Two Italians

Our friend Krista, on her way from London, made it through the terrible storm in the Northeast and landed in New York last weekend. She was stopping by for a drink before dinner, and alas, the only red wine in the house was the 2004 Antinori Chianti Classico Riserva we've been saving (a gift from my sister, who got it directly from one of the Antinori daughters, who is a neighbor of hers). It retails for around $28. Well, it was time to pop that cork. I had sampled another vintage of this wine in class last spring and had a similar verdict on this one: It had a very intense red fruit aroma, and was slightly tight and tannic at the start. But it softened after about 20 minutes. As Kevin Zraly said, "This wine cries out for food," so we dived into some parmigiano reggiano with crackers. (Cue contented sigh.)
We set out for Taboon, a Hell's Kitchen restaurant we love at 10th Avenue and 52nd. It's a pan-Mediterranean menu, and they have an adventurous wine list, with several bottles from Israel, Lebanon and Greece. I decided to order an Italian wine I was unfamiliar with: the 2005 Mandrolisai Bovale - Cannonau (Sardinia), at $44. As far as I can recall, the bovale and cannonau grapes were entirely new to me. The wine had notes of spice and leather and was bright and zingy in the glass -- very different from the wine we started out with.
So glad to make a new friend! The wine paired comfortably with the tzaziki and bread (one of most scrumptious loaves in New York City, made in the taboon, or clay oven), fig and pear salad, falafel and chocolate lava cake. What would the holiday season be without a little -- or a lot of -- indulgence?

Photo of the taboon from New York magazine