CleverRoot

w i n t e r 2 0 1 8 | 6 7 ITALIENNE, New York City Photos by Evan Sung Chef Jared Sippel of Italienne in New York City encountered Alto Adige early in his career: "I worked and trained there, so it infuses into everything I do," he explains. So when it came to conceptualizing dishes to pair with the region's wines, the ideas arose effortlessly. "When I think of Alto Adige, I think of apples, which are a major export of the region; I think of speck, which is smoked prosciutto; and I think of horseradish, a very typical local ingredient. These are indelible memories for me, so I'm combining all three in a dish of canederli, a dumpling traditionally made from stale bread that is very common in Alto Adige." For his take on this homey dish, Sippel began plating with an apple purée on the bot- tom representing his "memory of the place." "We lay down the canederli and finish it with roasted cabbage and radicchio, speck, and grated horseradish," he explains. This dish imparts layers of flavor: The umami-laden speck is accented with some sweetness from the apple and the roasted cabbage is balanced by the horseradish's sharpness. "One flavor just merges into the next one, giving a rounded profile in the mouth," Sippel says. "It's a very harmonious dish, I think." He paired the canederli with the 2016 Gump Hof Markus Prack- wieser Mediaevum Vernatsch/Schiava, which offered bracing acidity and a hint of pepper. His second entrée—spinach gnocchetti with a creamy prosciutto sauce—shifts the focus to a more classically Italian influenced dish. For the wine pairing, he selected the 2016 Cantina Bolzano Müller-Thurgau, a crisp, light white wine that has a balance of acidity and sweetness with notes of lilac and nutmeg. Alto Adige has a rich winemaking history and dual cultural ties. The wines being produced are specific to the region, and as Chef Sippel summarized, "not in a style that changes to fit some fleeting international trend." While the wines may not be familiar, he says "they never fail to please." Chef Jared Sippel of New York City's Italienne trained in Alto Adige, which made creating culinary pairings with its wines an effortless task. Gnocchetti di spinaci e prosciutto paired with the 2016 Cantina Bolzano Müller-Thurgau Alto Adige DOC. Canederli with apples, cabbage, speck, and horseradish paired with the 2016 Gump Hof Markus Prackwieser Mediaevum Vernatsch (Schiava) Südtirol DOC. ■cr

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