What do you get if you cross 2 Italians and a group of journalists and food bloggers? A terrific night out at Nottingham’s premier wine bar Veeno that’s what.
NottinghamLIVE were invited along to a wine tasting evening at the café bar on to sample a selection of award winning wines along with a platter of some of their best Italian spuntini (Appetisers)
Finishing the day job at 6 meant a dash into town for a 7pm start. Throw in a pit stop at the hairdressers for a trim where they insisted on straightening my hair to within an inch of its life and this girl was ready to party!
Amanda, was our hostess with the mostest for the evening. We were greeted with a glass of Prosecco which i drank rather too quickly. Arriving slightly later than planned thanks to hair assault, I assumed everyone was on their second. As I knocked mine back to kick of the stresses of the day it appeared the others were savouring each sip. The fantastic thing about social media is that I saw a photo posted of said Prosecco before leaving my house. Imagine my surprise when I realised the exact same glass was still being sipped after I’d had, what was in my head, a tyre screeching taxi ride through the streets of Notts to get there on time.
Founders Niño and Andrea grew up in Italy and moved to Manchester to study and work. Drinking together after a football match, they found they had something in common – a passion for quality wine and authentic food.
Italy has the culture of Aperitivo, meaning nibbling and drinking in a relaxed and informal atmosphere with friends and family. The pair felt this experience was missing in the UK and so made it their mission to create and share the tradition. Drink, snack, enjoy is Veeno’s philosopy and a good one too. Its certainly one that seems to be working as the Nottingham restaurant is currently number one on Trip Advisor
Throughout the evening, Amanda guided us through a selection of wines during our ‘Classic’ wine tasting session, directly sourced from Caruso and Minini in Sciliy, the family vineyard. We enjoyed two white whites and three reds paired with spuntini to share on a delicious sharing platter.
First up was the ‘House White Dry’ Tasari Inzolia, a 12% wine with hints of Apricots and honey (apparently), this we learnt was paired with Altamura bread and family produced oil, unfortunately we’d all been digging into the platter any old how before we realised this, so felt slightly like naughty school children as we blamed each other for our lack of spuntini etiquette.
Our second wine ‘Our Fruitiest’ Giumara inzolia, a 12.5% fruity and crisp number, paired with olives and bruschetta with olive pate.
Moving on to the Reds, our third wine ‘Our Smoothest’ Giumara Frappato & Nerello, a 13.5% with a hint of herbs and prunes (I couldn’t have told you that, I’d had a drink, this was from the notes) paired with Salame Milano.
The fourth glass was ‘Our Classic’, classic Scillian, Giumara, Nero d’Avola, a 13.5% wine with hints of red fruits and herbs, paired with 18 month seasoned Parma ham.
The fifth wine, ‘The Elegent’ is described as a rich red with personality and spicy fragrances. Cursora Cabernet Sauvignon at 13.5%, paired with Parmigiano Reggiano.
Last up is Marsala Superiore Riserva, a sweet dessert wine, fortified similar to Port or Sherry at 18% served with delicious homemade Tiramisu.
We had a fabulous evening. It was a great opportunity to sample some of the venues delicious food and learn about food pairing, as well as making new friends – which is the very essence of Veeno.
Veeno offer three different wine tasting sessions. As well as the classic session which we enjoyed (priced £19.90 pp.) there is also the ‘Selezione’ Wine Tasting. This experience features some of the more premium wines (£26.90 pp.) the Blind Wine Tasting experiences sees your party identifying 6 covered up wines (£26.90 pp.) All experiences include Spuntini to share.
For more information visit: www.theveenocompany.com
By Tanya Raybould
Editor: www.nottinghamlive.co.uk
@tanyalouiseray
