class wine cellar and graciously shares many of his prized treasures, sometimes in the form of special invitation events.

For our 2nd night, we dined on the outside patio of Drago Centro, an authentic Italian-Sicilian restaurant in downtown LA. Our friends are well known to the establishment and often dine there as it is one of the few quality restaurants opened in the downtown area.

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I was delighted to discover that one of my favorite people on the planet, Piero Selvaggio. is the managing partner and as such and typical, warmly greeted us at the door. Piero is the legendary, charming and debonair founder of the former Valentino restaurant chain. I’ve been served numerous times by Piero in his flagship restaurant in Santa Monica which he closed at the end of 2018. I was not surprised that he remembered me as he has that special talent in remembering guests he’s served in the past. He even mentioned the group that I went with annually for 12 years that included many local Santa Barbara County winemakers I used to join for a day of basketball at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim for the John Wooden Classic and then off to Valentino for a world class dinner in the upstairs wine cellar dining room.

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To compliment the wines we took, we each ordered some of the special dishes they had on the menu:

NV LAURENT-PERRIER BRUT CUVEE ROSE- Having just received this as part of a 6 pack from a new batch, I brought it as a present for our host who loves NV Roses and he decided it fit for our dinner so here it is; I’d actually brought the 96` de Venoge Louis XV to take for dinner; but we opened it the night before; this is made from 100% Pinot Noir sourced from 10 different “crus", from the North and South areas of the Montagne de Reims, as well as the famous village of Bouzy, and minimally aged for 5 years; this is very fruit forward at this early stage and has a bit more sweetness than I prefer or remember from a couple of decades of past releases; no dosage was noted on the back label, but I’m guessing is was at 10 gpl; strawberry and red cherry highlight the fruit profile and accents of spice and minerals blend in nicely. As an aside, the different bottle shape was inspired by King Henri lV way back when.

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1964 ANTONIO VALLANA e FIGLIO CASTELLO SAN LORENZA SPANNA- decanted at the table; the label is quite colorful and the bottle is uniquely packaged in a clear cellophane wrap; more impressive was what was inside the bottle as this mature and ready Nebbiolo gave nice dried blackcurrant, plum and black raspberry fruit with leather, earth and forest floor notes; it was medium + bodied, had nice balance and elegance throughout and a soft mouthfeel.

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1964 MARCHESI di BAROLO- this 200 year old producer is located in the town of Barolo and one I visited when there years ago; decanted at the table; the fill was high neck and the color was a dark, unadulterated purple which suggested a viable, 56 year old wine here and that’s what we got; it was one of the best older Barolos I’ve had; it had perfectly ripe and mature dark fruit with blackberry, blueberry and black cherry most evident with a touch of cedar and spice that made everything nice; the smooth and easy texture just added class to the overall experience and it shined brightly for the duration of the bottle; great mature Barolo here and a contestant for the wine of the trip {WOTT} competing with the 2010 Drouhin Batard from the night before.

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When we returned to our hosts home, he poured 2 Ports that had been saved from bottles that were opened earlier in the year, 27 Graham and 27 Rebello Valente. Both were outstanding with the Graham having lucious Smith Brothers cough drops, nutmeg, licorice and black cherry and the Rebello being sweetened blackberry jam with a hit of molasses, prune and plum delivered in a thick texture.

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We were treated royally by our friends as has been the case each and every time we visit. I`ve only highlighted the dinners we shared, but there were so many other intriguing and interesting moments during our stay such as a tour through the former wine country of downtown LA and tracking the history of the relatively unknown founder of California wine, Jean-Louis Vignes.

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We are extremely grateful for all the love and great energy our friends gave us.

Cheers,
Blake

Nice work Blake.

I too have had good success with those older Marchesi di Barolo wines.

Good to know Jeremy. I have a few more from the 50s and 60s.