COMPLETELY ENGROSSED IN DRAWING, WINE AND DELICIOUS FOOD, artists at Sogno Toscano at the Cafè-Market-Wine Bar’s first Paint and Sip event on January 25. Photo credit: Hannah Reimann.
Every Tuesday 6:30 – 8:30 pm
17 Perry Street, corner of Waverly Place
By Hannah Reimann
Sogno Toscano has had several successful Tuscan wine tastings at their lovely Cafè-Market-Wine Bar this January. Its first weekly “Paint and Sip” event on January 25th featured a beautiful model posing for over a dozen artists, boards and pencils in hand, sipping Chianti and other wines of choice. ST now offers around 37 different wines and cocktails including 29 by the glass—something for everyone.
While focusing on the loins and angular face of Yeshe Cooley, Italian Pop gently filling the room from the sound system, the artists sketched over ten of Yeshes’s positions and expressions, feasting on schiaccate, wine and tiramisu. The seasonal schiaccate sandwich offering features shaved black truffles with Culatello di Zibello. Translated literally as “little ass” in Italian, Culatello di Zibello is smaller, funkier, often more complex and less well known than its famous salumi cousin, prosciutto di Parma—but it is also rarer, tastier and more highly prized. ST now offers vanilla and hazelnut gelato on its growing dessert menu, the latter sprinkled generously with freshly ground pistachio nuts, and has expanded its libations over the past two months, adding, most notably, excellent Super Tuscan wines.
Here are my assessments of that evening’s tastings from the ST wine cellar:
Pinot Nero Pet Nat, WAY Tenuta Belvedere (Natural) 2019 (Reggio Emilia)
Delicate, light, the color of clear rubies, and satisfying with or without food. Unusually well-rounded for its year and type, this Pinot Nero is a fine opening on a winter’s evening, complementing the cutlery board’s various choices of cheese or meat. Tasty and relaxing.
Chianti Classico Az Agricola Il Mandorlo DOCG 2013
Very full and dry with low tanins, great depth of flavor, a warm and settling after taste of licorice and tart cherries for those who like a darker, bolder Chianti. This wine stands up to the fennel salami and Parmigiano Reggiano. It pairs well with meats and hearty pastas.
Assiolo Campo Al Noce DOCG 2017
A Super Tuscan from Bolgheri, home town of the owners of Sogno Toscano, Brian Persico and Pietro Brembilla, this wine is amazing. Bright and dark at once, uplifting and soothing, gentle and bold. Forgive me, but the fruit comparisons sometimes drive me nuts because they often read to me as more of a stretch of imagination than an accurate comparison of flavor—and they cut short the feeling that a wine gives. I’m sure we all agree that different wines inspire different feelings. All said, this wine can make anyone feel wonderful. If I had to choose a conventional description, I would say that cassis, tabacco and sweet cherries ring some kind of bell in my culinary nerves, but I would rather report that this wine is balanced, deliciously round and energizingly upbeat. I welcome drinking it, again—a most promising compliment. Like the Chianti, it stands up to the Pecorino with chili flakes and equally complements Stracchino smeared on crunchy taralli bites.
The encore of the evening was the Extra Brut Cuvée Prestige Ca’ del Bosco, Franciacorta (Lombardy)
Currently the most popular wine in Milan and now available in selected places in NYC, Sogno Toscano will pour it for you at the best price in town ($20 per glass or $95 per bottle). This very floral and complex effervescent drink is in a class of its own, unrivaled in complexity with an unusual ability to pair well with appetizers, seafood entrees and dessert. I found it to be fresh and enticingly dry, not a fruity, girly bubbly at all, standing on its own as an aperitif and very enjoyable with the Caciotta cheese with truffles, Stracchino and Mortadella.
By all means, venture forth to the over 2000 restaurants for which Sogno Toscano provides its high-quality provisions including our local Morandi and St. Ambroeus for a full monty of expertly cooked appetizers, entrees and everything else. But you can also stop in at Perry and Waverly for a Cured Meat and Cheese Experience accompanied by one or several glasses of excellent vino like I did. I promise you won’t be disappointed.
