Wine, Food & Friends Page 238
We were visited on a nice day in January by Elisa Sca-Vino of
the famous Vino Producing Paolo Scavino winery in Italy's Piemonte.
We tasted the current range of Scavino wines available and/or coming to the
California market and then headed off to The Koi Palace for a Dim Sum lunch.
But first, the tasting as Elisa, her colleague Riccardo from Piemonte and Joanie
Bon-Kara did a little "Show & Sell."
Elisa Scavino.
Elisa spoke eloquently about the wines of Piemonte in general and her family's
bottlings in particular.
That's the famous Connie Poon in a Dolcetto-colored sweater and the even
famouser Joanie Bonfigetian...
Joanie looks up to Eric Lecours of the famous Enoteca Donato in Redwood
City, but then most folks look up to Eric (being he's so darned tall).
Riccardo Sgarra...the newest member of Team Scavino.
The famous Mao Fujita Lecours.
Joanie is a fan of Piemontese wines.
Elisa shows the precise location on a detailed map of the various Scavino
"cru" Barolo bottlings...
We began with a Langhe Bianco...a dry white that's predominantly mild Sauvignon
Blanc with Chardonnay and a drop of Viognier. Nice...
A young Vino Rosso was a delight...it's exuberantly berryish and reminiscent of
fresh, young Dolcetto, thought it's based on Nebbiolo with Barbera, Dolcetto and
a bit of something called Cabernet Sauvignon.
A youthful, non-wooded Barbera was showing well...
And then we tasted a range of 2008 Barolo wines...The basic, entry level seemed
to have a bit of a jammy quality with a lightly raisined note.
The Bricco (or Broccoli, if you can't remember Bricco) Ambrogio is a nice,
unheralded cru in Roddi (north of Verduno) and this was a nicely elegant wine
that needs another 10 years of aging.
Monvigliero is another cru known only to serious Barolo fanatics...it's in
Verduno at a fairly high elevation and it produces another complex and refined
Barolo...too young presently, but showing good potential.
Carobric is their super-cru blend...Castiglione's Rocche and Bric del Fiasc
along with a portion from the famed Cannubi cru in Barolo. Another
youngster needing time to show its character.
The Bric del Fiasc on its own was a bit overshadowed, in my view, by the Cannubi
which is a really noble wine. We also liked a slightly older vintage,
2005, of the Rocche dell'Annunziata which displayed a mildly cedary, woodsy
character at this stage.
After tasting the lovely range of Scavino wines (they show far less overt oak
and barrique than the wines did a decade, or so, ago...) we drove to Daly City
to the Koi Palace.
And before you know it, we were having Dim Sum and a few cool
vinos...
Our first bottle was Hans Wirsching's Scheurebe Kabinett Trocken...this is a
delightful dry white, tasting like "Riesling Meets Sauvignon Blanc."
Mama Mia!~ Elisa is quiet proficient with chop sticks!
It was great having such a wonderful Piemontese celebrity with us at lunch, so
we had a "brindisi" to Elisa and her family's winery.
Koi Palace offers an amazing range of wonderful Dim Sum.
And such good food, good wine and nice friends will bring a smile to everyone!
Connie did a great job of selecting a number of exceptional items from the
kitchen to augment the trolleys of Dim Sum being paraded around the restaurant.
We then had a bottle of Heitz Grignolino Rose with some Roast Suckling Pig.
Connie Poon and Susan King.
Some steamed prawns...Messy, but good!
Peking Duck.
Mao shows off her recent manicure as well as proper form and technique in
snapping an I-Phone photo...
Connie with Clams.
Connie ordered Chicken Feet.
We had a lovely meal at The Koi Palace...lots of interesting dishes and a few
nice wines.
Joanie had a busy day planned for them and they immediately motored off down to
the Monterey Peninsula for a "Meet The Geek" or some sort of
"Meet The Winemaker" dinner extravaganza.
It was a delight to get together with such an interesting crowd and we vowed to
eat and drink together more often this year (so stay tuned)...
Tante grazie, Elisa, Joanie and Riccardo!
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