Rossini is famous for his operas (The Barber of Seville, William Tell), but the Royal Cliff Beach Resort would like you to associate the name Rossini with their Italian restaurant as well.
With new Italian chef Emilio Bertoli in the Rossini kitchen, it was an easy decision as to where the deVine Wine Club should hold its next wine dinner; however, the guests did not get to meet Emilio until later in the evening. “He is sweating in the kitchen,” said the deVine club president Ranjith Chandrasiri in his welcome address.
Michael Moore, “You have to drink Italian wines to begin to understand them.”
Ranjith spoke on the heritage of Italian wines, with more than 20 classified regions and gave thanks to Ekachai Mahaguna of Canpac Beverages, the wine sponsor for the evening.
The guest speaker, Michael Moore, was introduced, who also mentioned the Italian system of classifying wines, and sagely said, “You have to drink Italian wines to begin to understand them.”
As his introduction to the Italian wine dinner, chef Emilio presented an interesting zucchini roll with ham mousse, salmon tartare, bresaola with mascarpone cheese and a tower of mozzarella, cherry tomato, black olives and basil. A veritable panoply of flavors and colors. The wine with this was a Di Giorno Garganega/Chardonnay, which had its admirers, but for me the next white, the Vignale Soave Classico 2010 had more character, but as always, wine appreciation is an individual thing.
We entered the reds with a Di Giorno Merlot/Corvina 2010 accompanying the dish of the night for my taste – a king prawn filled with porcini mousse flavored with truffle oil.
Wine of the night was the Vignale Valpolicella Classico Superiore 2009, and Ekachai indicated that this had a RRP of B. 870. Look for it at your favorite bottle shop.
Another excellent wine dinner, and deVine as usual!
(L to R) Michael Moore, Ekachai Mahaguna (managing director of Canpac Beverages Ltd.), Ranjith Chandrasiri (president of deVine Wine Club and deputy general manager of Royal Cliff Hotels Group), Emilio Bertoli (head chef of Rossini), and Walter Thenisch (executive chef of the Royal Cliff Hotels Group).
These wine dinners always bring out Pattaya’s luminaries.
