Welcome to our newest series, The Somm Set. Each month we’ll be sitting down with a guest sommelier and uncovering their guilty pleasures, cellar staples, and everything in between! Follow as they hand-select their favorites from our warehouse, giving you the inside scoop on cellar must-haves!

This month on The Somm Set, we’re excited to feature Dan Petroski. Join us as we explore everything from his passion for wine, favorite wine and food pairing, and his newest endeavors.

The Somm Set Home
 

This week from Dan:

Hello, Everyone.

Napa Valley got a little rain scattered over a couple of days this past week, and we all breathed deep. When I moved to Napa in 2007, we would get about an inch of rain the third week of October, almost like clockwork, but that hasn’t been the case of late as it has been a while since rain covered our grounds. With the rains came the seasonal change into Fall.

During this moment of the harvest, I associate the change in air pressure, change in humidity, and change in temperature to be the catalyst for young wines in barrel to start the secondary fermentation process. And so it begins, the winding down of the vintage, smiles on friends’ faces, a chill in the air, a bit of rain, and the newly harvested young wines about to settle into a long winter’s nap. It’s also time to think about the heart-warming and bone-sticking cassoulets and coq au vins that are typical at this time of the year in my household.

Cassoulet and Cabernet is a tradition at the end of harvest, but today we will remain in Italy and think of a table covered with eggplant parm, lasagna, meatballs, pasta, Parmigiano cheese, and maybe a fennel salad to lighten everything up between courses.

Buon Appetito,

-Dan

Red Wine

Let’s rewind to the beginning of harvest. Every year it’s a tradition (lots of traditions and superstitions in my world) to consume a bottle of Giuseppe Mascarello Monprivato in August when harvest kicks off – this is inspiring wine for me. I believe there are a million great wines out there and better Barolo, but this wine gets me every time. Its perfume and midweight palate, coupled with flavors and textures I love, it is truly arresting. This is my desert island wine as well the wine at my last supper for sure.

Monprivato vineyard, in the commune of Castiglione Falletto, is almost in the dead center of Barolo and maybe the reason it is so close to my heart. But before we leave Castiglione, don’t forget about the wines of Cavallotto and Brovia. I really shouldn’t mention them (being selfish here) because they both produce incredibly beautiful wines and their prices have remained reasonable during this last decade when Nebbiolo pricing began to normalize itself with the great wines of the world.

For more great wines of Piemonte and Barolo in particular, my eyes always light up when I see a bottle of Conterno in my cellar. Like most Nebbiolo geeks, I went on a Cappellano binge for a number of years while I was buying and cellaring my Bartolo Mascarello wines. However, I will go against the grain here and say, young Bartolo is good Bartolo! I am finding more pleasure in drinking these wines in their youth (within ten years); there is an energy to the young wine in the glass that closely links to the winemaking philosophy that I appreciate.

That’s a lot of Nebbiolo talk, and we didn’t even dive into Sangiovese. As we know, Soldera is on another planet, but the great Montervertine Le Pergole Torte will bring you back to earth and show you how good Sangiovese can be. And a recent Chianti tasting with my tasting group informed me that I should be drinking more Rampolla Sammarco. La bella vita!.

Check out all the wines mentioned below!