Dear Emilia

My name is Scott Thomas. I'm the wine director here at newly opened Dear Amelia, Denver, Colorado, as well as the wine director at Restaurant Olivia. And I have an alter ego, which is Grappollo Food and Wine School, co-founder and lead educator.

Today I chose three Italian red wines to pair with a beautiful pasta jameli with mushrooms, tomato paste, and a fermented pinto bean miso, which our director of sustainability, Paula Thomas, who happens to be my wife, made. >> Maybe they are all Sanji faces and they're all different. >> I'm going to be the winner of today's three blind wines. The scoring for today, two points for vintage, two for great variety, and because we know they're all Italian, we're delving deeper into the region. So, two points for the region. >> We're obviously doing all reds.

Let's jump straight into it. >> All right. So, wine number one, I would say it's slightly garnety with a little bit of changing from the outer edges of the wine to the base of the wine. That could denote some age in the wine.

So, I'm going to take that to note. I can't really see it cuz it's brown table, but it does have a little kind of brown color to the wine. Ooh, it's definitely not fruit forward, you know.

So, I got little coffee hints, little leather, little tar. Oh, it's really aromatic. It's almost like a brick layers cologne.

Dusty, mushroomy, those kind of notes. You do get a hint of red berry. Let's get this into the mouth right now.

Oh yeah, it's running through the bush. Oh, it's wonderfully earthly, aromatically brilliant. The tannins are pronounced.

The acidity is high. It's got a cool like terracotty like you're licking clay kind of notion to the wine. Kind of dried forest foresty nature.

Could be one of three things. Amaroni. We're not getting that much heat.

Getting very ripe kind of fruit. Amaroni is Corvina, Rondanella, Molinaro, a few other grape varieties thrown in, but it is quite close to Pimmont. It's about an hour and a half drive closer to Venice.

Ripe berries. I'd smell raspberry. Like, how do I describe this?

When you're eating a like a berry that might be a little bit on the younger age or not fully matured or super juicy, the bite can be not fully put together. So like you get the acidity and the sugar like on two different parts of your palette. Off the nose immediately smell that which is pretty interesting.

Really acidic. Medium tannins on this guy or girl. We don't know.

It definitely sits there and sits on your palette. It's really nice red wine. I would probably want this with like a nice pork chop.

Honestly, there's a nice bitter note on the back end. You don't get much of that fruit. The acidity just kind of like sits on your palette and like sits there, but the tannins are like all over your mouth.

Like front of my mouth immediate like the first sip is like super dry. The back end, like after I take a breath in, you definitely get like a little bit of this like bitter note on the nose. This is beautiful.

It is uh like decomposed rose petals. It is mushroom forest floor red fruit, but it's kind of more subtle, not necessarily o overt in many ways. It's it's really omitting elegance on the nose, and you have to dig your nose deep into it to to get there on the pallet.

The wine is very dry, elevated amount of acidity and tannin. This is classic for the varietal and the flavors and aromomas match the nose. So more that decomposed rose petal mushroom forest floor kind of an umami note to it as well.

The finish is long. I mean it's just eternal kind of wine that craves food in many ways but there's this beautiful elegance to it and delicacy that is super classic for the varietal. Could be pedo nebiola.

I'm going to hold it there. I think it's probably it's not Valtina cuz it's not kind of rustic enough. So it is a kind of pedmont or it could be Sanjuves. >> I'm going to go Sanjuy.

I think there's enough tannins in there and I'm going to say that's probably a pretty young one. Let's go 2023 I guess. Wait, we're in 2026.

Maybe that's not young anymore. >> I am going to say that this is Nebio. It is from the Petermont region and it is 2019. >> I'm going Sandra 2024 Compana. >> The pressure's on. I think I nailed wine number one, but now we're going on to wine number two.

Could be a little trickier. I would say this is deep garnet color on the nose. >> Medium plus intensity. Again, earthy.

You get earthy characteristics out of Italian wines a lot. But here you're getting plum fruits on the nose. You are also getting like a dusty characteristic.

Some earthy leather notes. Dried herbs. Definitely oregano.

Tomato vine. Real tomato viney. There's a little bit more fruit in this wine than there was in wine number one.

Let's pop it in the mouth, shall we? There's a vegetative quality to this wine. Medium plus acidity, medium plus tannon.

Really nicely integrated. A little dusty on the tannon notes. Kind of like when the wind whips up on a dusty old beach.

That's kind of what it feels like. There's a definitely a herbal note to the wine. There's a slight terracotta nature to the wine.

Leather and tar juicing sour cherry. Wine number two. This one's definitely funky on the nose.

Almost like hay. Maybe not hay. Yeah, like hay if there were some animals kind of already like throwing their bodies into it already.

You get a little dark fruit. You get like a little bit of sugar on the nose. I smell like after the immediate like funkiness, cherry, some black, little currant as well.

Let's just taste it. Completely different than the first one. You definitely don't have any of those tannins.

This one's more probably fruit forward. The sugar for sure just sits on your sits on your palette with like a little bit of acidity kind of like just smingles through. It just sits there really nicely.

It's a really nice wine. Really enjoy this with like a kacio honestly or like something like super creamy and delicious >> cuz it's sort of tanning. >> No, because the acidity is there. I think that just because the acidity and the sugar that sits there that if you had like something else creamy, you could probably the wine would open up a little bit more and you can probably taste a little bit more of a small nuance.

Wine number two is faded ruby. It's not super vibrant. And the nose does have a I think I would say kind of a dusty quality to it.

Red fruit oriented and leather and tobacco. It's very interesting nose. It's super compelling.

It makes me want to just dive in and and taste it immediately. So, that's what I'm going to do on the palette. That's beautiful, elegance, red fruit dominant.

It's complex. If I got this wine blind, I would not nail it. I know that for a fact because it's not necessarily very typical.

But juicy amount of acidity. Tannins are less certainly than wine number one, but they're evident and lingers on the finish forever. So, it is a wildly complex wine.

Is one of my favorite producers of this particular grape variety. Also, >> I think it's Sanji. I'm going to say Sanji.

Sanjivves from Kianti Classico. I think the vintage is 2021. >> I'm going to go narrow de Alva 2020. And I'm going to say that this wine is made somewhere near Napoli.

Yes. Okay. So, we're dipping into wine number three.

This has a little bit more density to the color. See that? It's quite inky.

Really leather tar. Almost like the road is being fixed outside. We're repaving the road outside and I'm smelling wine.

Just drinking by the side of the road. This wine is like something's just being heated up on a beach. It's got this Mediterranean feel, Mediterranean fruits, kind of roasted tomato vine.

More bramly fruit on this note. So like a little cooked raspberry, cherry star anise, like a little anise character to the wine. Cinnamon, baking spice.

It's like your grandma's cooking in the kitchen and she's making a wonderful kind of feast for you to eat all in one glass. Pop it in the mouth, shall we? Oh yeah.

This one is dry, high acid, high tannon, really dusty, chalky tannins. Like really chewy and fierce, you know? I think I've got what this wine is.

I think I think >> this wine seems a little warmer to the other two. So, as we go from more continentally climates, we're going down into more Mediterranean. And this almost seems like warm Mediterranean where the fruit is definitely baked by the sun.

It's ripe, it's rich, you know, it's it's hot climates, dusty, red earth, lots of red clay. I really like these kind of wines where you do have to kind of chew through the tannins to get them going, but the structure is there. Like it's full of structure and you know you just want to lay it down so you get more of these tertiary characters.

Like at the moment you are getting this brambly kind of cooked berry. As time goes on and the structure holds it with this acidity, these fruit flavors will build around that structure and they will develop more mushroom umami characteristics. Wine number three.

Let's go. See that red color? So nice.

I get like a little bit of funkiness off this, too. It's weird. I kind of can't really put anything to it.

It there's a funk that you've like let a pepper maybe. I know I've said this before, but it's like kind of like fermented peppery almost like sauerkraut. like that kind of like lactic acid, lactic like like fermentation that's kind of just like been sitting there and like you finally open it up and you're getting this like acid and funk at the same time. Let's just try it.

There's nice tannins to this wine for sure. It's not as big as the first one and it's not anywhere close to being the second one, but there's just a little bit after you take that initial sip that kind of just like sits there. It definitely lingers longer than the first guy.

There's nic acidity throughout. You kind of get like a little bit of some pepper notes on the on like the back of your palette on the side. You don't get I don't smell it though.

So the pepper notes kind of just sit there. Smells kind of throw me off cuz what it smells like it does is not really what it tastes like. But the tannins for sure sit there.

The acidity it lingers for a while. So maybe this is closer to a medium style tannins and this the very first one could be a larger tannins. I'm not a wine guy, so I don't really know.

Wine number three. Cherry exploding with fruit out of the out of the glass. Kind of a Mediterranean quality to it.

Um, Mediterranean herb maccha they call it. It's like that coastal shrub brush that's in the coast of um, central Italy. It's wonderful.

I I could just keep smelling this all day. This is everything that hits my tickle button. Quite honestly, it feels like it smells sweet and sour at the same time on the palette.

Same on the palette. It's sweet, ripe fruit, but then it's tart at the same time. It's like instantly sour. tannins are elevated somewhat grainy which is charming and knowing that it's a it's very typical of this varietal and the acidity is also quite elevated to some salivating quite readily here and mediumbodied so it's not a a beast of a wine.

This has got a lot of depth to it and complexity that just there's a beautiful thread between the nose and the pallet. Um again for me this is kind of everything I would want in a wine. Nothing against any of the other wines out there in the world, but this is kind of the wine that I hope to have, especially with food.

This wine leads me to think about two things. Could be Sanjivves is one. Could be Aglanico, which is just from further down south like Campa region.

Could be Montichana. I'm gonna say it's Aglanica from Compa Toasi Vintage 2019. Again, >> I'm going to go with this one is Keianti 2023 and they're telling me that the they're they're letting me know that that's Sandra Base. >> Sandalwood.

We did say Sandalwood, didn't we? >> Cola. Cola on wine. Who puts cola on wine?

I said Sandra Vasy for two things. So we'll see what happens. >> One number one is Nebiolo for the leg region. Peter Montbiolo 2021. >> I call 2019.

I didn't get the vintage >> long. Oh, nice. >> Wine. Number one is Retto.

Lang Nebio 2021. Retto is the producer. He's located in CIO which is just outside of the Bolo zone.

In fact, his his farm looks at Saronga Dalba to the west. This area was grown on the Lano Hill and is is very Bolo like in a lot of ways with power and finesse and elegance. 2021 is considered one of the great vintages for Nebio in the region and this is already shown an amazing amount of evolution. Multiple generation the only certified deer producer still of Bolo and Barbaresco.

Demiter is a a certification for kind of a heightened form of organics where you treat the entire vineyard or or plot of agriculture as a as its own ecosystem. So all of the fertilizers, all of the nutrients that go in the soil have been produced on the property and it creates this kind of holistic approach to agriculture and that extends into the winery as well. and and what you get I think as a as a byproduct oftentimes is a wine that has an amazing amount of soul and reflecting a single place. >> This was really beautiful wine. This was definitely my favorite one for sure. >> Sam, guess wine.

One number one. >> Wine number two. >> Oh, I don't know what it is. Not wearing my glasses. What is this? >> Na.

My That's pronounced right >> na. >> Yeah. And that's from the piano alto. >> Beautiful little one. 2019. I said 2021.

I didn't get any points at all. >> Wine. Number two is the Baba Piano Alto from Nitsa. So Nitsa is the denomination which is a barbaras specific denomination in the Montrat area of Piedmont.

It was elevated to doc in the last 15 years. Um considered probably one of the more important places for barbar in Piedmont. Baba is the multi-generational family farm.

They're doing amazing things. And Piano Alto is a single vineyard site. I've tasted with them going back to the same wine back to 2000.

And this wine, particularly the Piano Alto, has the ability to age unlike any other Barbara. So that's why I think it's it's very interesting to taste because Barbara can be multiple things. Be very juicy, really upfront and forward.

And then you have this alter ego, if you will, which is kind of delicate. It's a little more elegant and and wildly deep on the nose and on the palette. >> I definitely need to get up on my red wines from Italy. >> One number three is Keianti Classico. Number three, Keianti Classico.

So, I did get that one right. And this is a 2021. >> Hey, >> all three. Let's go little Sanzi.

This is really lovely. >> Wine number three is Villa Kalchinaya. This is Kianti Classico from Gra and Keianti. So on the northern end of Kianti classicalico this is the Contini family that been making wine here for 500 plus years.

It's now Sebastiano Contini the Anata if you will of Kanti classicalico. So the wine that is is the youngest released earliest and I think filled with this kind of pleasure and joy of what Sanjves is. It's also blended with 10% canolono which is a a really classic blending variety that enhances I think the aromatics often of Sanjioves and it's just beautiful has this kind of roundness to it sweet tart and just again everything that I would want in a san they were all really delicious I honestly don't drink red wine very often but these were really beautiful I I I felt like they they went from a great range to really show a lot of what Italy is producing and like you get their classic Keianti at the ends, but then you get this like really fun wine up in the front that's like it was definitely my favorite one for sure.

I just felt like there was so much going on. There was like a good amount of uh tan like tannins that just sit there. The sweetness, the nose, they're amazingly structured.

There's great veins of acidity, good tannin structure, well integrated. They're really well thoughtout wines. I just like to thank Scott for selecting these wines cuz it's really made my afternoon. >> Thank you, Scotty. >> Yeah, honestly, thank you so much for having us here.

These were all really, really beautiful wines and it was really just great to see what some Italian red wines were like. >> That bara is so good. So, my stomach is screaming, "Give me a bloody pasta right now cuz I just want to drink these wines and eat some pasta. The dish today is jelly pasta, which is Italian for the word for twins, which they're twisted together.

Lion's mane mushroom, a beautiful amount of tomato paste, as well as a pinto bean miso. It's been fermented. This pasta is really tasty. >> Yeah.

So good. >> Pasta is cooked al dente. Perfection lion's mane. Incredibly meaty.

It's got this nice little chew to it. Almost like a little beef senue. It's really really lovely. >> The pasta is beautiful.

There's so much flavor going on. You can really taste the like toasted toasted tomato paste. You can really taste like the roundness from the tomatoes, the the mushrooms have just been cooked in there.

There's like a nice just like subtle toastiness like throughout the whole entire dish. It's really nice. The sauce and the consistency of it really coats the pasta nicely.

Beautiful job. >> It was very umami forward, a good amount of acidity thanks to the tomato and the pasta itself cooked al dente. So, it was it was a wonderful dish that our chef to cuisine put together. You know, I can't remember the last time I had lion's mane mushrooms. >> It's really really good though. >> So, >> yum. >> I know that camera Chris likes us to go in order and we can't say um anymore.

So, I guess we should start with the first one. My favorite one. >> Why is it your favorite? >> I I just think there was a lot going on. I really enjoyed all the tannins on it.

Honestly, I like where it sits on your palette. I liked the sugars. The acidity kind of like cuts through all of it.

There's like a there's a there's a heaviness to it which I really thought was beautiful. And then it kind of just like the the wine just sits there and lingers and like >> you can kind of tell I was trying to describe it before and maybe you can tell me I'm wrong, but like you know like there's some wines where like it sits and like everything kind of like melds together. This one what I kind of liked is that it doesn't.

There's like it sits on your palette on all different parts and you kind of get to taste a little bit of everything. the progression of the wine over the palette. I think this is what you're trying to say is it's like seamless. There's no rough edges.

It's like you get that initial silkiness of the palette, this kind of beautiful fruit feel, and then you don't really notice a transition for the tenon, the dryness. It doesn't really fall off. It actually carries the the fruit flavors all the way through. >> Yeah. >> And it it has a kind of a medium plus pallet, you know?

It's not it's not super super long where you're like, "Wow, that's incredible." But it's a Lang Nebby, so it's seen as more of a a village style, more of an approachable style, but it's elegant, silky, gorgeous. It's really really good. >> Well, I would love to live in a village like that, honestly. >> Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. >> I guess it it goes to what we've talked about in the past, like what are you really looking for in a pairing after you take your sip and or after you eat, it kind of just washes the palette away. But if that's what you're really looking for, then yes, like definitely go for it. I I I wouldn't say this is probably my first pick on pasta with the wine, but let's see what the other two actually tell us on our palette and then we can really make a decision. >> It's definitely a food wine and so you need you need food to go with it.

I do think Justin's right. It does kind of dominate at the end. I chose this wine because the the dish has a primary mushroom component to it and nebio with age or evolution does have that similar component to it as well.

So I also love Retto as a producer, as a human. I think they're doing amazing things in the vineyards and love to showcase and tell this story whenever possible. I like it.

I like it cuz there's like you you notice the wine, you notice the food. I think it has a nice little balance. But let's see what the other two have to show for us, you know.

So, wine number two was my favorite hands down of the three wines. Not because it was uh the best wine, but I think it was the most interesting for me. I've never from my memory, I can't remember having a Barbarara from Nisa.

I'm sure I have, but I didn't put two and two together. This wine has body and it's got structure. It's got power, which you don't necessarily relate to Barbaria as a grape variety.

There's there's a lot going on in the glass. It's got this beautiful kind of sandalwood aroma. Love to know what kind of oak they use.

If it's all French or if it's Do you know if it's all French or are they using like chestnut or Slovenian? Slovenian. Yeah. >> Okay.

Yeah. So there you go. Large 1500 liter Slovenian which is just adds this kind of like Palo Santo kind of element to the wine.

The kind of wine you just want to keep on sticking your nose in and smelling it. With the pasta though, I do think there's this earthiness in the pasta, which I do think the nebiolo kind of accentuates and I think this wine doesn't really have that too much of that earthy mushroom characteristic. And so I think this might be the better pairing out of the two for me. >> I really enjoyed wine number two with the pasta.

It goes back to what we were saying with the first one. Like what are you looking for in a a tasting the wine? kind of overpowers the elegance again of what what's going on in the in the pasta. I do like that some of the meatiness from the mushrooms and the pasta itself comes out of it and that like actually you get like a lot more of like sweet notes and like where it sits on your palette like a little bit like tobaccoey like kind of smoke feel sits there a little bit more with the wine after you have some of the pasta which is pretty nice.

I chose wine number two because I knew it would have this ephemeral nose to it and this like very interesting components that are unlike any Barbara. That's the first reason why and I wanted to showcase it to these guys. And two that I felt that Barbara is almost underrated um you know sometimes considered just a pizza wine but it is more complex than that and has so much more ability than you know your everyday drinkers.

This has again the ability to age and has a great depth of flavor that pairs extremely well with a wide variety of foods. >> To quote the great Scott Thomas, there's many faces to Sanio. >> I mean, after taking a bite and then it's definitely the best the best one together. You get everything, which is for me as somebody who likes wine with food, I I want to be able to taste everything. And I think that for what I look for is more of something that's going to complement both sides.

The other two are great. They're beautiful wines, but they kind of overpower like what's going on in the pasta. There's these like there was fresh oregano on top of here that once I ate it with the Keianti, like the oregano like pops with the Keianti, which is really really nice.

And there's not much like on the pallet feel that's like killing everything else. So you get to taste all of it which is really important for me at least. >> Also think there's a fennel seed in the rugu and when you drink it with the sanjoui that those anise flavors >> do pop out a little or that let's call it baking spice kind of element of the food and the wine kind of really combine together and so yeah it just brings a little bit more joy to the food doesn't it? I think it just intermingles the best.

And I I think like for when I'm looking to drink wine with food, that's really what I want to I'm looking for. Unless it's something that's like ultra fatty or really acidic, but like pasta is something that I want to find like the the middle balance with. I would say that the Keianti is the the best one to drink and eat with at the same time.

I chose this wine because Sanjioves is super versatile on the table and if I know that there will be mushrooms involved or any type of cheese or or animal protein even too has this versatility that can kind of cover and blanket almost everything. So I recommend it for a lot of various pairings. So I chose it specifically because of that it makes the pasta itself. >> Yeah.

Would you say this is the Kenny G of the wines and how they >> like the boy to men? >> Ricky Martin and the way that he is now relevant again, you know, in today's fastmoving society. >> Thank you, Bad Bunny. >> Yeah, definitely. This is the Ricky Martin of wines. >> I would say that my second favorite is going to be the second one just because I kind of like that it overpowered. Like I would take a bite and like there was some subtle notes from like the tomato paste and the sugars from inside the pastas like just from the caramelization that really like made the wine shine a little bit more which I thought was nice.

Ooh, favorite pairing with the dish today. I'm going with wine number three, the county classical Villa Kalchinaya. It just worked.

You know, sometimes pairings just work and there's no science behind it. It just makes you feel pleasure on the pallet and it made me want to just keep eating. So, it was there was a refreshment between bites because of the sourness of the fruit and the acidity and then the the combination with the mushrooms.

It it just worked. I think they they were, you know, meant for each other. I would definitely say the Keianti was the best pairing out of all, but I'm not, you know, just poor man just cooks pasta and stuff. >> How good does this bowl look? >> The bowl is beautiful. >> Wow.

I love each of these wines separately. I hate saying which one is my favorite, but that's the one that worked the best with the dish. Yeah, I think I love >> six too.

God. Oh, he's a master taster. It's not the battle, it's the war.

We need to win. So, we'll see what happens after episode 10. Who's got the most points? >> Well, thank you for having us here.

Everything was honestly super beautiful from the space to the food and the wines. Thank you so much. >> Yeah. Thanks, Scott. >> Good.

That's it. >> That's it. Okay. How was that for you? >> Very good.