What is going on Thursday evening, Oct. 29th?

originally posted by Levi Dalton:
Anfora dinner Guest ListMany people have sent private messages, asking me who else will be attending the Anfora Wine Dinner this Thursday. The restaurant has a strict policy of maintaining the privacy of our guests. However, the call for naming names has been strong. The public wants to know. And so, without further ado,

THE GUEST LIST for the upcoming Anfora Wine Dinner:

Maya Angelou
David Sedaris
Anthony Hopkins
Dave Chappelle
Bruno Ganz
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Allen Ginsberg
Toni Morrison
Snake Eyes from G.I. Joe
Jean-Luc Godard
Anita Ekberg
Marvin Gaye
the Chairman from Kitchen Stadium
Leonard Tolstoy
Dr. Watson
Eric Rohmer
Franz Kafka
Eugene Delacroix
James Joyce, who has commited to bringing some older Lispida
Skopas
the dog from Turner & Hooch (a friend of SFJoe's, apparently)
Jean-Paul Belmondo
Warren Buffet
Nadine Gordimer
Elmer Fudd
Klaus Kinski
Sinclair Lewis
Ovid
Bertrand Russell
Johannes from The Diary of a Seducer
one of the Transformers, I can't remember their names right now
Billy D. Williams
Baruch Spinoza
Mr. Belvedere
Edward R. Murrow
Nancy Drew
Hurley from Lost

And Nathan Vandergrift, and Jeff Connell, and some Liquidator dude.

Can you believe that shit?

That is some serious A list!

So, where will you be this Thursday, the 29th??

Oh, okay, I thought that by "Elmer Fudd" you were referring to me. But I see I appear below. See you tomorrow. What time do the festivities commence? Oh, and I have some Sherry that may not have been anfora-aged, but is a damn bright shade of bright coppery orange. I could bring a couple of bottles of that.

Best,

LL
 
originally posted by The Latin Liquidator:

Oh, okay, I thought that by "Elmer Fudd" you were referring to me. But I see I appear below. See you tomorrow. What time do the festivities commence? Oh, and I have some Sherry that may not have been anfora-aged, but is a damn bright shade of bright coppery orange. I could bring a couple of bottles of that.

Best,

LL

6pm, Sir.

Please do folks a favor and make a reservation, if you haven't yet. 212-599-5045.

I'll see if I can arrange seating next to Klaus Kinski. He loves sherry.
 
Confirmed for tomorrow night:

Munjebel Rosso, party of 2 bottles, for a dinner reservation sometime around the duck course. Or maybe the cheese.

We could still use more Guttarolo '06 Anfora, folks. So if you have them, please bring them.
 
originally posted by Levi Dalton:
Anfora dinner Guest ListMany people have sent private messages, asking me who else will be attending the Anfora Wine Dinner this Thursday. The restaurant has a strict policy of maintaining the privacy of our guests. However, the call for naming names has been strong. The public wants to know. And so, without further ado,

THE GUEST LIST for the upcoming Anfora Wine Dinner:

Maya Angelou
David Sedaris
Anthony Hopkins
Dave Chappelle
Bruno Ganz
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Allen Ginsberg
Toni Morrison
Snake Eyes from G.I. Joe
Jean-Luc Godard
Anita Ekberg
Marvin Gaye
the Chairman from Kitchen Stadium
Leonard Tolstoy
Dr. Watson
Eric Rohmer
Franz Kafka
Eugene Delacroix
James Joyce, who has commited to bringing some older Lispida
Skopas
the dog from Turner & Hooch (a friend of SFJoe's, apparently)
Jean-Paul Belmondo
Warren Buffet
Nadine Gordimer
Elmer Fudd
Klaus Kinski
Sinclair Lewis
Ovid
Bertrand Russell
Johannes from The Diary of a Seducer
one of the Transformers, I can't remember their names right now
Billy D. Williams
Baruch Spinoza
Mr. Belvedere
Edward R. Murrow
Nancy Drew
Hurley from Lost

And Nathan Vandergrift, and Jeff Connell, and some Liquidator dude.

Can you believe that shit?

That is some serious A list!

So, where will you be this Thursday, the 29th??
In Napa drinking God's nectar from local vines+ as an additional benefit I will be 3000 miles from Kane. Top that!
 
A number of the guests who will be attending tonight's Anfora Wine Dinner (Snake Eyes, Nadine Gordimer, and Sancho Panza, I'm talking about you) have sent me private messages inquiring as to whether they need to bring glassware stems with them. The answer is no, the restaurant has plenty of glassware of its own for you to break.

Also, the event will begin promptly at 6pm this evening.
 
The crack team at Convivio lived up to their exalted reputation, turning out great chow and prompt stemware and pours throughout an early but fast-paced night. The cream of wine society was there, including special guests from as far away as Charnay and Prince Edward County. The full display of the restaurant's amazing stemware collection crowded the tables. Too bad about the suckers in the main dining room drinking from plastic sippy cups because we'd monopolized the good stuff.

The wines showed quite well, I would say. The consensus in my end of the room was that the anforae are unusually active vessels, certainly raising the pH of the agressive ribolla gialla and co., but perhaps also having other, more subtle effects difficult to discern against major vintage variation.

I wonder how different cement would be--different metal composition, but also a very active surface. Does cement make as much difference? Steve Edmunds, what say you? Bruce?

How about in the second or fifth vintage? These wines still seemed affected by the clay in later vintages, but it was hard to be sure how much.

Late in the evening, Levi staggered us all by producing a totally brilliant bottle of Foillard's legendary, apocryphal, unseen unicorn of a wine, the 3.14. How spicy and rich and fabulous it was. Those who smelled ganja may just have been standing near a particular distributor from the south, or perhaps an individual NYC schnook.

I tried to dissuade Levi from sharing his treasure so broadly, but he wouldn't hear of any alternatives. For instance, the fist full of bills I waved in his direction. It turns out that the wine was a gift of the philanthropic and well-connected Sharon Bowman, and that Levi "felt that this was a group that would understand and appreciate the wine."

Fuck 'em all, I thought, I'd have pulled the shades and drunk this quietly at home.

All hail Sharon Bowman.

All hail Levi Dalton.
 
I want to thank everyone, and especially Brad Kane, for joining us this evening at the Anforange Dinner.

Good times, good wines.

Thanks.
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
All hail Levi Dalton
...

Smashing writeup.

Pleased the 3.14 was enjoyed by such august revelers.

A question or two on the amphora wines: you mention vintage variation; why was it so extreme? And if I read you correctly, the more years that have gone through the amphora, the more it seems to impart its particular taste? (I like that as a reverse of the barrel paradigm.) Is this because the clay breaks down?
 
originally posted by Sharon Bowman:
originally posted by SFJoe:
All hail Levi Dalton
...

Smashing writeup.

Pleased the 3.14 was enjoyed by such august revelers.

A question or two on the amphora wines: you mention vintage variation; why was it so extreme? And if I read you correctly, the more years that have gone through the amphora, the more it seems to impart its particular taste? (I like that as a reverse of the barrel paradigm.) Is this because the clay breaks down?
1) We tasted Gravner across 2001,2,3. So: classic, rainy, hot. The wines were actually more similar than I expected in those 3 vintages. Anfora style enforced? Hard to say. All agree that the '01 much softer than '00 (non-anfora).

2) I don't really know whether the anforae are more or less active as they age. You could imagine that you passivate the surface and have fewer active sites, or you could imagine that you erode and pit the surface, exposing more and more. But what happens in practice? Dunno.
 
At our table we thought the Gravner ribolla gialla showed the vintage characteristics far more clearly than the Breg.

Aside from the two big verticals, Levi also poured for us:
- Donati 2008 Malvasia
- Vodopivec 2005 Vitovska "Orange Stripe"
- Castello di Lispida 2005 Amphora
- (insert verticals here)
- COS 2006 Cerasuolo di Vittoria "Pithos"
- Guttarolo 2006 Primitivo "Anfora"
- Guttarolo 2007 Primitivo "Anfora"

The food matches were interesting. The spicy sauteed mushrooms profoundly changed the Lispida, which was already a highly changeable wine. The saffron in the rice balls also worked very well with many of the wines. Opinion was divided on the sea urchin but it did seem to work with the 2002 Breg very well.

Sundry non-Levi bottles floated around the room. Our table saw a few:
- the aforementioned Foillard 2005 Morgon "Cuvee 3.14"
- Ch. Fontaine 2007 Pinot Gris, Leelanau Peninsula
- Vestini Campagnano 2004 Pallegrello Nero
- Cornelissen Munjebel 5 (or was it 3?)
 
originally posted by SFJoe:
originally posted by Jeff Grossman:
All hail the chicken liver and pork belly Levi Dalton!
What is he, chopped liver?
Whole liver, turned in fine bread crumbs, gently sauteed and served in a bowl of soft polenta. Topped with a bit of sauteed baby broccoli rabe and a splash of a dark, savory sauce. Amazing balance of the earthy corn, bloody liver, bitter greens, and salt. Worked with the wines, too.

Zuppa di pork belly, with farro, cannellini beans, topped with shredded parmigiano. A few crunchy bits on top but mostly a thick porridge "plus". All very tender and rich from the fatty meat.

(Explanation: I had my wisdom teeth extracted on Tuesday so Levi graciously accommodated my request for food less chewy than the octopus and duck on the main menu. I had mentioned risotto and pistou, and he ran with it. Mille grazie, Signore Dalton!)
 
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