ITALIAN WINES
at Il Cenácolo, Newburgh, NY (1/25/2004)

This was my first BB offline, and it was terrific! Thanks to everyone for attending, bringing good wines, and being delightful company, and especially to Steven Sharoff for organizing it! These notes are mine except where noted.

First, the locale and the food: Il Cenácolo is an excellent Italian restaurant in Newburgh, NY. The food is authentic Tuscan fare with touches of Piedmont. The winelist seems very good though we did not order from it. The owner, Sali, is a knowledgeable perfectionist, a good combination in a restaurateur. I was told that the Wall Street Journal just named it one of the top restaurants in the US.

We started with some white wine while standing, and with the first 2 courses: "Asparagus with brown butter and parmigiano" and "White salad with light anchovy sauce." There was another white wine which I did not taste (2002 Alois Lageder Vogelmeier Moscato Giallo Alto Adige). The one I had was
The next two were served with a well-prepared "Risotto with quail and black truffles," a very Italian-wine-friendly dish. Both wines matched well with this dish.
Both the above improved further with the next food course paired with the wines below. This course was a "Breast of duck with port cranberry sauce" that was fabulous. (The FOTN for me! )
With delicious, tender Rack of lamb:
The next course was "Italian pot roast Fiorentina style" which was tasty but a little heavy on the vinegar for me.
So we opened
The dessert course was listed as "Apple tart and others" and was quite tasty. The apple tart paired well with the first two dessert wines:
Well, I said I would do these notes tonight, and I did. God only knows how many typos there are. Again, thanks to all for a lovely evening. Nighty, night.

 

 

 


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