Tavernetta

Welcome to >> Three Blind Wines. >> Hi, I'm Carlin Carr. I'm the wine director of Frosta Hospitality Group. Today we're at Taberneta Denver, >> the highly acclaimed Taberneta restaurant. >> And I picked three wines to blind for this amazing chory salad with black truffle, vinegrett, and hazelnuts.

Today we're going to find out that red wine does work well with salads. My prediction is I win this round because there might be no reasoning in here. >> Okay, wine number one. Beautiful little glass here.

A medium yellow. We got a little orchidy characteristics like countryside. >> Gorgeous, very sophisticated, uplifted uh fruit content. I would say it's um of medium plus intensity on the nose.

I would say a little cuddled cream, a little butter on the back, a little bit of max drug, so slightly reduction, but it's all really well balanced and really well integrated into the wine. I'm really excited about this wine. It's like don't want to say it's me in a glass, but definitely sophisticated.

Probably wear some very nice expensive slacks when they go out on a Friday night. Find a great sweater, of course. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. I do think there's a little bit of le contact to this wine.

There might be a hint of oak used. Maybe old oak. Not a lot of new oak though, but it's as balanced as someone flying on the flying trapeze, who's actually good, >> delicious.

On the palette, it all kind of comes together. The the acidity is probably medium plus. It's got really well integrated alcohol.

I think that's probably at about a medium. Um, but it's just really together. It's like George Clooney's acting in 11, you know?

It was just all together very professional little number. It's got a little hint of vanilla. You got little cedar hints as well.

Could it be something that I'm not kind of tapping into? And that's where I'm going through now. I'm trying to think about things that it's not.

It's definitely not rezling. So, this is definitely not a morning wine. Like, I probably wouldn't have this for breakfast.

I definitely have this sitting by a fireplace, sitting on a shag rug, wearing warm socks, eating strawberries. Let's add some vegan cheese in there. Chardonnay sticks out.

Could also be one of those fun little Italian varieties from maybe up north for whether that's going to be like something that's been put through partial old oak or a little bit of new oak. Off the nose, I get like some honey notes, honeysuckle, some like just like deep sugars, a little burnt orange as well. Like take an orange, grill it.

That like caramelization of like what that that smell. kind of get a little of like this like caramelized sugar almost hay or like a little bit of grass. Smells really elegant. Really nice wine.

Honestly, the sugar all hits you on all hits you on your palette all at once everywhere. There's a nice like acidity to the back end where it kind of just lingers still kind of lingering on my palette right now. This could be like a nice wine for like a a salad, like a really nice like heavy chory salad with some bitter notes because of all the sweetness.

Really nice with a with a pasta as well. Okay, so wine number one is toasty. It has like rich lemon like almost like lemon nusa yogurt, little briosi, toasted hazelnuts, but also slick like slick rock, wet rock, very classic variety that is familiar in so many ways.

We have all had this this grape before. I'm going to say this is Chardonnay, but I do think it's from Italy around the Freelano region. And I believe it's probably 2022.

The wine I think it is Sovenon Blanc and I think it's from France 2010. >> But really what I want to give this is a five out of five fireplace wine. Medium yellow in the glass. Feels heavy, you know.

Maybe that's the fine crystal we're drinking from. Muted on the nose, so not as like vibrant and um jumping out of the glasses. Uh one number one.

Smells good though. Smells really good. Kind of mountainy river streamy I would say.

So something a little bit more elevation, cooler climate. Medium to to light intensity on the nose. Kind of blueberry notes uh popping out.

So, it's not as noticeable like kind of apple or orchard or anything like that or lemon or lime, but it might just be the silent the strong and silent type, you know? Um, like Chris, camera Chris, he's a strong and silent type cuz he doesn't really say much on camera. Have you noticed that?

Reminds me of Fresh River Streams. That's all I'm going to say. Definitely there's more intensity on the palette.

It's a fuller wine so it's like richer. Could mean that it's got little thicker skins than the previous wine. Um, there's a lot more texture to the wine.

There is acid there. There just a lot of texture. So texture comes from various little things, but I do think this may have just spent a little bit of time on leaves with not a lot of unsettling of the leaves.

So it's just kind of grown around. One number two, baby. Let's go.

This one's complete opposite of what number one was, which is really nice. There's a little more like fruit in this one. So there's a little more like green apple.

I don't get as much of that like reduction like I did in the first one with like the honeysuckle and like the burnt sugar kind of smell. I get a little apricot as well which is kind of cool. Like dried.

I don't know. Let's just try it now. At this point, this wine for sure is a little more complex.

It hits your palette, but there's a lot more going on. It sits and kind of just like really develops and lingers for a really long time. The acidity might be a little bit higher than the first one just because like of the roundness that this wine has. >> It's more floral.

It has like a more exotic fruit set like white peach and a little pineapple. It smells a little piffy like a little bit like the you know lemon pith or orange or grapefruit pith. A little bitter almost.

It smells bitter to me, but in a appealing way, not in a off-putting way. Quincy almost round and rich. The alcohol is elevated, but it still is very much in balance.

It has extract and power. There's some oak, but it's not overly new at all. It's a rich white wine. >> I'm going to have to take a guess.

I'm going to have to take a stab at it. Do you know? Not really sure.

I know. Chris Chardonnay, California 2021. Okay, so this is an Italian wine.

Um, I do believe that there's a little weird little finesse to this wine. There's good phenolics. There's no oak.

So, I'm going to say that this is Fiono um from Southern Italy and the vintage is 2023. All right, we're ripping. I don't think I've got any of these right. >> Wine number three.

Swine smells like red. I don't know if you know what red smells like, but for sure uh red >> smelling just like whatever kind of red candy you can get. I think this is what it smells like.

Black cherry, blackberries. Yeah, like a little funkiness all the way on the back end. Let's just try it.

Low to medium tannins. It's definitely just lingers. The acidity is really nice.

The the fruit itself, you can definitely taste like it's like almost raisiny and I you can kind of get the smell off of it as well. On the palette, it sits and lingers, especially like on the front part. I want to try to guess pino, but I don't know.

Well, there's a part of me that really thinks like even just like off the nose that it's more of a Sanjuazi or a Keianti. I'm kind of like split between the three, but I do know that Keianti might be like a little bit stronger. And I feel like I guessed Pino in a lot of the first season.

So, I'm going to try to go away from the wines that I guessed first season and try something different the second season. Just like Chris with the camera. Really beautiful red wine.

The tannins don't really overpower. It was really nice. It sits on the palette.

Not super heavy. garnet or ruby kind of not so um dense that you can't see through it but it is a pretty good looking wine in the glass looks pretty rich ceda blackberry poisonberry piss on the nose you're definitely getting a forest or an earth to the wine there's like a scarletness you know like you're kind of in danger but you're not but you like it it's almost like you're having dinner with alvera Elvra whatever however um anyone one pronounces it. There's a foresty running from a wolf in the forest kind of nature to this wine. The Black Forest in Germany maybe, but I'm not in Germany with this wine, don't get me wrong.

There's a good amount of fruit. There's a good amount of tannon. The fruit and the tannon is really well integrated.

So, I'm basically just having a look cuz I'm just trying to set I'm trying to deduct what grape varieties it's not. So, I was like, could it be nebloo? I looked at the glass.

There's no real terracotta or bricking to it. So, I'm going to cancel out that. Could be Sanio.

Yeah. from a probably something slightly north of Kianti just because there's a deepness of the berry rather than that kind of roasted more uh confected note that you might get from something down south where it's a little warmer. Could be from higher elevation. It could be Cabernet.

I'm kind of leaning towards that Cabernet Merllo. Could be a super tuscan. That's kind of in my head at the moment.

Compare French wines to Italian wines. I think about what cuisine it goes with. So, do I think that I instantly want food with this or can I actually sit and have this in the glass for a while and and start smell it and really really enjoy it.

Is the tannon aggressive is another thing. Sometimes the the tannins on French wines I sometimes feel are a little bit more kind of elegant while Italian tannins can be there to create a dryness so you want to eat or you want to have that wine with food. So, seems heavy on the plum notes.

So, I'm going to say that this wine is >> wine number three is obviously a red wine. It is first of all, I think it's important to note that it's it's transparent. It's a thin skin variety.

On the nose, it's all about cherry, like red cherry fruit. Also has this savor to it that is really distinctly Mediterranean. Rosemary and thyme and a little bit juniper, olive scrub, olive brush.

To me, this could only be from one place in the world that I love. On the palette, it's driven by acidity. It has distinct tannins.

It's moderate to high tannin. It's structured. It's super dry.

The cherry fruit is still there, but it's not driving the show. It's all about structure here. >> The grape is Merlo predominant. For wine number three, I'm guessing Sanuazi Italy 2021.

Merwood Blend France 2019. >> All these wines were really, really tasty. This one for sure for like how cold it has been getting in the air and like kind of where I would lean towards of what I would want to be eating at this point um would be closer to something I'd want to drink right now. >> So, I don't think I got any of them right. So, that would cool though.

I'm going to be so upset if this one is Chevy and I I've just been guessing that all season one. Did Sam guessing called Chardonnay? Italian Chardonnay actually on this one.

So, what do we have? Ooh, Chardonnay. Wow.

I really thought wine number two was Chardonnay. Wrong. The first one.

It >> is it an Italian? Chardonnay >> from Slovenia. >> Oh, Slovenian. It's just next door.

That was a pretty good choice. Hadello. It's in Australian.

This is delicious. I got the grape. And I kind of almost got the cuz I did say freely.

Just a stone throw away from where I described. I'm quite excited by that. >> LIVES IN FREELY. >> OH, THAT'S what I was tasting. The boots after he walked.

All right, off to a to a good start. >> Okay, so wine number one is Hideel 2021 Chardonnay from the Vipava Valley in Slovenia. This is an incredible producer, Andrea Patana, who is from Frei, but chose to make wine here in the Vipava Valley because he thinks it's the most true expression of Pona soil, which is the soil of this whole area of northeastern Italy in Frei and Slovenia. And he makes Chardonnay, Malvesia, and Sony Blanc in this really remote, verdant, high altitude terrace vineyards, all organic, biologically farmed, really like incredible small project from a really experienced wine maker in this region.

To me, this is really like worldclass Chardonnay from a remote area in wine. You can buy this in stores. It is a small production, so it's hard to find.

Um, but retail, this is about $50 to $60. I mean, it's a screaming deal compared to burgundy. >> This is the new season colors for Burberry that we've got in this bag. It's really pretty and it's a magnum bag, so obviously it's expensive.

Okay, so I called Fano for this one cuz I was a little confused. Why number two? >> Piccolo. Is that gray variety?

No, >> from Italy, right? Oh, again from up north. Cool.

So, another Italian gra. So, I got the place Italy. That was good. >> Nice. >> Definitely the texture on this wine was really, really incredible.

An amazing amazing wine. >> So, Italian wine completely wrong. I definitely said uh California Chardonnay for the second one. So, you know, >> season 2 started off strong for Justin over here.

I honestly really like the second one a lot. Wine number two is Dalia Maurice Piccolo Biano 2023. This is from the Kolorian Tali and it's made by Jean Paulo Venica of Venica and Venica.

But this is his personal project. This is Criolano with a dollop of Rabola Giala from high altitude really famous vineyards in Rosato in the Koliantali. And Jean Paulo got the inspiration to make this wine from Jean Luis Sha's armage blanc.

He actually ages this in old shave blanc barrels. And I think it's such an inspiring expression of Freelano because to me and obviously Jean Paulo Freelano is similar to white ran varieties Marson and Rousan in so many ways. It's a heavyweight extracted high alcohol rich powerful white wine and it can age forever.

It's a broad shoulder linebacker style white wine. I always think of like the expression it's not what you wear but it's how you wear it. So it is backed by acidity.

It's not like goopy or gloppy because of its extract and richness and alcohol. Still finishes clean but it has so much power. >> And why number three? Are we gonna be in Italy again or are we gonna be in France which I calls everybody should read some more wine books this year.

Feels like Bordeaux bottle. See if it is Keianti God. >> It is Sanji. So yeah.

So Sanjay Gi Classico uh 2022. >> Well I said Sanjay. I also said this possibility of Keianti and what was the other one I said? >> I called Merlo. I was right on where it's from. >> Bama. >> Oh, I thought like I always thought Keianti has like a bigger like a bigger wine or Sanjabes in the bigger wine. >> Ki is Sanji. >> Ki is Sanjay. >> Yeah.

Yeah. >> So I was right. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Oh, sick. Okay. >> Ki is just the area. >> Oh, but so Sanjay is the is the grape. >> Yeah.

Yeah. >> Keianti is the area. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Oh, cool. >> So you got to write. >> So I got it right. Okay, so wine number three is Keianti Classico from Chileano Dopra 2022.

One of the most exciting young producers in the region. They're in San Kashiano in the north of Keanti Classico, which is very, very warm and soil is all sand. So it lends itself to some whole cluster fermentation, which they do do here. just a really pure but exciting kind of different expression of Sanjioves which I love and I think this is a really fun wine to show people the different sides of Sanju and Keianti classicalico.

This winter chory salad is really a staple of Taberneta this time of year as we're moving into winter. This is Italian choris, radikio, rosa and castl franco from Italy with a black truffle vinegarette and toasted hazelnuts. >> Ooh, this is really pretty. >> Oh, it's so pretty. You can just like smell it.

It smells so good. >> Looks like me in the morning. >> That's how your hair looks. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. >> Oh yeah. that um that black truffle vinegarette comes in with a punch. It's delish. >> It's really nice though. There's like uh you definitely get the acidity like before and like a little after you eat your chores, >> but there's like a nice like balsamic reduction or like that like like a vinodto kind of like reduction of red wine that's really that's really beautiful on there. >> I always lean on what grows together goes together and I love black truffle with Chardonnay. um especially in a kind of lighter expression like a salad and also the hazelnut component.

This literally smells and feels like hazelnuts and it has that kind of richness to it. Um and so I thought that Chardonnay would be a natural pair with the kind of accessory components to the salad outside of the chory. So definitely something to try and it's regionally appropriate being from Fuli which is the home of chores.

It's amazing how like well hazelnut with bitter greens goes. >> This is I honestly could eat this every single day. >> How pretty are these leaves though? I always want to eat salad with my hands. >> Very intense little flavors. Little fermenty, little nutty, little pink, a little red, little balsamicy and vinegary.

It's whether you need like a something to kind of run alongside it or if you need something to neutralize your palette or you just need something to like give a little creaminess almost blanket those those intense like sharpness of acidity and sharpness of of fermenty and sharpness of nuts and kind of thing. >> I'm kind of stuck between the second one and the giant honestly. I think um with like the dark like raisiny dark like black like a black cherry like those kind of like smells and notes off the off the keianti I think work really well with something like this especially with like once you hit the hazelnuts um that fat really kind of like comes through and shines throughout with the wine and >> with the salad. But I also like the second one just because I do think like what you're talking about.

I think the heaviness of the wine itself counterbalances the lightness and the bitterness of everything else that's going on in the salad. It probably pairs better with this than >> the Keianti. >> I thought that this would be a great pairing with the chory salad because choris are bitter and bitter and bitter actually go really well together in the world of food and wine pairings. It kind of almost cancels out the bitterness.

It's like 2 + 2 equals 5. And because it's so regional, it works so well in so many ways. To me, it's very transporting.

It really takes you there. This is for sure what you would be served if you were in the region is great. Fullbodied, rich friolano with chores.

This is very traditional. >> The sandy basis on like the aromomas on the nose is like with the salad and the the smell of that vinegarette and the nuts. I don't think like traditionally you think of pairing red wine with a salad just because of how salads are just really delicate and they don't lend themselves to being able to be paired up with something like a red, especially with tannins. But I think with the bitter notes, the reductioness of some of like the actual like salad dressing, the hazelnut, it kind of all comes together really well.

This I chose for this pairing because this is another example of a bitter and bitter equaling less bitter. Um, Sanjioves is inherently bitter. Um, but it's also it becomes in my opinion like even more fruity and I think that chores also have like tannin structure to them.

They're like to me the most meaty, hearty, intense of all lettucees. They're they're really like the main course of lettucees and having some structure in wine is they can handle it. So, I think that it is kind of unexpected, but also with the black truffle, I thought it would be interesting.

And I often uh love having like roasted radikio with sanjuves. It to me is like one of my favorite pairings. I also think it's like so revoly as as a winning pairing.

And so I thought why not try it in this in this format and it ended up being great. >> Wine number one. I do like the oak influence accentuating the nuttiness of that wine. Number two, I do like how it kind of it's almost like a a duna.

We call it a duna in Australia. Um a duvet comforter. It's very comforting that wine after so much going on in salad, but I love the aromatics of the Sanji basis and the Kianti in alongside smelling the salad and stuff like that.

So, I'm going to go with the red >> Keianti. The Sanji Basy has it. It's such a pretty suie and I just learned that there's there's whole bunches which really kind of bring out the clarity of the fruit in this wine.

So >> to me it's it's really a tossup which pairing is my favorite. I however would say that my favorite pairing would be the Dalia Marice wine number two the Freolano. Being in the world of Italian wine, I am I lean so much on regional cuisine of Italy and Italian chores are like GR crew in terms of food and a culinary specialty.

They're so special. They're so exciting to me when they are in season and when you have them there in Italy, it's like so special. I mean, they're so special.

Tardivo is a town. It is a village and there are chory is named after that village. It's so special.

So, it's really like as Italian as it gets and they're so delicious and it's also kind of an acquired taste. They're definitely not for everyone because of the level of bitterness, but I think that if um you have that moment of the perfect wine like this with that dish of chores, it can be just so transforming and um that's what great food and wine is all about. So, I would go with Friolano because it's a cultural specialty um to eat great Italian chores from the northeast of Italy with great Folano. >> Thank you, Taberneta, for letting us be here. >> Oh, yeah.

Thank you. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. >> I don't know if anybody's be able to beat this. >> And no one really knows us about Justin, but uh you're a salad freak. >> I love salads. Yes. >> Yeah. So, this is a great way to start a season, too. >> Yeah.

So, this is right up Justin's alley. Um, and um, I love a good Chardonnay. So to be able to kind of close my eyes and reminisce about drinking that Chardonnay on a furry rug.

Love it. >> Thanks for doing this here and thanks for drinking Italian wine.