Elegance and the pursuit of excellence, out of time
The arrival of the Wine manager Alex Bartoli at Villa d’Este gave impetus to the restaurant department, getting people to talk more and more about this prestigious patrician residence on Lake Como; besides the eloquent hotel the chatting is about the magnificent wine list proposed: such a very high profile. Impressive rarities, entire pages dedicated to glorious names of both Italian and French wines, there is a depth of vintages which the appellative ”extraordinary” is due.
Château Margaux, Domaine de la Romanée – Conti, Krug, Selosse, Gaja, and Sassicaia, are just some of the several names you will find on the menu. What appears to be a sort of ”environmental bubble” like an undisputed charm destination, breaks a barrier and takes the guest into a ”time bubble” due to the chance of tasting wines which benefit from over a century of aging. Villa d’Este offers a premium experience made possible by the ability that just a few wines have: ”stop the time”. Bartoli, due to his mental and pala-tal predisposition, made this dream concrete, which a residence like Villa d’Este deserved, where time does not seem to have passed. Indeed, in the latest evolution phase it has regained possession of its beauty, undoubtedly facilitated by some of the most evocative and elegant Renaissance archi-tecture in the Bel Paese, commissioned to the architect Pellegrino Tibaldi by Cardinal Tolomeo Gallio in the mid-1500s. The structure, as we know it today, has been converted into a hospitality facility in 1873. Silk, velvet, linen… bright colors frame the horizon, it’s hard to manage all this involving shade of blue, in particular, the one takes us back to the late Middle Ages and the vaults of the churches painted with a starry sky (Upper Basilica of San Francesco in Assisi, or the cathedral of Siena).
Anyway, if the purpose of this column is to select the restaurants with the best bottles anthology, we cannot fail to underline the meticulous research and organizational work Bartoli has done. Born in ‘93, includes experiences in the Gota of catering Italian, from the Enoteca Pinchiorri to Cracco and Da Vittorio and a short rest in London. Woe betide you if you call him ”young”. By mutual agreement with the owners of Villa d’Este, the construction of this ”wine project” is continuously expanding and dialogues with the present, the prestigious selection of 4000 references photographs the best interpreters of the national and transalpine territories and is magnified in the organization of Wine Dinners, which to define as prestigious would be an understatement: wine is at the centre, accompanied by delicate dishes, without eccentric peaks reaching balanced flavors, all created by the steady hands of chef Michele Zambanini.
