Domaine South Presents
Italian Wine Dinner
Featuring Louis/Dressner Selections
Special Importer Guest, Carl Moberg
February 19th 5:30 pm
$125 per person
256-759-9952 to Reserve
Tyrolian Spinach Spaetzle with Spec & Nutmeg Cream
2022 Foradori Fontanasanta Nosiola
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Sicilian Swordfish with Caponata
2024 Occhipinti SP68 Rosso
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Polpa alla Luciana, Chickpea Puree, Crispy Chickpeas
2022 Occhipinti "Siccagno" Nero D'Avola
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Herb & Juniper Marinated Venison, Roasted Romanesco with Currants & Pine Nuts
2022 Occhipinti "Siccagno" Nero D'Avola
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Wild Boar Ragu, Taleggio Polenta
2011 La Stoppa Camporomano Emilia Barbera
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Chocolate Hazelnut Panna Cotta with Burned Honeycomb
NV Luli Vino Chinato
Louis/Dressner Selections is a portfolio of over 100 vignerons hailing from France, Italy, Germany, Portugal, Slovenia and Chile. We are a partnership of Denyse Louis, a native Burgundian, Joe Dressner and Kevin McKenna. Collectively, we spend nearly nine months a year in Europe working with our growers and selecting wines for importation to America.
The Wines
2022 Foradori Fontanasanta Nosiola, Vigneti Delle Domomiti, Italy $55.99
Nosiola is an ancient Trentino grape variety, once spread throughout the region and whose cultivation has since been restricted to the areas of Valle dei Laghi, \ Colline di Trento and Pressano. It is a variety that expresses itself intensely in poor soil vineyards, cultivating wines of great delicacy and longevity.
In the past, Nosiola was always vinified on the skins. The possibility of cultivating 'real' grapes, rich in energy thanks to the biodynamic practices undertaken in the vineyard and the extraordinary strength of the amphora, means that now Foradori has the possibility to undertake an ancient style of winemaking. The amphora (Tinaja from Villarrobledo, Spain), with its shape and the porosity of the clay that it is made from, allows the wine to be in contact with the skins over a longer period of time. This is the true expression of the Nosiola, which is revealed slowly, requiring patience and time.
94James Suckling
Crazy floral aromas of honeysuckle, sage, lemon blossoms and sliced lemons that come through strongly and clearly on the nose and palate. Full-bodied with dried fruit and white apricot flavors. Creamy texture. Lots of flavor. From organically grown grapes.
93Vinous
The 2022 Nosiola Fontanasanta entices with a bouquet that mixes tropical citrus and sweet spice with nectarines and wet stone. This is a model of purity with zesty orange citrus and brisk acidity up front, giving way to an array of exotic inner florals and hints of raw honey. The 2022 tapers off long and staining yet is still remarkably fresh, leaving candied lime to contrast with sour melon. Wow, the 2022 Nosiola is a joy ride yet maintains an immaculate balance.
2024 Occhipinti SP68 Rosso, Sicily, Italy $35.99
Producer notes: "70% Frappato/30% Nero d'Avola. The two varietals are native to Sicily and are grown on red sand soils over limestone rock, with vines averaging 15 years old on two different sites. Two-week maceration in concrete tanks, with pump-overs and gentle punchdowns. Bottled unfiltered. 'SP68' is a road near Arianna's Vittoria estate which lends its name to her flagship white and red. The SP68 wine is essentially Occhipinti's Cerasuolo di Vittoria, without the DOCG designation, by Arianna's choice, since she feels that its quality is not regulated strictly enough."
About. Arianna Occhipinti was 22 years old when she finished her wine studies in Milan and returned to Sicily to revolutionise the wine scene with her wines, which are created out of a respect for the land and the vineyard. She has winegrowing in her blood, she is the niece of Guiusto Occhipinti, winemaker and director of L'Azienda COS, and works all of her vineyards according to the principles of biodynamics taking a non-interventionist approach in the winery in order to allow the wine to find its own path.
Occhipinti SP68 Rosso takes its name from the Strada Provinciale 68, the road that passes right next to the Arianna Occhipinti winery, and comes from plots that are located 280 metres above sea level, composed of red sand and limestone soils.
2022 Occhipinti "Siccagno" Nero D'Avola, Sicily, Italy $48.99
100% Nero d'Avola. From multiple, certified-organic parcels with vines averaging 35 years old, planted on red-sandy, limestone soils and trained in alberello and guyot. The bunches are hand-harvested and destemmed with the berries left whole. Fermentation is spontaneous with native yeasts in 20-hectoliter concrete tanks and with approximately 30 days of maceration and only gentle extraction. The wine is aged for 22 months in 25-hectoliter Slavonian oak botti and is bottled without fining or filtration. Sulfur use is minimal. "Siccagno" is local dialect for "totally dry".
2022 Foradori Morei Teroldego, Vignetti Delle Dolomiti, Trentino, Italy $58.99
100% Teroldego. Local dialect for "dark", "Morei" is a warmer, stonier 2.5 hectares on the Campo Rotaliano plateau near the winery in the foothills of the Dolomites. Elisabetta planted the vines in guyot from massale cuttings in 1984. The farming is certified-biodynamic and the harvest is by hand. The bunches are destemmed, with the grapes going directly into clay amphorae (tinajas from J. Padilla in Spain) for an open-top, spontaneous fermentation without sulfur; the vessels are then closed for 6-8 months of maceration. The wine is bottled without fining or filtering and with its first and only small dose of sulfur. Morei and its identically made companion wine, Sgarzon (from a cooler, sandier site nearby) develop more quickly in clay than the foudre-aged Foradori and Granato and are thus released earlier.
92 points
"A beguiling blend of black raspberries, exotic spice, leather straps, cocoa and crushed stones makes the 2022 Teroldego Morei impossible to ignore. This is juicy and fresh in style with lifted textures, crisp wild berry fruits and zesty acidity that keeps the energy remarkably high. Tactile mineral tones add a pleasant crunch as hints of white pepper and pomegranate linger over a bed of gently grippy tannins. The 2022 Morei has a more immediate feel than past vintages, yet its balance can not be denied. The purity alone is spellbinding." - Eric Guido, Vinous Media March 2024
2011 La Stoppa Camporomano Emilia Barbera, Italy $39.99
This Barbera grape matures well on these hot and sun-drenched hills and transforms into a wine which improves with age, owing this to its fresh and lively acidity. This is why a pure Barbera is produced only when the quality and the quantity of the harvest allows it.
Age of vines: 20 and 45 years
Now at peak maturity, this Italian Barbera displays bricking garnet edges and an evolved nose of dried cherry, leather, and forest floor. The silken palate offers flavors of tamarind, black tea, and truffle that scored 94 points. Twelve years of bottle age have softened the once-prominent tannins from extended barrel aging, now harmonized at 13.5% alcohol. The endless finish reveals layers of dried rose and balsamic. Decant for wild boar pappardelle or aged Parmigiano to appreciate its profound tertiary development and regional typicity.
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NV Luli Vino Chinato, Piedmont, Italy $45.99
Luli Chinato Moscato (ABV 16%): The base wine is unsulfured, certified-organic Moscato from Vittorio Bera e Figli. Some of the key botanicals are two types of quinine, vanilla, lemon zest, clove and cinnamon. The creation of Luli was Mauro’s initial project and was first bottled in 2003.