Acquerello this Saturday! thoughts on pairings vs bottle?

Epicurean Exploits - Food and Recipes
1

My husband and I are headed to Acquerello this Saturday to celebrate our anniversary! Excited for such a treat.

We are debating whether to do pairings or buy a bottle or one person does pairings plus a bottle?

Thoughts?

http://www.acquerello.com/wine_list/wine.pdf

2

Are you going to do the tasting menu?

Their wine list is very long on Italian, which I have little knowledge.

You can do what we did - bring a bottle or two as back up and scope out the menu and wine options. This way you are not committed. We ended up opening ours - 2001 Burg.

3

Since you’ll be eating at a truly extraordinary restaurant and celebrating your anniversary, this is the time to pull that special bottle out of your cellar that you’ve been saving for just the right moment.

4

Happy anniversary to you and Paul! What year was your wedding?

5

Thanks!! Got married in 2010! Time flies.
We have a bottle of 1984 Diamond Creek Red Rock Terrace and the 1984 Dunn Cabernet so may bring one of those. We also have a 2002 Dom but may save that for my 30th or our 5 year anniversary.

6

Most likely, yes! We did the tasting menu last year and really enjoyed it.

7

Mazel Tov. 1984 DC RRT is a very good bottle. We had all the DC wines 1984-87 for my 50th in May 2011 and the 84s clearly stole the show.

8

Easy decision! [thankyou.gif]

9

Hi, I am somewhat conflicted here. Yes, for a special dinner a special bottle can be magic. However, this is an extraordinary Italian restaurant with an extraordinary wine program. If you are going to do the tasting menu, you may be assured that much thought went into the pairings. And, if I may, and this is just my opinion, I am not sure that California Cabernet, even a terrific bottle, will be the best match for the meal you will enjoy. Of course, you can take the middle ground, and ask for some suggestions on some whites and/or reds by the glass for the courses leading up to the main meat course, where you most likely would want your Cabernet. If it were me, and this is just my opinion, I would probably go for the pairing they have selected. Regardless, have a great dinner and a very Happy Anniversary!

Cheers, [cheers.gif]
Andrew

10

+1
The somm team at Acquerello is fantastic and I trust their pairings. CA Cab would prob. not be the best match.

11

I’m not a fan of tasting menus - I don’t like all the small bites and the constant process of serving and removing courses. Assuming I am with someone I want to converse with, I prefer to go with 2 or 3 courses, and have a glass with each choice. When I last ate at Acquerello last summer, this is what I did. And I was very happy with what they chose for me by the glass. Or have a glass of white with the lobster panzarotti (sp?) and share a bottle of Italian red with the rest of the meal.

Acquerello is tops in wine selection and service - let them know where your tastes run, make your menu selections, and let them handle it. For me, it was perfect.

12

If you like Cal Cabs, I bet you’ll find those wines, if they are showing well, to go quite nicely with the food.

People give me that type of pairing advice, if I followed it, I’d almost never have red wine with my food since I eat 90% fish.

I’m not that familiar with those cabs, but I’d guess they would go as well with the food as some of the SuperTuscans (i.e., Italian modern cabernet).

Nonetheless, if you don’t mind younger wines, there are many nice choices there. 04 Produttori Barbaresco is hard to go wrong with. If you are willing to go north of $200, plenty of stellar options.

13

+1 Same reasons.

14

I agree, Barry, and have enjoyed a nicely aged Cabernet there on more than one occasion.

15

Let Giancarlo and his son take care of you. They have tremendous food and will offer up great pairings to suit your tastes and order. Leave your wondeful cabs at home and revel in the Italians in one of SFs best overall restaurants. And Happy Anniversary!

16

Checking back in…

Just a wonderful, amazing experience. I felt so lucky to be there and enjoyed the incredible food and wine.

We asked our somm for thoughts on the wine pairings because we both ordered the seasonal tasting menus. He mentioned that most of the pairings would be white wine or dessert wine so we started exploring buying a bottle each.

We ended up getting the 2006 Stoplman L’Avion and the 2006 Marion Amarone. The 2006 Stoplman had the weight of a chard and paired well with our first few courses. We then switched to the red and the Amarone was wonderful. Just my style of bigger, richer wine.

Can’t wait to return!

17

Excellent! Glad you enjoyed!

Andrew