June 19\nwas the reopening day, after the forced closure for Covid19, both of the\nrestaurant and of the Four Seasons hotel in Florence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Piero\nBenvenuti, great gourmand, has invited some friends: Liudmila Musatova,\nFrancesca Testi, Stefano Fanticelli, Simone Fracassi and myself, to the\nreopening dinner of the “Palagio” restaurant of the Four Seasons\nHotel in Florence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The table\nfor the occasion had been placed on a beautiful lawn, next to the outdoor bar\nof the hotel. Ours was one of only three tables prepared for dinner. Vito\nMollica, chef of the restaurant and head of catering, came to our table to\noffer us the evening menu that had been chosen by Piero Benvenuti who had also\ndecided to match the wines with the dishes that would be served. I had allowed\nmyself to bring a champagne, J. de Telmont “Heritage”, a 1964 vintage\nros\u00e9, 100% Pinot Meunier, one of the 120 bottles marketed by the Maison a few\nyears ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The sky\nwas completely starry, the temperature was pleasant and the sound of the piano\nwas muffled. The menu began with “Puttanesca style shellfish salad”,\npaired with the savory and fresh champagne of the Egly Ouriet house “Les\nvignes de Vrigny”. The Cristal Ros\u00e9, vintage 2008, was enhanced with the\n“Cavatelli cacio e pepe with marinated red prawns and spiked squid”.\nThe flavor and minerality of the Cristal enhanced the flavors of the dish. With\nthe following dish: “Chianina Chateaubriand and Iberian pork pluma with\nsummer mushrooms”, it was paired, perhaps in a bit bold way, with two\nwhite wines, the Bourgogne Hautes Cotes de Nuits, 2011 vintage of the Domaine\nMeo Camuzet and the Puligny Montrachet Les Pucelles, vintage 2010, by Olivier\nLeflaive. After these two white wines followed a pinot noir exactly the Bonnes\nMares, vintage 2016, by Domaine Bruno Claire, with a ripe cherry and an intense\nviolet flavor. It was a pleasant infanticide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\ndessert: “zuppa inglese, with fiordilatte ice cream” was married to\nthe Heritage ros\u00e9, vintage 1964, of the Maison J. de Telmont. Olfactory finish\nof zabaglione, while the taste was sapid, mineral, with lemon and citrus\nflavors. A champagne of only 56 years, which has not yet reached the peak of\nits life. What to say ?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here are\nmy tasting notes on the wines of the evening:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
EGLY\nOURIET<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n AOC LES VIGNES\nDE VRIGNY, PREMIER CRU, S.A.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n (Grapes:\n100% Pinot Meunier)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Grapes\nfrom the Vrigny vineyard. 20% is from reserve wines. Spontaneous fermentation\nwithout added yeasts and 20% is done in wood. The first stop on the lees lasts\na year. Bottling takes place without filtration, the bubbles are quite fine and\nquite numerous. Very light golden yellow color. Nose characterized by aromas of\nbrioche bread, golden smith apple, wafer fru fru and hard almond shell. The\ntaste is striking its pleasant sapidity accompanied by minerality and a copious\nfreshness that makes the wine completely balanced without making the alcoholic\nmass feel minimized. The body is medium and in the long persistence it is\nsupported by acidity. The body tends to widen in the mouth rather than go deep.\nIt is the freshness that helps him to go deep. In the end the golden smith\napple returns, felt on the nose, if you lick your lips you feel them salty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n (91\/100)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n LOUIS\nROEDERER<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n CRISTAL\nROSE ‘, 2008 vintage<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n (Grapes:\n56% Pinot Noir and 44% Chardonnay)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Only 17%\nmakes wood and the malolactic fermentation is carried out for only 19%. It\nremained on the lees for 8 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Antique\npink color. The bubbles, initially, are quite fine and then become fine and\nquite numerous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nolfactory casket opens to aromas of cherry, raspberry, chalk, brackish, pine\nresin, Valda pastille, tomato pulp, ending with puffs of brioche bread.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The bubble\nis always a little exuberant and needs a little stop in the cellar (for future\nbottles) to express itself more delicately. It is a riot of flavor and\nminerality that invade the entire oral cavity accompanied by the taste of\nchalk. Perfectly balanced wine with medium body and great freshness. Its\npersistence is very long. Momunetal taste, despite the fact that the wine is still\nvery young. My score in the future, when this champagne is more expressive to\nthe nose and taste and the bubbles are more docile, will be subject to\nincrease. <\/p>\n\n\n\n (98\/100)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n DOMAINE\nMEO CAMUZET<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n BOURGOGNE\nHAUTES C\u00d4TES DE NUITS, vintage 2011<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n (Grapes:\n100% Chardonnay)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Straw\nyellow color with lemon yellow reflections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The nose\nreveals aromas reminiscent of the episperm (second skin of boiled chestnut),\nmint, eucalyptus, white pepper, blond leather, Marseille soap, sweet bois\u00e9\nnotes and cotton starch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the palate\nit is sapid and mineral with an episperm (wood) flavor and medium body. Not\nwell balanced wine, there is a fluctuating effect between alcohol and\nfreshness. Its persistence is long, with a bois\u00e9 finish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (89\/100)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n DOMAINE\nOLIVIER LEFLAIVE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n PULIGNY\nMONTRACHET LES PUCELLES, vintage 2010<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n (Grapes:\n100% Chardonnay)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This wine\nrests for 18 months before being bottled, of which 6 months in steel vats and\n12 months in barriques, of which 25% of first passage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The 2010\nvintage gave more ready wines than the 2009 which was more austere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Intended\ngolden yellow color.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The nose\nreveals aromas of parsley, green celery leaf, blond leather, slight episperm\n(second skin of boiled chestnut, it is a woody note), Marseille soap, white\npepper and more intense bois\u00e9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mouth a little\noily, savory, mineral with medium body. Wine with a slightly fluctuating\nbalance between alcohol and freshness. Alcohol dominating freshness is felt in\nalternating moments and vice versa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It burns\nyour throat a little.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Its\npersistence is long with a bois\u00e9 finish. It is not very frequent to find the\nperfect gustatory balance in Burgundy white wines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For me,\nthe gustatory balance is essential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (90\/100)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n DOMAINE\nBRUNO CLAIRE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n BONNES\nMARES GRAND CRU, vintage 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n (Grapes:\n100% Pinot Noir)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Ruby red\nmantle with purple textures. From the glass rise aromas of cherry, tomato\npaste, sweets from the outside of the sugared almond, raspberry, light white\npepper, intense straw, ending with pleasant floral notes of iris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The taste\nis pleasant, with flavors of ripe cherry and intense violet. The body is medium\nand the wine is almost balanced, it has a slight swinging effect between\nalcohol and freshness. The tannins are quite broad (5\/6) initially silky, and\nthen in the final dry, slightly, the upper gum (effect of the bois\u00e9). Its\npersistence is long with a bois\u00e9 (episperm) finish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A very\nyoung wine that will surely lose its swinging effect over time and the wood\nwill integrate more with the wine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n (94\/100)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n J. DE\nTELMONT “HERITAGE” ROSE ‘, vintage 1964<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n (Grapes:\n100% Pinot Meunier)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Intense\ncherry pink color, shiny with orange reflections. The perlage is abundant and\nfairly fine at the beginning, then slowly becoming very fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The sense\nof smell is like an ancient casket, which has remained closed for centuries,\nwhich, gradually, opens, begins to tell its story and, like this wine with the\npause in the glass, tells us about its aromas and its olfactory evolution .<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dry\nmedicinal herb and fresh (hairy) leather emerge at first, followed by dried\napricot with green highlights, red rose, candied cherry, Virginia blond\ntobacco, wet earth, salt, iodine, prune, licorice root , soy sauce, raspberry,\nto finish with a touch of zabaglione.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The flavor\nis dominated by sapidity and raspberry, followed by mineral and citrus fruits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\nsurprises for its perfect balance and for its well-measured freshness which,\naided by the sapidity and minerality, does not make the alcoholic mass feel at\nall. Its intense aromatic persistence is long with a pleasant finish of dried\napricot, zabaglione and lemon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (95\/100)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It was a\nvery pleasant evening, for the company, the food, the location and the wines.\nWhen Piero Benvenuti organizes an evening, we are always sure to be at the top\nof the pleasure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" June 19 was the reopening day, after the forced closure for Covid19, both of the restaurant and of the Four Seasons hotel in Florence. Piero Benvenuti, great gourmand, has invited some friends: Liudmila Musatova, Francesca Testi, Stefano Fanticelli, Simone Fracassi and myself, to the reopening dinner of the “Palagio” restaurant of the Four Seasons Hotel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":10141,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","has-post-thumbnail","category-uncategorized","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.paolobaracchino.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/IMG-20201103-WA0020.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pav13q-2Hy","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paolobaracchino.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paolobaracchino.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paolobaracchino.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paolobaracchino.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paolobaracchino.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10388"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.paolobaracchino.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10392,"href":"https:\/\/www.paolobaracchino.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10388\/revisions\/10392"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paolobaracchino.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paolobaracchino.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paolobaracchino.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paolobaracchino.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}