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Photos By:: Adil Arora
 Moletto is a family-owned winery established in 1960 and is now being run by the third generation of Stival family, in a small town Motta di Livenza in the province of Treviso, about 45 kms from Venice in Veneto region. The winery takes its name after the area identified in the records of the province of Treviso. It has been playing second innings in India, with the first about a decade ago through the now defunct Sovereign Impex. After the gap of a few years, Agnetta International took the sole distributorship and started bringing varietals and blends a couple of years ago. Since then they have found reasonable success.
Puneet Ralhan, partner for Agnetta says he wanted to do something special to create more impact for the winery and wines like Prosecco, Merlot, Refosco and Raboso from the winery under the two labels Moletto doc and Ca’sisa and create a long term branding for the wines. Therefore, in partnership with Hyatt he organised to bring a celebrity Chef Diego Bernardi and his wife who hail from Padova to offer the clients of La Piazza the Italian cuisine with the Venetian twist, matched with Moletto Wines. I accepted his request because he said the guests would be wine lovers thirsty for knowledge as well. Another incentive was that he had organised Colmello 2005 in 5-liter bottles for the main course and I would be one of the 25 persons out of the Indian population of 1.25 billion, tasting the unique wine for the first time.
The evening started with Moletto Prosecco doc extra- dry. The bubbly was very refreshing, clean and fruity with flavours of white peaches. The bouquet was pronounced, the flavour was fruity and the texture was smooth. The bubbles tickled the throat without being prickly and aggressive. It helped to down it without snacks as it was slightly sweet and fruity (around 13-15 gms/liter). The eel and tomato stew presented in the open bun-shaped ciabatta bread served when we did sit down went very well with the Prosecco-the largest selling bubbly in the world today.
The next wine-Pinot Grigio was straw colour, light-bodied, fruity and simple but loved by everyone as it was an excellent match for the Saffron Risotto with crab meat. Tagliatelle was next with the Ragu sauce made from pork, chicken and oyster mushroom- I start salivating every time I think of the dish-a perfect match for the Ca’sisa Merlot. Seemingly, people liked it but it did not do much to my palate as wine, perhaps because I was waiting anxiously for the Colmello and I was able to convince the servers to pour it for me sooner than ordained.
Colmello 2005 impressive
 Colmello is a blend of 60% Merlot and 40% Franconia- a local grape known as Blaufränkisch in Burgenland in Austrian where it is extremely popular, thanks to the soft ripe tannins and hints of red and spicy red currents and cherries. It is elegant, full and with rounded taste and harmonious structure; it has been matured for 7 years in barriques. The 2005 was still young but so well rounded and balanced that one could drink it by itself! The oak was a perfect player in the symphony and did not play a solo as in many wines that are aged in wood for years. There was hint of plum and sweet vanilla from the oak and the spices like white pepper and liquorice playing a supportive role with the dark chocolate popping up occasionally. The slight accent of acidity in the end makes it a perfect wine for Indian preparations like rara mutton or perhaps even butter chicken . It matched well with the vegetarian burger and the vegetarian tempura instead of the usual potato wedges but went up a couple of notches with the lamb chops. The wine was decidedly the darling of everyone-novices and connoisseurs included.
The Chef did a wonderful job and deserves our applause. The service was excellent and measured up to the Hyatt standards that the regulars like us are familiar with- and anticipate every time we go to any of the restaurants here. But the protagonists for the evening were the invitees and guests. Many of them are regulars with impeccable taste in wine but without exception, they loved to soak in as much wine knowledge as possible. I loved answering dozens of their questions. It was a pleasure to see that the interactive session making the evening enjoyable for me and hopefully, memorable for all of them.
Moletto wines are quite popular already in and around Delhi but the connoisseurs would love to taste and drink Colmello- the darling of everyone at the wine dinner last Thursday at La Piazza, Hyatt Regency.
Cheers! Jai Ho!!
Subhash Arora
Menu at Hyatt |