Wine-ings: Insolia-Grecanico Ramí COS 2009 Sicily Italy

On Friday night, I got to see the love of my life again... and by "love of my life" I'm referring to New York City, epicenter of my universe.  I went in to celebrate a belated Father's Day and the end of a school year with a dinner at Colicchio & Sons followed by the play Food and Fadwa.  (The play was SPECTACULAR.  For more information about it, please see the end of the post.)

Duck confit with pickled cherries, haricot verts, and polenta

Colicchio & Sons was amazing- as always!  The meal began with freshly made sesame bread bread that is baked on premises and served warm.  (I try not to dig into the bread baskets at restaurants to save room for dinner, but at Colicchio & Sons I can't help but go back for seconds... so good!) As an appetizer, I ordered a radish salad with bacon bits and sherry vinaigrette.  My entree was a duck confit with pickled cherries and haricot verts.  Every time I visit, C&S is pickling something new: watermelon, radishes, cherries.... The cherries were a nice accent.  The bitterness of the brine balanced the sweet cherry, making it appropriate for a main meat dish.  For dessert I had Stephen's cookie jar and a side of caramel popcorn.  Yum!

Insolia-Grecanic Rami 2009

Although everything about the meal was memorable, the wine was the true discovery of the evening.  I ordered something I had never had before, a wine listed as "Insolia-Grecanic Rami COS 2009 Sicily Italy."  I have tried numerous wines and varietals, but I confess I was unfamiliar with Insolia and Grecanic.  The wine's color was truly unique; it could have been mistaken for a mead.  It was a rich golden brown.  At first glance the server described it as "straw," but we all agreed it was more complex than that.  It certainly had honey tones.

*Side note from a dork: I am in the process of settling into a new apartment.  As a result, I happen to have Sherwin Williams paint samples in front of me.  If memory serves, the wine is like a SW 6677 a.k.a. Goldenrod, but it was a few days ago and this is a piece of cardboard paint sample I'm looking at... haha

The taste was indescribable, but I'll try!  The flavor crept on me.  At first, it tasted like a thick water... then whoa!  There was nothing fruity or sweet about it.  Nothing grassy or herbal either.  It was stone.  And nut.  And earth.  Some internet searches revealed that the wine is aged in conrete and fermented in cement.  That certainly accounts for the distinct taste!  I was- and still am- bewildered in a good way.  I would not call it run of the mill or easy drinking, but it certainly left an impression.  I am always on the quest for unique wines.  I kind of loved it.

After describing the Rami to a friend of mine, he guided me to a Satrico 2010 Lazio Bianco for comparison.  It's 34% Chardonnay, 33% Sauvignon, and 33% Trebbiano Giallo.  While it was tasty, it was only a bit reminiscent of the Rami.  To get the Rami from that bottle, you would have to darken the color, strip away the sweetness (there's not much in the Satrico, but you'd have to do away with it all), and amp up all of the minteral/earthy notes that hit you at the end.

Open note to Colicchio & Sons: Please keep a bottle of the Rami on hand for when I'm in next!  I'm still trying to wrap my head around it... in a good way... and it will take at least one more visit before I figure out what all that complexity is!

The cookie jar... complete with a special message!

Caramel popcorn

And now for notes on the play...
Meet Fadwa Faranesh, an unmarried, 30-something Palestinian woman
living in Bethlehem in the politically volatile West Bank. Known for her
delectable cooking and deep-seated sense of duty to her family and aging father, our kitchen maven insists on continuing the preparations for the
wedding of her younger sister, despite constraints of daily life under
occupation. Politics blend with family tensions to create a sometimes
humorous and sometimes heartbreaking meal. Story by Lameece Issaq
and Jacob Kader and directed by Shana Gold, this new play melds the
fight a Palestinian family wages to hold onto its traditional culture with its
need to celebrate love, joy and hope. NYTW teams up with company-in-residence Noor Theatre to present FOOD AND FADWA.
http://www.nytw.org/food_and_fadwa_info.asp