Bertani Wine Dinner
hosted by Stefano Mangiarotti
Our fall wine dinner was a terrific success. We featured wines from Bertani, even a special 1980 Amarone! The food was delightful and perfectly paired with the selected wines. Varano's traditionally hosts two wine dinners each year and it is without question an experience you do not want to miss. All our guests had a magnificent evening, and hopefully learned something new about Italian wine. Below is the dinner menu and wines that accompanied each course.
The Menu
Reception
Assorted Italian salami with mostarda di frutta, Classic veneto antipasti, Parmigiano reggiano cheese with truffle honey and fruit. Fried fresh porcini chips lightly fried in a tempura batter, goat milk ricotta with fig spread & grilled country bread
Creamy parmesan polenta spoons with caramelized wild mushrooms, Risotto balls with truffle provolone cheese, foie gras and duck meatballs laced with a sour cherry glaze, zampone and lentils, baked fresh oysters stuffed with wild mushrooms, baby spinach,
fresh bread crumbs & romano cheese.
Catullo 2006
and Due Uve Bianco 2009
Giant Tortellini filled with Oven Roasted local organic Pumpkin
Enhanced with sauteed chanterelle mushrooms and fresh local cranberry, sage and hazelnut brown butter.
Valpolicella 2009
Red wine Risotto with Duck Confit & Duck Crackling
Finished with a porcini mushroom & foie gras demi-glace.
Secco-Bertani Ripasso 2006
Frisse Salad
With poached maine farm fresh egg, brioche crouton, crisp prosciutto di parma, shaved truffle & sherry vinaigrette.
Porcini crusted Beef tenderloin
With Parmigiano-reggiano truffled potato gratin, green & white asparagus tips, and bordelaise sauce.
Villa Arvedi Amarone 2005
Amarone della Valpolicella 1980
Chocolate Oblivion Tart
Rich bittersweet chocolate tart with vanilla sea salt, candied tuscan blood orange rind, in a pool of blood orange coulis and hazelnut gelato
Recioto della Valpolicella Valpentena DOC 2006
Bertani
Bertani, which just recently celebrated its 150th anniversary, was founded in 1857 by brothers Gaetano and Giovan Battista Bertani. Prosperous wine merchants who believed that quality winemaking held the key to the future, the Bertanis invested their funds in buying some of the finest vineyards in the province and making their own wines. Consequently, unlike many other local producers, Bertani owns its own vineyards and so is able to oversee the entire winemaking cycle from start to finish.
Recognition and success followed swiftly as Bertani became one of the first Veronese producers to export its wines on a significant scale.
In the early years Bertani spearheaded a campaign to underscore the potential of Verona's Valpolicella Valpantena wine district. The release of its Secco-Bertani Valpantena brand, still in production over 150 years later, is responsible for putting this DOC on the map.
copyright Varano's Italian Restaurant 2011
