My mom and dad were up this past weekend to celebrate her birthday, and as is typical of our family, we celebrated with a lot of food and even more wine. From cheese souffles to Giano’s cheesecake, from duck confit to hamburgers, we ate our way through New York.
The weekend’s highlight was a last minute wine tasting at the Italian Wine Merchants, off of Union Square. We had finished brunch with some of my friends at Veselka (heavy-duty Ukrainian fare, with round-the-clock breakfast specials) and were happy not to eat again until dinner. We decided to walk the girls up toward Union Square so they could take the train back uptown, but on the way, it began to drizzle, then to pour. They ducked underground, and we took refuge in the wine shop.
I had read about the Saturday class series because Dad had told me to check out a book “Passion on the Vine” by Sergio Esposito–who happened to be one of the owners of the shop (along with Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich). The store itself is beautiful, with one bottle of each type of wine displayed alone in its wooden box along the wall. The rest of the inventory? It resides in a 180,000 bottle capacity cellar below the main level–as we found out, their primary business is wine distribution. From the door to the back of the store, the wines increase in price, from the Primitivo to the magnum bottle of Barolo. The listings, however, aren’t outrageous, as IWM deals directly with the vineyards.
At the back of the store, behind the display of wines I cannot afford but covet anyway, there is a large kitchen and entertaining space. On Saturday, it was outfitted with tables–each place set with 8 glasses–for the day’s class. (Beyond that space is the in-house salumeria, where they create their own versions of the classic salumi.)
Since we had nothing better to do in the rain, we signed up for the Introduction to Italian Wines. We had a front row table, by the map of Italy, the chefs, and Steve the speaker. As the tasting began, we began to drink–and eat. Most every glass come with a regional pairing, for Italian wine (as Steve kept repeating) is meant to be drunk with food. Round 1 was a Murgo 2004 Brut, a Sicilian bubbly made from the Nerello Mascalese grape. It was semi-dry, a good party wine across many palates, but when paired with prosciutto and melone (cubed by our personal chefs), it acquired a crisper, drier flavor. The second wine, also paired with prosciutto and melone, was rather unmentionable–a slightly sweet and fruity screwcap Tocai Friuliano, made by Joe Bastianich…no wonder it was included.
We started on the reds with the third wine, a Villa Mangiacane 2003 Chianti Classico. Chiantis tend to be very acidic to cut through Tuscany’s regional dishes, hearty fare that includes the bistecca alla fiorentina and pappa al pomodoro. Not usually my favorite, and even when paired with the delicious porcini mushroom ravioli, this Chianti didn’t bowl me over. The fourth wine came alone, and we were happy for the break. It was a Rocche dei Manzoni 2000 Barbera Sorito Mosconi. Now, the barbera grape is the most common grape of the Piedmont region (even though the nebbiolo is more famous), but only recently has it become a wine of note, having gained credibility as a more complex wine. This particular wine had been allowed to age for eight years, which is rather unusual for any barbera–the result was a smooth, rich red, completely delicious and a little too drinkable 
With the next four wines, we moved into unknown territory for me–both in varietals and in price. But I’ll save that for another time.