CleverRoot

5 0 | t h e c l e v e r r o o t "Both the wine and the dish are in themselves complex, but with familiar flavors—the salty seaweed, the buttery lobster, the spicy sausage—anyone can identify with," Anthony Boi, Director of Food and Beverage at Castle Hill Inn, says of his pairing. It doesn't get much more New England than this: An indoor clambake paired with the rich, pure flavors in the wine make for a clambake match in heaven at Castle Hill Inn in Newport, RI. An indoor littleneck clambake complete with whole lobsters, chouriço sausages, and fresh rockweed from the sea may sound lavish for a single dish, but this is Castle Hill: Originally the summer residence of marine biologist and naturalist Alexander Agassiz, the property is now a 40-acre luxury hotel, spa, and four-star restaurant overlooking Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay. "The most distinctive component that I associate with a clambake is the aroma of seaweed cooking on hot coals," says Executive Chef Lou Rossi, who first came to Castle Hill as a culinary intern and left to work at Thomas Keller's Per Se before returning to the resort in 2009. "The seaweed imparts a rich, earthy flavor that can be challenging to replicate. We prepare many traditional clambakes through the summer season, but winter can be long in Rhode Island. To solve the issue of seasonality, we started to smoke and char seaweed and then infuse that into the broth we use to cook the lobsters. This technique made it possible to of- fer a taste of summer clambakes, prepared indoors all year-round!" "We think a classic clambake demands a wine with as much tradition as com- plexity," Castle Hill Director of Food and Beverage Anthony Boi adds. "The Ca' del Bosco Cuvée Prestige Franciacorta is perfect because of the way that it hits specific notes that I look for in a sparkling wine. First, the richness from aging on the lees, and second, a purity and clarity that is often hard to find. The richness of the Chardonnay allows us to pair it with the robust flavors of the clambake. Both the wine and the dish are in themselves complex, but with familiar flavors— the salty seaweed, the buttery lobster, the spicy sausage—anyone can identify with. The clarity of the wine, with its direct acidity, allows the guest to taste both the food and wine without one overshadowing the other." Castle Hill, says Boi, serves as a "destination restaurant where many of our guests are celebrating an important event in their lives." Thus, the Castle Hill staff often encourages guests to try sparkling wines like Ca' del Bosco's Cuvée Prestige through the full tenure of their stay or dining experiences. "Chef Lou puts an incredible amount of effort into each dish, starting with where the ingre- dients are sourced all the way through to how the dish is presented to the guest. The Cuvée Prestige is a great parallel to that, coming from stunning Franciacorta vineyards and painstakingly cared for over multiple years of aging and blending." The New England Eatery: Castle Hill Inn, Newport, RI The Challenge: Pair an Indoor Clambake with Ca' del Bosco CuvÉe Prestige Brut

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