Dinner Xara Lodge on the 25th of April 2023
Dear Friends,
I think that this April event was one of the better ones for various reasons. First and foremost, one must complement Nick for the wines he chose for the event. I found that I could easily complement each dish with at least 3 of the wines in front of me – and that is not an easy task so complements to the Xara Lodge chef for pairing the chosen wines so well. The risotto was the dish of the evening for me and would have happily had seconds and even thirds!
The wine of the evening, achieving an important 16.7/20 was the white Vigna San Francesco 2016 and making this the very first time in Qatra History that a white wine beat 3 reds in the vote. I found the San Francesco to be quite complex partly thanks to having 8 years of ageing under its belt which permitted the typical butteriness , toasted oak and vanilla of a oak fermented Chardonnay to mellow. This is a great wine for those meat lovers who don’t or can’t drink red wine. no wonder it was awarded an aggregate 92/100 from critics.
As for the reds, my favourite was the Grotte Alte Cerasuolo di Vittoria by the now famous Arianna Occhipinti. I remember her first efforts imported by Philippe which ranged from great to a bit too ‘natural’ in the same case. it is clear that she has grown not only in reputation but, while still sticking to her principles of minimal intervention, is producing a very consistent wine of great quality and fair ageing potential – her prices went up too! this wine was awarded an aggregate 94/100 by wine critics
I was a bit disappointed with the Terre Nere which got my lowest vote. It was not a poor wine, far from it, but compared to the other two it felt a bit simple and both the nose and palate were relatively fleeting. It was still an elegant wine but not noteworthy or exciting. It has received good reviews from critics achieving an aggregate of 92/100 so perhaps its weaker performance was due to the two other great wines that put it in the shade.
Iro
Dr Ramiro Cali-Corleo
Chairman
