Wednesday, June 30, 2010

At Last

Had a little celebrating to do after our apartment finally sold, so we headed out to the highly recommended Trattoria Tosca in southwest Minneapolis. I liked the wine list for its mix of low, moderate and higher priced wines, and its length of three or four pages. I hate it when the list is too long -- too many choices is as bad as too few.
Our waitperson asked if we were looking for a red, which we were, so she recommended the 2006 Itre Vescovi Barbera d'Asti ($46). We love barbera anyway, so she had an easy sell. Unfortunately, she returned moments later to inform us they were out of that wine. Rats!
Next, I picked the 2007 Domaine Serene Pinot Noir (Willamette Valley), which was on their specials list for $52 (normally $80). It had subtle but not unpleasant notes of rubber, and what Bobby described as a "false start" -- sort of bland at the beginning but developing some spice toward the end. I thought it had a long finish, but Bobby passed judgment: "not a lot of body; thin."
Our third pick was the 2007 Ben Marco Malbec (Mendoza) at $45. Well, the 2007 was listed on the menu but the bottle delivered to the table was a 2008. When I pointed out the difference, our server offered to take $5 off the price, so we decided to try it. This wine had a lot going on: a strong scent of berries, slightly yeasty/syrupy/gamey, a bit tannic at first ... it had a lot of personality. We both liked this one better than the pinot noir.
Tosca's food was uneven; I loved the kumquat salad, and my tagliatelle with crab, cherry tomato and fennel was good but a bit plain. Bobby was impressed with the zucchini "pasta" (no noodles, but zucchini sliced into a spaghetti shape) but his swordfish arrived lukewarm. For dessert, the chocolate custard had a funky texture (the waitress ended up removing it from the bill), but the gelato -- one scoop each of roasted banana, orange olive oil and chocolate/hazelnut -- was perfect.
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Sunday, June 27, 2010

Back to the 'Burbs

So, Winemouth has relocated from West 34th Street in Manhattan to suburban Minneapolis. I haven't lived in a suburb since 1995, but it was time for a change ... and instead of hearing trucks honking outside my window, I saw a bunny in the backyard at breakfast yesterday. Aaah.
A hot night calls for chilled wine, and that's just what Bud brought over on Tuesday. I've only had Basque wine once before, so I was eager to try the 2008 Itsas Mendi Bizkaiko Txakolina. (I love the fact that their Web site doesn't even have an English version yet.) It had the tiniest hint of effervescence and deep floral notes (12.5 percent alcohol, about $21). This luscious white hit the spot with a casual dinner from the incorrectly named Homemade Pizza Co.; their pizza is delicious, but when all you do is cook it in your own oven, I don't think you can honestly call it "homemade." But I guess We Make It, You Bake It just doesn't have the same ring.