Wine has the word “win” embedded in it. This word describes my table’s experience during our wine tasting event last week, at a rustic Italian restaurant called Renato E Luisa, conveniently located next door to our old palazzo. This restaurant is owned by Chef Renato, who also happened to be the sommelier and host of our wine tasting event.
Being personally unknowledgeable about all things relating to wines, this event was enlightening. I learned that white wine usually pairs well with sweet foods and chicken, and that red wine is better suited for red meat. I also did not know that the ratio of sugar affected the alcohol concentration, or that the color of a wine is generally dependent on its age. During this event, we were served three different wines with names I can’t remember, but they were good wines nonetheless.
Just as equally great as the wines we tasted was the food that was served. From cheese-stuffed zucchini flowers to salmon risotto and molten lava cake, Cornellians were treated to a grand feast by Chef Renato. It was technically a “tasting”, but we were served so much food that it would not be appropriate to say we just had a “taste”.
While the food and wine were the major components of this event, students were also engaged in a little competition where each table had to guess these small vials of fragrances. My table was one of three that correctly guessed all our vials, and was awarded a free bottle of wine. I don’t think anything could be better than both winning a competition and getting something for free.
My roommates and I were sitting together during this event, so we took our trophy (wine bottle) home. We eventually opened the bottle and drank all of it last night after dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant located down the street from the new palazzo. We definitely hit the jackpot with the win.