No Whining* About This Wine Dinner

Somehow I skipped over posting about our Wednesday night dinner (Wednesday is when we went to the Colosseum, Palatine Hill, The Roman Forum, etc.)  So here it is.

When Jim and Megan Hobart got married on June 29, 2012 in Vermont, they delayed their honeymoon until after the election.  They went to Rome, and I remember Jim coming back talking about a fun small wine dinner they attended in a restaurant's basement.  

Turns out the restaurant, Roscioli Rimessa, still offers the wine tasting dinner for a maximum of twelve people and is only a nine minute walk from our apartment.  The five of us made up nearly of the attendees.  

But, because it was one big communal table, we all sat in a row next to each other, so we ended up conversing more with the people across the table from us than with each other.  And that turned out great.  

I actually had a single mom named Jill (Jill, if you somehow google your first name and come across this post, I didn't want to be the creepy old guy asking your last name).  She was traveling on her own and was delightful to talk with, as was the German couple (everyone else were Americans) who sat across from us.

The dinner was led by an American woman sommelier.  Alas I've forgotten her name, but she did a great job.  I'm a bit confused about her story exactly, but I believe she's been with Roscioli Rimessa for seven years+ after coming one night to the wine dinner.  She and the owner (co-owner) were dating/living together for five years, but they had a bit of a messy break-up (she had some colorful advice about not dating Italian men, so I crossed that off my to-do list).  But she's still leading the wine dinners (they also have a restaurant, as well as one in NYC) two years after the break-up, so it's not all bad.  

(I take full responsibility for whatever facts I messed up in the above paragraph, but I did get the gist of it.) 

I'm all the way to the right, with

Carol on my left.  Jill was blocked

out in the photo, but was to my right.

The German woman across from

us is framed in this shot by 

Van in the green, and Julia

to his right.  The woman

standing is the American who

led the dinner.

The dinner consisted of six wines, all from different wine regions, and six small plate pairings to go with each wine.  It was great trying wines from regions we had not had vino from before (we've had from three of the regions)

The interest that Carol and I had in wine went from zero to 100 when we tasted our first Super Tuscan (some Italians will argue Super Tuscans aren't really an Italian wine, but spare me your snooty takes, he says nicely whilst banging the table.) 

And of course we could order the wines for delivery to the States (or where ever) or for take away.  The prices were fair, but we didn't order any -- we've got enough in our cellars!

The wines were from (in order of serving):

• Emilia Romagna
• Campania
• Toscana
• Sardegna
• Piemonte
• And an Italian vermouth 

The pairs, separated by slashes: Selection of Italian fresh cheeses/Smoked mackerel, Homemade pesto of wild herbs, ashy goat cheese/selection of cured meats/Cacio e Pepe/aged cheeses and Balsamic/sweet buffalo ricotta, vanilla and peaches.

All in all, it was a ton of fun, good wines, good food, and nice to make new friends, if only for an evening.

*    I used the American word, "whining," but this is one of the rare cases when the  British word is better -- whingeing.  If you doubt me, replace "whining" in the  headline with "whingeing."  See, isn't that more fun to say?  Doesn't it make you  feel like a member of the British landed gentry?  You're welcome for brightening your day! 

Sorry, my British friends, but when I say "rare cases" I'm right.  "Elevator" is better than "lift."  "Truck" is better than "lorry." "First floor" belongs on the ground level, NOT on the second floor.  "Soccer" is more descriptive than "football."  And so on.  Anyhow, I'll grant you that "whingeing" is pretty damn good.  Oh, and "whilst" is better than "while."  But that's pretty much it.  Although there are probably other words where British English is better than American English.

That said, I'd rather have a WRITTEN constitution than an unwritten one.