Each month John Aranza, a partner and sommelier at Autre Monde in Berwyn selects bottles of wine for the restaurant’s “vin du monde” wine club. In July, there was a bonus: a wine- tasting dinner paired with pours from a single family-owned Italian winery and a visit from a family member of the winery.
Usually on the third Saturday of each month, club members trek to the restaurant at 6727 Roosevelt Road to pick up their subscription of either three or six bottles. But July 25’s event was unlike the others.
For $125, a five-course tasting menu featured wines from the Famiglia Rivetti winery. Participants also got to hear directly from the winery’s Davide Rivetti, who introduced the wines and explained what makes the vineyard special.
“Our grapes are grown organically and certified as such by the European Union,” Rivetti said. “My great-grandfather planted many of the vines more than 75 years ago.”
Historically the family sold their grapes to other wineries, which are grown in the Piedmont region of Italy on the border between Switzerland and France. At the turn of the millennia, the Rivetti family decided to start producing wine of their own, with the first vintage bottled in 2001.
At Autre Monde, four varieties of wine were paired with dishes that reflected the foodways of the Piedmont region. A white Langhe Arneis was served with sliced veal and tuna sauce; a red Langhe Nebbiolo was joined with handmade rabbit-filled pasta and mushrooms; a red Barbaresco was paired with duck breast and browned-butter potatoes; and a red barolo completed the savory portion of the meal with prime rib and marrow bone.
The wine club’s focus is on a monthly bottle subscription. The “Debut” level at $59 buys three bottles and “Grand Cru” at $98 buys six. Throughout the year, the club also offers events to members. Some are free tastings. A few are lower-cost bite pairings.
A couple of times per year, Chefs Dan Pancake and Beth Patridge, who are also partners in the restaurant, bring the whole fireworks of the Autre Monde kitchen into play for a full meal.
Autre Monde, which means “another world” in French, opened in 2011 to bring foods of the Mediterranean coast and fine dining to the area.
“We never wanted to be pretentious,” Christine Tully, partner and managing director, said. “All of the partners have experience working for some of the best restaurants in the city. Here, we want to be a neighborhood place that feeds our community.”
To that end, Autre Monde’s team works to source ingredients locally from small farmers. When that isn’t possible, they make sure that what they put on the menu has been raised and harvested responsibly.
Chef Pancake calls the menu “seasonally functional,” meaning that flavors hit the notes created by what is in abundance during each part of the year. “It’s always a work in progress,” he said.
Familia Rivetti offerings are available for all diners to enjoy on the Autre Monde wine list.
For his part, Davide Rivetti was thrilled to showcase his family’s wines at the suburban restaurant. This was one stop on his trip to the U.S. which included three days in Washington, D.C. and Virginia and two days here.
“The Chicago area is a wonderful market for Italian wine,” he said. “Autre Monde’s club members are interested in exploration. That is a perfect combination to share Piedmont wines and the care that my family puts into ours.”
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More Info:
autremondecafe.net
rivettimassimo.it
