Autumn Recipes

Dear friends,

l’estate sta finendo, as a song from the late eighties used to play, and with shorter days and cooler temperatures, you want to drink and eat more structured and full-bodied dishes and wines. This is why we have thought to present,  highlighting as always the recipes of my niece Flavia Borawska  paired with the wines of Villa Calcinaia, more elaborate dishes for this last quarter,  .

The first recipe we propose is a tuscan stew named Peposo and the wine chosen for the pairing is the Villa Calcinaia Chianti Classico Gran Selezione Vigna Bastignano DOCG.

Peposo is a typical Tuscan dish, originally from a village a few kilometers from Villa Calcinaia  called Impruneta.

Historical research traces the preparation of this dish back to the time of Messer Filippo di Brunellesco Lapi (1377 – 1446). During the construction of the famous dome of the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore it seems that the workers involved in cooking the bricks made extensive use of this dish.

In fact, the bricks for the dome of the Florence Cathedral designed and built by Filippo Brunelleschi were also cooked in the ovens of Impruneta.

The workers, known as fornacini,  used to cook the meat in earthenware containers, placed at the mouth of the oven, while they were preparing the bricks. The long cooking would have softened even the toughest meat which would have reached an almost buttery consistency and which had already been flavored with a generous dose of red wine and peppercorns. After cooking, the dish was always accompanied by abundant rations of bread.

For such a tasty and spicy dish it is certainly necessary to choose a wine with the same structure and intensity. Vigna Bastignano, a Sangiovese coming from a highly calcareous soil, has enough body and flavour to hold up the dish without overwhelming it, adding a certain rhythm to the progression of its aromas and its flavours. Persistent the dish, persistent the wine.

The second proposal for this autumn quarter is the Panna Cotta Salata to be paired with the Villa Calcinaia Vin Santo del Chianti Classico DOC.

Salted panna cotta is a very scenographic dish that, compared to the traditional dessert, much loved and known all over the world, is offered here in its salty version, thanks to the addition of Parmigiano Reggiano. This modification allows you to combine the dish with the Vin Santo of Villa Calcinaia seeking the harmony of flavors by exploiting the contrast between the savory flavour of the salted panna cotta and the sweetness of the wine.

Sweetness that, however, is never cloying because it is supported by an important acidity given to this wine by the Trebbiano grape which is the most important varietal for the making of the Villa Calcinaia Vin Santo del Chianti Classico.