#42 - Discuss a bottle of wine with Tony Foreman at Cinghale

OK - have we mentioned here before how many times we have ventured to Cinghiale to try to find Tony Foreman to check this one off the list? Probably not because blogging has been not as stellar these days (timing - we are too busy eating and drinking!!) After many tries, we wandered into Cinghiale fully prepared to stalk Tony Foreman until we could meet him and check this one off the list. Fortunately, Sara was early and had a better idea when she opened up the menu. Since Tony had left for the night, and apparently is headed out on vacation soon, what about asking the Sommelier for a suggestion? Almost as good as talking to Tony himself we reasoned.

So, because of the aforementioned times spent at the bar at Cinghiale, we enlisted our favorite bartender Clark to see if we could speak to Lindsay Willey, Cinghiale's Sommelier. Fortunately for us, we felt like we hit the jackpot. Heather wanted a wine from the Piedmonte region (and Sara was far too indecisive) so Lindsay laid out our best options. And, she helped us pick a great one. A Barbera d'Alba Conterno. So smooth. So delicious.

In picking the wine, she wanted to know all about the foodie quest. Now that we are up to 95, we are starting to feel that it is an accomplishment. And, its getting even more fun to talk about. We told her that she was filling in for Tony and we were prepared to cross it off the list (totally justified because we felt we had a good wine conversation - i.e. no idea what she was talking about!) But, she thought Tony would be interested in coming back to speak with us.

Since we know my blog posts are far too long, I'll cut to the chase. He did come back to the restaurant. Had a great conversation about wine (where Sara realized that she knows nothing about sparkling wine because she likes cava but Heather knows a ton because she has been to the Champagne region!) He was impressed by our wine selection (for which of course we credited Lindsay). When he found that out, he wasn't surprised at all - after all - he trained her! Really great conversation. Very good #96 on the list.

PS - While we had ordered some antipasti, he mentioned to the bartender that we really needed pasta with the wine. Little did we guess that in a few moments, the bartender would arrive with some of the most delectable pasta! And very worthy of the foodie list!! Pasta stuffed with mushrooms with shallots and spinach in an amazing sauce. Perfectly complimented the wine. What was already a spectacular night just got even better!! Thank you Tony, Lindsay and Clark!

Now I guess we have to catch up on other blog posts - but how do you top this?