For 30 years head sommelier at Heinz Beck's La Pergola, Marco Reitano is one of the most influential voices in wine and dining in Italy. Here are his thoughts, which appeared in a recent interview on the Michelin website.
The sommelier
The first rule of the good sommelier is to please the guest. Marco Reitano, historic sommelier at La Pergola, isconvinced of this , saying that personal taste should always be respected, first of all by preparing an ecumenical menu. Nothing can be missing: whites, reds, sweet, sparkling, classic, modern and natural, of which it is up to the good sommelier to select the best production. But a few trends are emerging, as he explains on the Michelin Guide website, "My choices, and those of much of the clientele, are leaning more and more toward balanced wines, easy-drinking even when ambitious, respectful of a more modern diet in terms of calories and overall structure. Producers are 'listening' to the trend often by lightening their wines, seeking fruit and trying to emphasize characteristics, such as freshness and savoriness, which stimulate the palate and pair with the dining experience."
So many customers today tend to rely on the expert sommelier, looking for the surprise effect; others know exactly what to look for. And they often happen to uncork authentic monuments in what is a temple of Italian cuisine. "I remember with deep emotion the 1900 Château Lafite Rothschild, the 1893 Château d'Yquem, the 1947 Barolo Borgogno, the 1955 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva from Biondi Santi. Having to narrow it down though, the unique (and unrepeatable...) experience, that stamped an indelible memory in my emotions and taste receptors, was a 1917 Romanée-Conti Monopole."
Pairing chapter, the rule with Heinz Beck is balance. "In thirty years of continuous experimentation, we can say that we have developed our own method. We like to enhance the dishes and highlight the raw material. We do not like to overpower with food the extreme elegance of certain rare wines. We take care of the customer so that the resulting pairings do not affect his or her digestive balance. This, of course, without imposition, respecting personal taste and choice. The restaurant experience for the guest must never be reduced to a boring didactic exercise, but must be pure emotion and well-being."
Nor is there any shortage of Lazio, a region on the rise thanks to the “peasant/natural” reprocessing of native grape varieties, especially white berry bombino, malvasia or red berry Cesanese, which through spontaneous maceration, indigenous yeasts and cement vinification fully express the volcanic and Mediterranean territory. They can thus best accompany even typical dishes, such as a carbonara (a white from the Castelli Romani), an amatriciana (Aleatico from the Gradoli area), a scottadito abbacchio (Cesanese del Piglio), a ricotta and sour cherry tart (always an Aleatico, but passito). So much so that on Sundays the super sommelier likes to drink his neighboring farmer's wine, when he's not falling for Barolo and Chambolle-Musigny.
