CorkRules - Episodes | Cecconi's Ceconni's Dumbo

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About this Episode

Cecconi’s Dumbo is a modern-day classic Italian restaurant with locations in West Hollywood, Miami, Istanbul, Barcelona, Berlin and in The Ned, London. In this episode of Cork Rules, certified sommelier Cecilia Bonet joins Robert Tas to explore the wine list and find the hidden gems and the value wines in addition to providing pairing suggestions.

Wines reviewed include:

2020 Piedmontese Gavi di Gavi
2016 Barolo by Cascina del Torcc
2019 Chardonnay Les Noisetiers

Transcript: Ceconni's Dumbo

CECCONI’S DUMBO

An Italian Eatery in Brooklyn with great views of NYC

Top Level View

Cecconi’s Dumbo has a short, easy reading wine list, which will make it easier to choose a wine. They present a nice offer of aperitifs to start with, refreshing house tonics and some beers, but their excellence are the Italian wines and twenty-two references by the glass to choose from.

Unique Stuff

Before starting to eat, Italians have the custom of beginning with an aperitif. A high acidity, as well as a bitter base, are the characteristics that an aperitif must have to whet our appetite.

To do so, we can start with a Classic Negroni or a glass of the 2020 Piedmontese Gavi di Gavi, it is always crispy, citrusy, and very elegant. The Broglia winery has the oldest vineyards of the Gavi region, dating from 972 AD.

Going for a bottle, I would suggest the Far Niente Estate 2019 Chardonnay. This Chardonnay has earned its reputation as one of the great white wines worthy of aging. The Coombsville vineyards protected by the hills east of downtown Napa are home to this wine. They’re cool with deeper soils of gravel and volcanic ash, giving the wine a bright acidity, tones of crisp citrus and green apple, well complemented with the spicy oak.

Wonderfully paired with their Kale Pesto Fusilli or the Salmon with broccolini.

Value Wines

I’d love to recommend the 2016 Barolo by Cascina del Torcc, paired with their Filet mignon, potatoes and mushroom sauce.

Barolo is the king of Italian wines which grows in the heart of the Piemonte region, north of Italy. Here the grape is Nebbiolo develops wonderfully, giving a multilayered experience of sour and black cherries, cigar box, and violets, with a firm structure and tannins that will cleanse your palate after every bite.

2016 was actually a pretty good year for Barolo!

Bigger budget/Special Occasion

A great white wine for a special occasion would be the 2019 Chardonnay Les Noisetiers, from the emblematic Kistler winery. Kistler Vineyards remains one of the absolute benchmark producers of great Sonoma Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

This is a delicious wine full of complexity, with lemon, honeysuckle and stone fruits notes, that enjoys a full body structure with a mouthwatering mineral backbone. And let me say that this minerality, more likely find in Burgundy, is rare in new world Chardonnay.

A perfect pairing with the Agnolotti del Plin with sage brown butter and Parmigiano.

On the other hand, if your goal is a red one, our Bigger Budget wine is the Chateau Pontet-Canet, produced in Pauillac, left bank of the Girone river in Bordeaux, France. The 2005 vintage is definitely a Pauillac year.

With incredible silky tannins and perfect balance, this has everything you could ever want from a Bordeaux wine. Creamy blackberries, earth, graphite, and saddle leather notes all emerge from this wonderful wine. Tasting this wine is one of those unique experiences in life.

I would enjoy it with the Cavatelli Lamb Ragu with Fava Beans.