Very good news for The Park’s oenophiles: Raffaele Giovanetti, our new wine manager, is at your service. A veteran of Petersham Nurseries, where he ran the wine department, he is an expert in bottles of all persuasions, but holds a special place in his heart for Champagne and old-vine varietals. His family owns several hectares in the Reggio Emilia region of Italy, and he came of age helping with the harvest.
Some of his favourite producers on The Park’s list are Montenidoli, with its ‘rich, exuberant, and wonderfully expressive’ Vernaccia di San Gimignano, as well as Cascina Penna‑Currado, a fifth-generation winery that produces Timorasso, and Clendenen Family Vineyards from Santa Barbara, California. ‘Jim Clendenen was truly an artist of wine,’ he says. At the end of the evening, Raffaele is prone to sitting down with a glass of our Etna Bianco from Graci or a Billecart-Salmon Brut ‘le Reserve,’ which has an aroma he describes as ‘biscuity.’ (After sampling it ourselves, we concur.)
To those of you aspirant and amateur sommeliers, he recommends the documentary film Somm: Into the Bottle, as well as Peter Liem’s classic guide Champagne: The Essential Guide to the Wines, Producers, and Terroirs of This Iconic Region. Next time you see him, do say hello—he works evenings, primarily from Tuesday to Saturday. And why not invite him to choose a little glass of something sublime?