Enoteca Pitti Gola e Cantina: No Acqua, Solo Vino

No Acqua, Solo Vino

My favorite wine bar in Florence was founded in 2008, located opposite the Palazzo Pitti. The following year I made my first visit, and Pitti Gola has become a mandatory stop on every trip I make to Florence, including for this year’s 2025 Tuscan Anteprima.  The wine selection (both by bottle and glass) is impressive, the staff are knowledgeable and accommodating, and the dishes they prepare in their tiny kitchen are creative and delicious.

Eduardo Fioravani, Manuelle Giovanelli, and Zeno Fioravanti are the personalities behind Pitti Gola, which we wrote about in the International Wine Review’s first Chianti Classico report.  I always discover wines that are new to me.  This year the staff put together a sampling of wines for me to pair with their delicious cuisine.  My notes follow.

Aperitif

Vezzoli Giuseppe NV Brut Metodo Classico Franciacorta This 100% Chardonnay is crisp with green apple and pear nuances and a chalky finish. 24 months sur latte.

Maso dei Chini 2020 Inkino Brut Millesimato Trento DOC. Another sparkling, pale straw Chardonnay that’s mineral-like with a fresh-baked bread note. 36 months on the lees in bottle. Very good.

Primi Piatti

(credit drwinkler)

Carpaccio di Lingua di Vitello, Salsa Verde al Cavolo Nero.  Absolutely delicious thinly sliced veal tongue with salsa verde, aioli, and crisp, fried leaves of what is translated as black cabbage but is more likely a variant of kale.  Subtly spiced white meat perfect for pairing with medium weight white wines.

Pietramore 2021 Pecorino Superiore Abruzzo. This lightly herbal, medium weight white showing melon and peach is produced by the Tenuta Pietramore from late harvested, biodynamic-cultivated Pecorino given a few hours skin contact.  Firm with good acidity and mineral-like on the finish. Excellent.

Cas’ al’ Mat 2022 Intro Derthona Timorasso Colli Tortonesi.   This rich, rather tropical, deeper colored organic-certified white comes from the Piedmont. Aromas and flavors that evoke melon, acacia, and honeycomb. Grown in calcareous clay soils, it sees some skin contact and about 11 months aging with battonage. Alessio Canepa and Matteo Bertè are the winemakers.

Segundi Piatti

(credit drwinkler)

Tagliolini all’Uovo con Burro di Montagna e Tartufo fresco di Stagione  A sublime dish of fresh tagliolini pasta, butter, aged parmesan cheese and shaved, fresh black truffles.

Voliero 2020 Brunello di Montalcino  Dark red. Cherries, dark berries and dried floral aromas. Beautiful, broad and silky in the mouth with a firm backbone.  Very long finish.   Andrea Cortonesi (who we visited at Uccelliera for the IWR Brunello report) makes this elegant wine sourced from vineyards 200m higher in elevation than Uccelliera.  Fermented in stainless steel and aged 30 months in large (20-50hl) Slavonian and French oak botti. An excellent Brunello.

Az Agr Lodali Walter 2020 Barolo Bricco Ambrogio  Sourced from a single vineyard in the lesser known village of Roddi, this is a nicely structured wine with plum, cherry, rose petal and spice aromas and flavors. Very long finish. Fermented in cement and matured in 26hl Slavonian oak botti for 24 months.  Very good.