We picked up a bottle of Sagrantino Passito dessert wine while in beautiful Montefalco Umbria,(OK does this qualify it as a travel topic?) and we would like to open it this weekend. My cursory on-line research comes us with the recommendation to have it with "traditional Umbrian pastries". We have panetone, cantucci and Tenero alla Mandorla on hand and I'm looking at a recipe for chocolate bread which is supposed to be eaten with gorgonzola cheese and red wine. Given these selections and the impossiblity of flying to Umbria to pick up pastries, what would our knowledgeble readers recommend?
Happy New Year to all Jeanne
Posts: 423 | Location: Pennsylvania, USA | Registered: 07 March 2003
>We have panetone, cantucci and Tenero alla Mandorla on hand and I'm looking at a recipe for chocolate bread which is supposed to be eaten with gorgonzola cheese and red wine.<
Who cares what wine you have?
You might want to have a bit of sharp cheese as well.
I am so jealous.
Posts: 406 | Location: Madison, GA, USA | Registered: 31 October 2002
Lucky you! I bought a bottle in Montefalco in April, and it was soooo good I wish I'd bought more instead of some other things. But a little goes a long way as it is so sweet. I'd agree with Dean about nothing too sweet to eat with it. Actually, we just drank a bit of it after some good meals, not with any food at all. Whatever you do Enjoy! - gedlin
Posts: 461 | Location: Philadelphia, PA | Registered: 11 November 2003
If you have marcona almonds or some rich triple cream cheeses like Pierre Robert or Brillat Savarin that would be superb too. Don't bother with Saint Andre. A little real English Cheddar might work as well. Blues are tricky but Stilton might be very good as well as a nice creamy Gorgonzola.
What did you have with it, Jeanne, and did the wine meet your expectations? I got a moscato at an airport souvenir shop (not the wine store, just a last-minute impulse), thinking of the lovely sweet wine we had in Montalcino, and was pretty disappointed. It turned out to be bubbly and unconvincing.
Dorothy - it sounds like you might have purchased a Moscato d'Asti which is a sweet and fizzy dessert wine - not my cup of tea either. There are some great Moscato's that are still.
"I am a Southerner. I like the feel of these words. I could no more be otherwise than I could shed my outer skin or change the color of my eyes." Willie Morris
Posts: 1468 | Location: on the Alabama River | Registered: 22 July 2002
I'm sure you're right, Bags. My husband picked up on the Asti right away, but I had been concentrating on the Moscato part. Also, for some reason (unfounded, I see now) I had imagined Asti meant stars, making Asti Spumante something like Bubbling Stars, which I always thought sounded nice even if I didn't take to the wine. When I saw this was from Asti and didn't have a champagne-type cork,I thought it must be something else.
Hit the send button too soon. Turns out the Passito is still sitting in our basement! Our guests brought a local dessert wine they wanted to try so we opened that instead. Everyone was too full to have anything but the wine, which wasn't bad for Pensylvannia raspberry chocolate wine (Dean is probably turning green) Thanks, all for your opinions which I will remember when we finally get around to opening the Sagrantino Passito. BTW I just found this post today because it was rightly moved from the travel section. Jeanne
Posts: 423 | Location: Pennsylvania, USA | Registered: 07 March 2003
Topic Closed
We have panetone, cantucci and Tenero alla Mandorla on hand and I'm looking at a recipe for chocolate bread which is supposed to be eaten with gorgonzola cheese and red wine. Given these selections and the impossiblity of flying to Umbria to pick up pastries, what would our knowledgeble readers recommend? 
(Dean is probably turning green) Thanks, all for your opinions which I will remember when we finally get around to opening the Sagrantino Passito. BTW I just found this post today because it was rightly moved from the travel section.
