2023 Author: Cody Thornton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-06-06 02:02
"I remain a wingman". Thus, with the same spirit that animates these few, frank words of disarming simplicity and humility, they have become the best in the world. “They have become”, plural, because you don't win alone.
The speaker is Beppe Palmieri, number two and sommelier of Massimo Bottura's Osteria Francescana, a restaurant awarded the title of best in the world by the 50 Best Restaurant 2016.
And if it is undeniable that at Osteria Francescana, as well as in any other restaurant of that level, you go there mainly to taste foods that represent a unique taste experience, it is equally true that the choice of wines must be up to this level. of excellence.
For this reason Palmieri meticulously chooses the wines to be offered in combination with the dishes tasted by the lucky customers who will be able to book a table (it should be said: the place, in fact, in the wake of the recent coronation, is sold out until September).
The sommelier said to Luciano Ferraro del Corriere:
"We focus on natural and authentic whites," Palmieri explains, starting the illustration of the Osteria's winemaking philosophy with two contrasting grape varieties.
Timorasso from Walter Massa, in the version not aged in wood but in concrete tanks and endowed with “conquering rustic energy and a real physicality”, coming from a small area of Piedmont.
The Source Canale, a Trebbiano d'Abruzzo "Very mineral and fresh", produced a few kilometers from the sea of Pescara, a wine for which the owner, Cristina Tiberio, at the time had international varieties uprooted to make way for the new grape variety.
But all the wines selected by Palmieri are chosen with particular care and attention, wines made with “the head, hands and heart of the winemaker, and which not only tell about his person, but reveal a territory. Different from year to year and unrepeatable, harvest after harvest .
With this in mind, Palmieri's attention is directed to small producers, "those who allow us to tell people's stories while we fill the glass that gives added value to the dish".
Like Christian Bellei from Cellar of the Volta, a few kilometers from where the restaurant is located, and yours Lambrusco di Sorbara.
Or the Boca, the Nebbiolo or the Vespolina of Le Piane, that is of Christoph Kunzli, Swiss, who moved to the Novara area for twenty years.
So the Ribolla by Damijan Podversic or the SP68 which comes from Vittoria, from the skilled hands of Arianna Occhipinti, as well as the High Caves, from the name of the ridges on which the town itself rests.
There is also room for the Brut classic method MG09 from Modena Marco Gozzi, ideal for summer.
It ends with a red Chateau Musar and the vermouth white from Rimini Dibaldo, served as a drink with sparkling water, Sorrento lemons and vanilla salt, as a tribute, continues Palmieri, to Marcello Mastroianni, in a harmony of seemingly skilfully matching contrasts.
Proposed with infinite care, research, attention but above all love for their profession.
This is the only way to become the best in the world.
There are currently three tasting menus: Tradition, with Bottura's most famous dishes at € 180; Innovation: with the new dishes created by the chef for € 195; a third menu with dishes from both cards called Supermenu for € 210. To which € 135 will be added for the wine pairing.