Week 2 Tastings

The past week has been another exciting journey regarding the food and wine that I’ve had while in Italy. One of the most exciting parts, was all the new food that I had for the first time in my life. Most of the new foods that I tried were at this lovely establishment called Trattoria Del Moro Arrone. One of the first things that they gave us at Trattoria Del Moro Arrone, were different types of prosciutto, paired with an amazing white wine. The varietal of the white wine was spumante. The sweetness of it paired very well with the saltiness and savoriness of the prosciutto. I feel like the spumante was best paired with the Umbrian prosciutto, as it was the saltiest prosciutto that we had. After we tried the prosciutto, Trattoria Del Moro Arrone gave us a variety of cheeses. All of the cheeses were some of the best that I’ve had in my entire life. The parmigiano reggiano was one of the standout cheeses that we tried. It was very strong at first, but the more I had it, the more I got used to the sharpness of the flavor. Although the parmigiano reggiano was amazing, the best cheese from that night was hands down, the mozzarella di bufala. The smoothness of the texture, along with the milkiness, make it the best cheese I’ve had in my entire life. Towards the end of our time at Trattoria Del Moro Arrone, we had a sparkling red wine, which was first time that I’ve had that type of wine. As someone who’s used to dry red wines, the carbonation of the sparkling red wine definitely threw me for a loop, but it was still very good. I felt like the wine was best paired with the parmigiano reggiano. The flavor of the wine paired well with the sharpness of the cheese. The sparkling red wine was the only thing that I was hesitant on trying from that night. Looking back on it however, I’m very happy that I gave it a shot.

The other place that I went to this week, was Bar Montanucci. The experience that I had at Bar Montanucci was completely different from the experience that I had at Trattoria Del Moro Arrone. It was much more laid-back and comical. We had many types of hand-made pastries, while hearing about how Bar Montanucci was established, and how it became the most famous restaurant in Orvieto. My favorite pastry from that night, was a small cookie that was filled with very sweet jelly. The pastries that we had, were paired with a delicious dessert wine. The sweetness of the dessert wine complemented the sweetness of the pastries, making for an amazing treat. Next time that I have dessert wine, I’m going to make sure that I pair it with an amazing dessert that complements it perfectly. I’m also more confident about ordering from a menu in Italy, because now I recognize more of the stuff that’s on the menu. Now, when I see mozzarella di bufala on the menu, I’m definitely ordering it.

After this week, I’m definitely more confident when it comes to talking about the regional foods of Italy, as well as the different types of wine I had, and their pairings. Before this week, I had no idea that sparkling red wine even existed, and now I can talk in-depth about what I thought about it compared to other wines that I’ve had. I’m also more informed about dessert wine and spumante, which is actually why I bought a bottle of spumante a couple of days ago. Unfortunately, I forgot the name of it, but for the price it was very good. Overall, I’ve learned countless things about the different types of food and wine in Italy. I’ll never forget the once in a lifetime experiences that I’ve had this week.