Follow up to the entry on the menus for Pope Benedict

Here is a followup to the entry on the menus prepared for the Holy Father’s visit to the USA.  Biretta tip to PS who forwarded the link!  o{]:¬)

Enjoy this from the Wall Street Journal!

TASTINGS
By DOROTHY J. GAITER AND JOHN BRECHER    

Most of us get nervous about serving just the right wine when guests come to dinner. Imagine if you were hosting the pope.

So with Pope Benedict XVI making his first trip to New York as pope Friday, we wondered what he would be eating and drinking during his visit. Because he is a native of Germany, we immediately thought that New York’s famous Rieslings might find their way onto his table. But the Vatican is in Rome, so maybe he’d be eating and drinking Italian. Then we heard that Vatican insiders like to joke that his favorite wine is lemonade, [Actually, Fanta, too.] though there are some reports that he has sipped beer now and then. Surely someone should show him what New York hospitality can be by putting some delicious food and wine before him.

It turns out that the folks who were granted that honor are Lidia Matticchio Bastianich, famous as "the first lady of Italian cuisine," and her son, Joseph, who have virtually cornered the market on all things Italian, sitting atop an empire that includes, separately and together with others, television shows, restaurants (some with Mario Batali), cookbooks, a wine store, a wine book, wineries in Italy and Argentina, an Italian tour company and retail businesses selling sauces and olive oil. Mrs. Bastianich, a devout Catholic, will create the menus and help prepare dinner for 52 people on Friday and 24 people on Saturday. And Mr. Bastianich, part-owner of Italian Wine Merchants in New York City and co-author of a book we’ve recommended, "Vino Italiano: The Regional Wines of Italy," will provide the wines from his store and his wineries, including a special dessert wine, not available for sale at stores, named for his mother.

Light and Seasonal

Mrs. Bastianich said the Vatican asked her not to divulge many details about her meals until after the pope leaves. "I have to respect their wishes," she told us in a telephone interview. (We began calling the Archdiocese of New York about the pope’s meals back in February, and the only thing the media office would tell us was that the dinners weren’t open to the public.) Mrs. Bastianich said she and Joseph may eventually list the recipes and paired wines on her Web site because "we want to share the excitement." This much she would tell us: "The pope, of course, is very low-key, so we’ll serve light things, seasonal things.

"He’s not a big wine drinker at all. He does drink orange juice, but will have a sip of wine, I hope, for his sake," she added with a chuckle. The first dinner will be particularly light, she said, because it will be his "first from his travels" from Washington, D.C., to New York. As we all know, travel can be stressful no matter the pains that can be taken to smooth the way. Some of the dishes will be "partly from my repertoire," Mrs. Bastianich said. "He is German, so we will have a little bit of those influences."

Mrs. Bastianich stressed the larger significance of feeding the pope. "Going back to the Bible, it is breaking bread. The table is so meaningful. We will have the opportunity to meet him at the table and to deliver the meal as a basic medium of communication. In all different religions there is the table. In Judaism for Passover there is the sharing of the matzo. For me the table is a place for people to really take time and have communion with their families and friends and to communicate on a human level.

"For me, it is a great opportunity to communicate with His Holiness with the food that I cook. There’s nothing more direct than the ability to do this."

How about the wine? That is Joseph’s department, so we called him and he turned philosophical, too. "I have the great privilege of being involved in a real way in the life cycle of the vine. It’s a cycle that transcends our own humanity and underscores how fleeting our lives are. These vines will continue to make wine long after we’re gone.

"Being able to serve the pope and the weight of the history of that institution is so impressive to me. This is a big deal. It’s an incredible honor. My wines are my favorite things and to be able to show them in this venue is so exciting."

Ten years ago, Mr. Bastianich and his mother purchased a vineyard in Buttrio, in the Colli Orientali region of Italy. The wines that will be served to the pope came either from that winery, Azienda Agricola Bastianich, or from La Mozza, a winery that Mr. Bastianich, his mother and Chef Batali bought in 2001 in the Maremma region of Tuscany.  [Self-promotion?  Why not!  If it’s good,… and they sure know it…]

Respect for the Food

We asked Mr. Bastianich if we could buy a bottle of each of the wines he will serve so we could taste them and he graciously agreed.

The most notable aspect of the wines was their earthiness, a genuine and proud sense of place. The wines were ripe but eschewed pyrotechnics, letting the fruit speak for itself. We felt all of them would be excellent with whatever meals Mrs. Bastianich prepares — or, as Dottie said of Joseph at one point, "He’s showing respect for his mother’s food." Indeed, these wines show again that good wine isn’t just about the liquid in a bottle, but about history, geography, family and respect. Even if the pope sticks with lemonade for dinner, he can still drink heartily of what wine symbolizes.

Would like to know what those wines were?