Wine Pairing Review- Castello Banfi

Last Thursday I attended a wine pairing dinner at Bolero Restaurant called ‘ An Evening in Tuscany with Castello Banfi’. It was five courses of food delicately paired with five of their most popular wines.

This is my personal review of the pairing.

Atmosphere

The Bolero Restaurant is a very warm and inviting place. The decor is very charming and definitely has a very homie Italian feel. The lighting there is set to create a very cozy dinner setting. The crowd that night was very small but lively and the wait staff and bartenders were very attentive. All in all a great atmosphere.

First Course

The first course was a Fettunta Toscana, which is basically a Tuscan style garlic bread, that was paired with a Maschio Dei Cavalieri Prosecco. Garlic bread is among one of my many weaknesses when it comes to food, so I rather enjoyed that! The Prosecco was very bubbly and crisp. Although it didn’t seem to complement the bread, it was a good starter for cocktails. This course was enjoyed in a cocktail style, while we were mingling before going into the main dining room.

Second Course

For the  second course we had a Panzanella di Mare which is a  Toasted ciabatta  with tomato, clams, mussels, shrimp, squid and olive oil paired with a La Pettegola Vermentino 2016 . This white wine was 90% of the vermentino varietal and 10 % Sauvignon. It was fruity and very crisp. It did complement the flavors of the seafood mixture. The dish wasn’t one of my favorites. It wasn’t horrible but I prefer my squid deep-fried thanks!

 

Third Course

For our third course we had a Risotto con Fagiano, which is a risotto with pheasant, pancetta, porcini and garlic. It was paired with a Poggio Alle Mura Rosso Di Montalcino 2013, a red wine. The wine was excellent, it was very smooth and easy to drink and complemented the flavors in the dish. The Risotto was very flavorful. Incase you are wondering what pheasant taste like, it tasted just like chicken. Same texture and everything.

Fourth Course (Course of Champions)

The fourth course was a braised boar with ricotta dumplings and it was served with two red wines. The first was a Brunello Di Montalcino 2012, OH MY GOD!!! This wine is awesome! AWESOME! I love it, oh yea and it went well with the dish. The second wine was a Aska Bolgheri Rosso 2013. I didn’t really enjoy this one. It had a very strong smokey oak taste at the end of it that made it kind of hard to drink. Even Still this was the most enjoyable course for me, because the first wine was so awesome and it really complemented the braised boar.

Fifth Course

The last course was a very rich and sweet  chocolate dessert served with a really sweet Brachetto D’Acqui Rosa Regale 2016. The whole course was just overly sweet to me. I didn’t see any connection really, between the dessert and the wine. Probably my least favorite course of the night.

Summary

Overall the pairing was a good experience. I would say the highlight of the night for me was the Brunello Di Montalcino 2012. I am definitely going to be purchasing that particular wine over and over again! If I had to rate the food and wine on a scale of 1-10, I would give it a 5 and an 8 respectively.