WTN: three Italians

From dinner last night at Nico Osteria, in which every dish had something green and springy on it, Persephone be praised.

Az. Agr. Denavolo 2014 IGT Emilia-Romagna white wine, "Dinavolino." Equal parts Malvasia di Candia Aromatica, Marsanne, Ortugo, and an "as-yet-unknown" variety. 11.5%. Denavolo is the white-wine side project of La Stoppa's winemarker, Giulio Armani; this is a skin-contact (but stainless-fermented and aged) white. It's a light amber-orange color, with a nose of citrus oil and funky flowers; on the palate, it's unmistakably "orange" but -- unlike in some cases -- the tannins don't overwhelm the freshness of the fruit, and there's a nice balance of richness and acidity that keeps it lively. Good, though not mind-blowing, and versatile with a range of dishes.

Menti 2015 IGT Veneto Garganega, "Riva Arsiglia." In but not of the Gambarella DOC, this is a natural-yeast white, bright, lemony, lithe-but-rich, with a hint of yeasty apple cider on the palate, as the somm had said; but it never strays too far from wine, or from cleanliness. Terrific energy and distinctiveness, and between this and Dinavolino, I wish I'd had a bottle of this and a glass of that instead of the other way around.

Le Potazzine 2001 Brunello di Montalcino. A surprise complementary glass pour from a bottle that had just been rejected by a customer, who pronounced it corked -- but then replaced it with an Amarone. The good news for us was that it wasn't corked, just perfectly aged. Balsamic, leather, and dried cherry in great balance; aromatic and long. Our Sangiovese-drinking tends to be limited to younger weeknight bottles -- straight Chianti Classico or Rosso di Montalcino -- and the prices on Brunello have always deterred me from exploring it further; but every once in a while I taste a wine like this and I have second thoughts.

Then there were glasses of Cappellano Barolo Chinato. Then there were glasses of Montenegro from the 1970s. Then there was a lot of sleep.

Wow, what a great evening.

Brunello: the little brunette is sometimes a challenging wine for those not accustomed to it. But the first customer's rejection turned out to be your delight, so the story ended well.

Brunello, Barolo Chinato AND Montenegro??? No wonder you slumbered.

Sounds as if you didn't do cocktails (how the heck could you?), but next time you're in Nico look for a bartender named Sarah Burr O'Malley. She's cute, lively, and more than a little zany; also knows her stuff around the bar and makes some good drinks.

Bret kept turning up with clean glasses and open bottles. What else were we supposed to do?

If Sarah usually works at the main bar in the hotel lobby, I think I've sat on one of her stools recently, though I was there briefly enough that we didn't introduce ourselves. I'll try to correct that. We do sometimes have cocktails before or after dinner -- they have a nice program, as you know -- but it's already hard enough to limit our consumption there; avoiding spirits sometimes seems like an unfortunate necessity.