Private dinner with some of ours American friends
Last Friday, February 25, 2011, together with my dear friend Niccoli Massimiliano, with his beautiful wife and daughter Novella, we organized a typical Tuscan dinner together, sober and familiar with our friends Michael and Juan Guevara Insalago of M & G Jewelers, who came directly from Hollywood in Tuscany for a relaxing and enjoyable Italian holiday.
The evening was organized to welcome these friends while enjoying food and fine wines from Tuscany, and there have been moments of pure joy and fun, with trade in wine and culinary news that our cultures differ in.
Juan, being an excellent cook, really enjoyed the dish of traditional Tuscan soup made of vegetables and Tuscan bread (Ribollita) and plate of lasagna, made especially for him by our Mom Graziella.
Michael has really enjoyed our salami and cheeses from Tuscany.
Our table was supplied with very appetizing food, as trays full of typical Tuscan plate filled with Salami, like the Salami of Cinta Senese, Tuscan salami, wild boar salami, cured ham from Tuscany, buristio and soprassata.
Then followed platters of cheeses like Pecorino mixed with red wine, pecorino cheese with walnuts and Pecorino cheese, Gorgonzola A mountain of craft products from local agricultural company, to be stuffed with cheese, ham and vegetables.
The cheeses were paired with figs, fig jam and red onion marmalade, acacia honey and wildflower honey.
The combination of this was to warm food and taste wines from my personal cellar opened specifically for this occasion.
We toasted with sparkling Chardonnay to welcome our Italian friends and Americans.
Then we tasted the new vintage of Vino Nobile di Montepulciano 2007 combined with snacks and antipasti.
We continued with the new product Brunello di Montalcino 2006, that will be available for sale in the United States from April, because at this time, the bottles of this new year are traveling to come to our warehouse in Chicago to Lake Forest where they’ll be prepared for delivery to all our loyal customers and estimators of the American wine from Tenuta Torciano.
Then I opened my special reserve wine Bartholomew 1997 vintage, wine preferred by Juan and Michael.
Finally, the evening was concluded with a fabulous wine tasting of our Terrestre, 2001 Vintage.
The dessert consisting of delicious Florentine pastries offered by our Massimiliano, was combined with a delicate sparkling wine Prosecco and Chardonnay and Vin Santo dessert wine.
It was a beautiful evening enhanced by the pleasure of the palate, the pleasure of good wine, but especially from the pleasure of friendship and happy atmosphere, essential ingredients of good living.
Author
Luciana Cilemmi
Luciana Cilemmi, deals with Magazine, Style Director and Co-founder of Tenuta Torciano winery and Tenute Giachi wines and the innovative Viviarium Restaurant of Bottega Torciano- Tenuta Torciano & Winery is part of an international reality that is born in Italy by an initiative of Pierluigi Giachi and Luciana Cilemmi, who have worked for years in the Italian wine market , expanding throughout in the United States, managed and controlled by the american company ' Bellavini winery. Luciana Cilemmi was born in San Gimignano to a family of artists specialised in the restoration of medieval buildings. Having completed her technical studies, she now pursues the interests passed on to her by her family, like her passion for artistic objects, in particular works of art created in Tuscany between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. But she reserves her keenest enthusiasm for the historic works completed in San Gimignano between 1100 and 1300. Alongside her love of medieval history, she is fascinated in wines produced from Tuscan vineyards, which, together with saffron and wool, were the most sought-after goods traded by the wealthy noble families of San Gimignano already in medieval times. Luciana Cilemmi left San Gimignano at the age of 21 and embarked on a pilgrimage in search of knowledge and to discover the new winemaking skills and products that were then developing both in Italy and in France. In the meantime she added to her knowledge of wine by attending specialised courses and becoming a master of wine. On returning to Siena, she discovered a wonderful area near Murlo where she fell in love with the tiny, unspoilt village of Montepescini. She bought the estate of Montepescini where, based on the experience she had acquired over the years, she found a particular lie of the land, special climatic conditions and an altitude suited to the creation of great wines. With enormous enthusiasm, doggedness and considerable effort, a reclamation programme was started to renew the terrain which was then used to plant 30 hectares of specialised vines. Sangiovese is the dominant vine, followed by Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah. Years of experimentation and the introduction of new winemaking techniques eventually led to the creation of Luciana di Memmi’s prestigious wines. Some years ago, Luciana Cilemmi succeeded in realising her dream of a lifetime: to return to her home town, San Gimignano. She was destined to buy the historic palace with the medieval tower, which had been owned by the prestigious Useppi family from 1200 to 1927 and had then passed to the noble and historic Chigi family of Siena. The Useppi were a powerful Sienese family who owned several castles. This beautiful medieval building has an elegant and distinctive façade full of Sienese and Pisan architectural influences. If you find yourself in San Gimignano, make sure you visit the Chigi Tower and Palace. Luciana Cilemmi holds regular events in the rooms of the medieval tower, such as the presentation of wines, both from her vineyards and elsewhere, attended by international journalists, experts from the sector and critics. She also organises exhibitions of works of art and paintings, and press conferences on the subject of "Wine in San Gimignano during medieval times”. Visiting the home of Luciana Cilemmi is like re-living an aspect of the past that will not return except through the imagination of those who have believed and continue to believe in this story.
