We had a chance to taste the wines of two well known producers for the first time over the weekend. The wines were featured in two separate dinners at the same venue as part of the Portland, Maine Wine Week happenings. Both dinners took place at the Ugly Duckling, which is actually a luncheonette bakery, that was recently opened by the talented and experienced chef couple of Damian Sansonetti and Ilma Lopez. They also own and run the restaurant Chaval in Portland (see the recent post by Dan Kravitz)
The Lopez de Heredia dinner took place on Saturday evening. Chef Damian was not in the kitchen, although he devised the dishes to accompany the wines. Chef Ilma was a delightful host and she guided us through the menu and wines. We started off with a deceptively simple pairing of “ bread with tomato” with a “rosé”. The quality and flavor of the pan con tomate made it a special treat on its own. The rosé happened to be the Tondonia Gran Reserva Rosé 2008, which was mesmerizing. The pairing of the two took it to an other-worldly experience. In my scribbled notes on the menu I put down the word “haunting”. Not sure exactly what I meant, but it was intended as high praise. The second course paired a white asparagus preparation with the Viña Gravonia Crianza 2013. Again a sublime wine and an extraordinary pairing. I was almost beside myself with these two pairings. The rest of the wines and dishes were solid, but after visiting heaven with the first two pairings, the others seemed earth-bound. I actually thought that the dessert pairing was a little bit of a miss compared to the other pairings. I casually and privately commented this to Chef Ilma. Her response was professional and humble to the point of thanking me, sharing the elements of the dessert that she focused on in the pairing, and coming back to add a little lemon zest to what remained on my plate and ask my opinion. Wow! I was blown away by this. (BTW, I thought the addition of the lemon zest noticeably improved the pairing.)
Sunday’s dinner paired wines from Ariana Occhipinti with more delicious food from Chef Damian and Chef Ilma. Chef Damian was in the kitchen preparing the first four courses. It seemed to me that the complexity of the dishes was dialed up a bit with the ‘master’ in the kitchen. The wines were good to very good, and the pairings worked very well. I had a chance to meet and speak a little with Chef Damian as I was finishing the fourth course. I asked if he put raisins in this dish since I noticed what seemed to be a few. His answer was interesting and revealing of the mind and method of a creative and knowledgeable chef. Long story short: chefs of this caliber don’t merely “put” anything in a dish. The interplay of the herbs in this dish was almost vibrating in a pleasant way. We finished the dinner with the final pairing of a dessert from Chef Ilma. Wow! I actually abstained from the wine until I just had a bite or two left because I wanted my total attention on this dessert. Jacqueline and I agreed that the dessert might have been the best of our lives. Wonderful to experience. I had a sip of wine with the last bite or two and the pairing worked beautifully.
“Gather ye rosebuds while ye may”, folks
