Perfect meal with a 2001 Brunello di Montalcino?

Received a bottle for my birthday last October and it's time enjoy it with the right meal. It's not an over the top bottle but will (I hope) be special to me.

From my little bit of searching it sounds like something with pork and mushrooms would be a good bet. But I'm open to anything that will showcase this wine.

We're doing the cooking and have a great butcher shop. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Fred

My own favorite for two with Brunello is Bistecca a la Fiorentina (Florentine steak) that ideally made with a 3 - 3 1/2 lb Porterhouse steak at least 1 1/2" thick, the steak rubbed with garlic and grilled in the traditional manner and served with nothing but a generous pat of butter, that melting to create its own sauce. Some salt and pepper the steak before grilling but most Italians prefer sprinkling with salt and pepper only when the steak is served.

Serve with a sweet cream and butter enriched potato puree.

If a fine Porterhouse is not available, 2 1-1.5 lb T-bone steaks will do nicely.

Best
Rogov

I agree with Daniel, but methinks the '01 might still be a little young. Our rule of thumb is 15 years, or in this case 2016. Again much depends on the producer.

You don't say WHICH 2001 Brunello -- that would make a difference in how ready it is now. I don't think EVERY Brunello needs 15 years but the best wines do. Even then you can open the wine a few hours before the meal and that could help.

I don't think Brunello is terribly difficult to match. And a Tuscan steak is an excellent suggestion.

But I also like the idea of a pork roast. The Arista roast is a very Italian recipe, and the story behind it is really interesting. You take a pork loin roast and cut little slits all over it. Then you slice up a few cloves of garlic and put the little garlic slices into the slits. Then you tie a couple of branches of rosemary so that they contact the surface of the meat, and roast until tender. This roast is strongly flavored and makes for interesting leftovers.

Arista is a Greek word, and the story is that representatives of the Greek Orthodox Church came to Florence for a conference. I believe they were asking for help with the Turks who were threatening Constantinople. The answer was that the help would be forthcoming if the Greek church would acknowledge the primacy of the Pope and that offer was not accepted -- Constantinople fell a few decades later. Here is a slightly different story from Artusi.

http://italianfood.about.com/od/porkrec ... lr1689.htm

I won't bother Googling up a recipe but we also really enjoyed a pork roast rubbed with crushed fennel seeds. The fennel seeds have a kind of licorice note which picks up elements in the bouquet of the Brunello so you get a nice synergy going.

If you want to stick with your idea of pork and mushrooms, I would suggest going with pork tenderloin instead of the loin roast. I don't have a recipe at hand but I'd think in terms of little medallions of pork tenderloin served in a creamy mushroom sauce, of course using dried porcini for maximum flavor.

Thank you for your tips. I appreciate the suggestion of a good steak, especially porterhouse, as I'm a firm believer in simple, high-quality ingredients prepared well. And we can get dry-aged prime with no trouble.

But I'm thinking "fancy." Maybe butterflied pork loin or flank steak stuffed and rolled with caramelized onions, goat cheese and raisins with a mushroom cream sauce. Maybe some pine nuts in the stuffing, I don't know.

The Brunello is Caisano-Colombaio. Most reviews I've read say it's drinking well now and should for the next 4 years or so. Will decant hours in advance.

Love the idea of fennel-anise-licorice notes and definitely want the porcini flavor. Just traipsed around in the woods in a couple of different places yesterday looking for morels with no luck.

I guess I'm in no particular hurry so will keep obsessing.

Fred

Sounds to me like you know exactly what you want to do. My recco: Do It.

Sounds to me like you know exactly what you want to do. My recco: Do It.

Yea, I guess. Thanks Jon. I've never had a Brunello and just wanted to make sure I was headed in the right direction for flavor profiles that would perfectly complement it. Sometimes I'm just over-analytical!

[Jenise]

Pork loin, boneless, split and flayed so that you can roll it around a filling made of sauteed porcini mushrooms, butter, panko bread crumbs, shallots and thyme. Roll and tie. Pat the outside with some kind of a dry rub--how about more porcini, using the dried, ground to a fine powder with garlic salt? Roast, slice rare, serve on polenta with sun-dried tomatoes and fennel seed. Ooh la la.

Not to jinx anything but IMO putting all your hopes into one bottle and waiting years to drink it, attracts TCA to that bottle.

I've had years of experience with this phenomenon.

Get a couple more Brunellos and have them as back-up...

Pork loin, boneless, split and flayed so that you can roll it around a filling made of sauteed porcini mushrooms, butter, panko bread crumbs, shallots and thyme. Roll and tie. Pat the outside with some kind of a dry rub--how about more porcini, using the dried, ground to a fine powder with garlic salt? Roast, slice rare, serve on polenta with sun-dried tomatoes and fennel seed. Ooh la la.

Thanks Jenise.

Oh yeah, that sounds like it hits all the right notes for me! Especially love the polenta idea. Sun-dried tomatoes and Sangiovese... mmm. Any particular reason for thyme as opposed to rosemary?

Not to jinx anything but IMO putting all your hopes into one bottle and waiting years to drink it, attracts TCA to that bottle.

I know what you mean. That would be quite the letdown.

But I just got the bottle late last year and I'm not prone to buying ~$40-$50 bottles so this is a splurge. I'm more likely to buy 3 or 4 lesser bottles for the bucks.

Just my wife and I will be doing the dining and imbibing so no one to be disappointed but us and we'll have some kind of a backup for sure.

Fred, I've seen a lot of Brunello "dumped" on the WTSO site. I have no connection with it but I've bought a fair amount of wine there. I think it's relatively unpopular in the US so a lot of it is way less than the $50 price level one would expect. They ship to most states.

http://www.wtso.com