<a target="_blank" href="http://www.trimani.com">Trimani
Wine Bar</a>

Via Cernaia 37/b

Roma 00185

Tel. +39 (06) 446-9630

BY IAN D’AGATA | NOVEMBER 18, 2016&nbsp;&nbsp; The food:Selection of artisanal salumi GazpachoRicotta flan with scallions and dried tomato salad (Sformato&nbsp;di ricotta con insalata di
porri e pomodori secchi)Fettuccine with traditional ragù
(Fettuccine al ragù tradizionale)Basmati rice pilaff and spicy
curried chickenSelection of European blue cheeses with honey (Cabrales, Stilton,
Roquefort, Fourme d’Ambert)The wine:<table>
 <tbody><tr>
 <td>
 2015 Bruna Pigato Riviera Ligure di Ponente Le
 Russeghine
 </td>
 <td>
 90
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 2014 Maccario-Dringenberg Rossese di Dolceacqua
 Luvaira
 </td>
 <td>
 90
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 1985 Terlano Terlaner Riesling
 </td>
 <td>
 92
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 2014 Colacicchi Cesanese Lazio
 Tufano
 </td>
 <td>
 90
 </td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td>
 2007 Drouhin-Laroze
 Chambertin-Clos de Bèze
 </td>
 <td>
 91+
 </td>
 </tr>
</tbody></table>&nbsp;<img alt=""><img alt="" src="http://"><img alt="" src="http://"><img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1479511169184-artisanal+salumi+copy.jpg">Selection of artisanal&nbsp;salumi Still
going strong after twenty-five years, Trimani Wine Bar has been, from the
start, a bright and important addition to the Eternal City’s food and wine
scene, which didn’t exactly shine when the place opened years ago. The wine-bar
is also the ideal complement to what is Rome’s most famous and oldest wine
shop, the Enoteca Trimani, which is just around the corner. Although the enoteca opened just before World War I, the
Trimani family has been involved in wine for close to 200 years. The Trimanis started
selling wine in the mid-19th century, first in via di Panico, then in via delle
Carrozze and finally via Piave, not far from the present day location of both
wine shop and wine-bar.<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1479511209357-gazpacho+copy.jpg"> 

















GazpachoSiblings
Carla, Francesco, and Paolo have followed seamlessly in the footsteps of their
father Marco, one of the first and few truly knowledgeable wine shop owners
Rome could boast thirty years ago or so. Oft-quoted and interviewed for his
knowledge on all things wine, Marco Trimani was an especially big promoter of
the wines of Lazio, but at the wine shop you could also find wines from Burgundy
and Bordeaux back when most Italian wine shop owners didn’t know what Château
Leoville-Poyferré was, or that an Auslese was usually sweeter than a Spatlese
(and I’m referring to the early 1980s, not prehistory: I lived through those
years in Rome and it was honestly tough going).<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1479511300538-sformato+di+ricotta+copy.jpg"> 













Ricotta flan with
scallions and dried tomato salad&nbsp; Today,
it is still a family effort. Paolo and Francesco run the wine shop, while Carla
manages the wine-bar. A fourth sibling, Giovanni, is an artist who often drops
by for a drink. The wine-bar offers a selection of truly great wines from all over
the world in all price ranges, and generally at only small markups, as they are
sourced directly from the shop. Besides a ton of little known Italian
producers, there are also famous names to choose from such as Leroy, Dagueneau,
Raveneau, Rousseau, Kistler, Egon Muller, Deiss and more.<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1479511327338-PASTA+ragu+tradizionale+copy.jpg"> 













Fettuccine with
traditional ragù&nbsp; The
wine-bar does simple things well, offering hearty concoctions and rustic aromas
and flavors in a simple, almost spartan, but friendly setting. This is not a
destination for gourmets looking for the latest foam or infusion; rather, it’s a
heaven of solid dishes that accompany the great wines on offer. Be aware that some
of the ingredients at Trimani are amongst the best in their respective
categories in all of Rome. For example, don’t miss either the buffalo
mozzarella from Paestum, should it have arrived on the day you drop by (ask the
waiter), as it’s one of the four or five best you’ll taste anywhere in the
city. Similarly, the filet of beef is also well above average. Flavorful and
tender, the beef is also one of the best you’ll come across in Rome (the meat
comes from a breeder in northern Lazio). Old standbys, like the curried chicken
and basmati rice, or most pastas, are also flavorful and rarely disappointing. <img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1479511361081-basmati+rice+and+curried+chicken+copy.jpg"> 

















Basmati rice pilaff and spicy
curried chickenI
also appreciate the food research that goes on here. For example, Timballo alla
Bonifacio VIII, a distant (very distant) relative of lasagna, is made up of
layers of tightly packed tagliolini,
meatballs, tomato sauce, and more that was created in honor of Pope Bonifacio
VIII. I always find the use of the word “historic” in relation to food to be
especially noteworthy. Interestingly, this is a dish that is quite obviously either
an update of an original recipe, or one that must have been created centuries
after the Pope’s life. Bonifacio VIII lived from 1230-1303. Clearly tomatoes
could not have been used in a recipe born in his lifetime, since they only made
it over to Italian shores from the New World centuries later. The cheese
selection is worth a look, but desserts – not exactly a strong suit of Roman cuisine
– tend to be on the heavy side. During
my latest dinner at the Wine Bar, I indulged in the excellent gazpacho, which
was cold, fresh and tasty, although not especially spicy (you can ask them to
kick it up a notch) and the artisanal salumi
selection, amongst which the outstanding salame mantovano was the best of the five or six different salumis on the plate). The selection of
blue cheese is also a strong suit. I chose the international blues this time
around, but the Italian selection of blues is even better).<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1479512395544-VINI+1+copy.jpg"> I
drank very well this night out. The 2015
Bruna Pigato Riviera Ligure di Ponente Le Russeghine is a classic, a 100%
Pigato made from mountain vineyards in Liguria’s Val Arroscia that is redolent
of briny nuances complementing fresh citrus, rosemary aromas and flavors. Although
it is reminiscent of Vermentino, Pigato is a different grape and wine (it’s a
matter of biotypes), even if scientists insist Vermentino and Pigato are
genetically identical. Then again, so are Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris and Pinot
Noir, and nobody thinks of those three wines or grapes as being the same. The 1985 Terlano Terlaner Riesling is absolutely
lovely. Riesling, despite what you might think and what some less forthcoming
producers might say now that the variety is very much “in”, was never a variety
Alto Adige bothered with much (they didn’t want to compete with Austrian and
German versions). And so, rare older vintages were the efforts of a few
dedicated men and women, none more than talented than the folks at Terlano, the
cooperative that makes Italy’s longest lived white wines. This Riesling offers
diesel fuel, white flowers and notes of honeyed lime in spades, if not quite
the concentration of top European efforts. It has aged very gracefully and
still has a long life ahead, and I am very grateful to have been able to drink
another bottle after years of not seeing it anywhere. 



















































Another
Ligurian beauty, this time red, graced my table and palate next; the 2014 Maccario-Dringenberg Rossese di
Dolceacqua Luvaira is made from centenary vines located high up the
mountains behind Imperia, in Liguria’s most western tip, close to France. The
2014 is much less herbal and offers sweeter red fruit than is normal for this
variety, but it is a very enjoyable medium-bodied wine that matches heavenly
with fish dishes in tomato sauce and with grilled white meats. Rossese di
Dolceacqua is a little known Italian variety (not to be confused with Rossese
di Campochiesa, altogether different and less qualitative) as well as the name
of the wine. It can produce some of Italy’s most idiosyncratic light to medium
bodied, saline reds. Moving right along to another little known Italian native
grape, wine lovers should realize that one of Italy’s ten or so greatest grapes
is the Cesanese d’Affile (another Cesanese, Cesanese Comune, is also
good), and gives medium to full bodied wines that offer intense red cherry and
sweet spice aromas and flavors with an unforgettable aromatic nuance in the very
best examples. Unfortunately, it’s a variety that is neither easy in the
vineyards nor in the cellars, and the winemaking talent level (or lack thereof)
in Lazio is such that the variety’s great potential has long gone unnoticed. There
are no such problems with the Trimani family, which has long run the Colacicchi
estate, a historic Lazio winery that made some of the countries best red wines
in the 1960s. The 2014 Colacicchi Lazio
Cesanese Tufano is a 100% Cesanese Comune-Cesanese d’Affile wine that is
magically perfumed and explosively fruity, with aromatic, sultry sour red
cherry and mineral nuances that linger long on the aftertaste. Last but not least,
the 2007 Drouhin-Laroze Chambertin-Clos
de Bèze brings my evening to a perfect close: luscious, rich and ripe, but
with the estate’s trademark elegant touch, it’s an especially refined red wine,
from a producer that is currently off the radar of many wine lovers. Hence, the
estate’s wines, even from important grand crus such as Chambertin Clos de Bèze,
are more affordable than most.

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