Slonk Wines arranged an evening to show off their exclusive new producer Tenute Navarra. Ambassador Mattia presents a range of central Sicily’s finest while Jack & Scott of Marchmont’s pride & joy, the small but sublime Argile chef’s table restaurant, serve up a storm of creatively faultless food.
This young winery at Butera, with holdings of 175ha in the DOCG appellation of Cerasuolo di Vittoria and also producing olive oil & almonds, is the joy of Toto Navarra’s family, whose journey Mattia brings to life for us. Certified fully organic this year, they’ve made all the right moves to ensure a sustainable future, maintaining a lake on the property as a water source and helping preserve some lesser-used native grape varieties and prized heritage almonds for the future, alongside mainstay varietals such as Frappato, Grillo, & Nero d’Avola.
Even their olive oil, which tonight seasons our mid-menu courgettes and helps, along with fine lardo, to silken the texture of the creamy Breton haricots de coco, is produced from lush Nocellara fruit. The terroir encompasses two main soil areas between 350-450m altitude; white sand & limestone yielding lighter minerality, with red clay & sand adding depth.
A delicious new Spumante rosato “Rosemosse’, unusually made with Frappato, gives way to Jack’s ultimate canapé croustade. A crispy flavoursome shell, utilizing sourdough discard, hides peach rehydrated in fig oil, grilled in smokey embers and smothered in burrata with fennel flowers & pollen. Not one of these processes is wasted; the result blows minds along with our second glass, this time ‘Allucia’, a suitably fine Grillo.
Like the two following, from Tenute Navarra’s ‘Art’ line, its label doubles as a colour-coded location guide to where relevant harvest parcels originate on the folds of the estate. ‘Disiata’ Frappato Rosato pairs smoothly with lobster & grapefruit consommé in one of Jack’s local artist ceramics, which feature throughout the meal. Whipped lobster & basil cream create a cappuccino effect topped with zest and a baby punch of bottarga.
Next a vegetable ‘chamomile pause’ (it’s in with those courgettes), with which we move to our first red which retains a cherry character but with a letter shift indicates a more masculine style of their ‘Disiato’ - meaning desired. And then the big guns come out starting with the DOCG ‘Maribu’ Cerasuolo di Vittoria, accompanying a glorious hunk of beef short rib, where some alchemy involving low temperatures and saintly patience has brought in-house black garlic glazing alongside caper leaves & green sauce to gild this triumph.
An earthier first sniff of liquorice, dispelled with a hint of vanilla in a swirl of my glass, heralds an impressively maturing 2020 riserva Nero d’Avola ‘Battichie’, aged 6m each in new and seasoned oak as well as 12 months in the bottle. My neighbour is still enthusing about this while I close my chops around the finest-prepared roe deer ever - loin & fillet dissolve effortlessly tenderly while I enjoy the clever kohlrabi puree that’s been sexed up with confit lemon. Kelp, or kombu has been used in the preparation but the wine I’ve savoured has done its work and I’m past caring about details while I spy a raspberry & black sesame tartlet on the prettiest shell plate.
Go enjoy!
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