The presence and impact of COVID-19 has caused us all to live life differently…likely for longer than we would all hope. Our small business prides itself on working with and supporting other locally-owned small businesses. These friendships and our willingness to support their small businesses is as strong as ever. And for now, the Wine Wise experience will be coming to you virtually and it’s going to be awesome. We hope to see you on the screen—fine wines in hand of course!
Join with Sommelier, Erica Archer and Chefs Luke Aberle & Damian Sansonetti of Piccolo and wine importer Matt Mollo of SelectioNaturel for this incredible Virtual Umbria Wine Dinner from the comforts of home and technology… with two incredible Chefs. And we’re delivering it all to your door. 1-2 hours before our event you’ll receive your dinner-for-two box containing your wine and food with easy instructions to reheat for our 7pm start.
Delivery is limited to the Greater Portland area. If you live outside of the Greater Portland area and would like to pick-up curbside with us at 4:30 we can arrange that. You can rest assured that we are exceeding all requirements for your safety and the safety of our teams in preparing, pick-up, and delivering.
Featured wines:
2019 Dinamo, Nucleo X Orange, Umbria
2018 Collecapretta Rosso di Tavola, Umbria
Menu
Yellowfin Tuna Crudo and Spring Vegetables and Yogurt
Breezy Hill Farm Pork Ragú “Tesra di Maiale”
House made Lumache Pasta
Broccoli Rabe
Focaccia
Chocolate Budino
Due to the nature of this event, we regret that we cannot accommodate food substitutions.
This is part of a series of Friday night Virtual Wine Dinners with Sansonetti and Archer (and perhaps we will have a guest appearance or treat from Chef Ilma Lopez from time to time). Each week we’ll touch on a different region of the world or grape variety in two different expressions through wine and cuisine using the produce of local Maine farmers. harvesters, and purveyors. On Friday, June 5, we’ll enjoy incredible Italian wine and food.
Cost is $155 all-inclusive of dinner-for-two food, wine, tax, service, download materials, event experience, and delivery. Deliveries are limited to the Greater Portland area. You can rest assured that we are exceeding all requirements for your safety and the safety of our teams in preparing and delivering.
Chef Luke Aberle is a native of Portland, Maine. After high school, Luke attended the University of Maine for engineering before switching gears and enrolling in culinary school at Johnson and Wales in Providence, Rhode Island.
After culinary school, Luke returned to Maine and began working at Grace when they opened in July 2009. There, he started off as a line cook before advancing to Sous Chef seven months later. He worked at Grace for over three years, and it was there that Luke first met Chef Ilma Lopez. Luke hired Ilma as their Pastry Chef and they soon became close friends.
After leaving Grace, he worked on a project in the West End called Carmen at the Danforth before opening In’finiti Brewery and Restaurant (now Liquid Riot). During that time, Chefs Damian Sansonetti and Ilma Lopez opened Piccolo in September 2013. After 9 months at Infiniti, Luke joined Piccolo part-time in January 2014 and then full-time as Sous Chef in March 2014. When Damian and Ilma took over Caiola’s and began working on opening Chaval in 2016, Luke was promoted to the Chef de Cuisine at Piccolo.
Chef Luke enjoys using the engineering side of his brain to solve problems and bring his culinary ideas to fruition. After five years at Piccolo, he has grown to love the Southern Italian food that he cooks and has fully embraced Italian ingredients and the simplicity of the cuisine. He also loves utilizing all the fresh produce, local farms, and working waterfronts of Maine to influence the coastal, seafood-driven Southern Italian dishes found at Piccolo. In 2019, Chef Luke earned his first 4 1/2 star review for Piccolo in the March 10 edition of the Portland Press Herald. AND his pasta dish of his was listed as “the best dish I ate in 2019” by Press Herald Food Critic Andrew Ross.
Chef Damian Sansonetti, a Pittsburgh native, grew up exploring fresh, local ingredients, making pasta with his grandmothers, curing meats with his grandfather, and assisting his father in the family kitchen. A career in food was practically his birthright. Graduating from the Pennsylvania Culinary Institute, Sansonetti worked at Nantucket’s Brant Point Grill and Pittsburgh’s Steelhead Grill, moving to New York to open Heartbeat in the W Hotel. Sansonetti met Daniel Boulud while working at Shallots in Midtown and eventually took a position at Boulud’s DB Bistro Moderne.
Training rigorously under Chef Olivier Muller, Sansonetti became chef de banquet at Daniel and then sous chef under Jean Francois Bruel. Promoted to executive chef of Bar Boulud in 2008, Sansonetti was named a 2009 StarChefs.com Rising Star. Now ensconced in the burgeoning food scene of Portland, Maine, Sansonetti’s partnered with his wife, Pastry Chef Ilma Lopez (a 2014 StarChefs.com Rising Star Pastry Chef and nominated in 2018 for a James Beard Award as Outstanding Pastry Chef), to open their Italian fine dining restaurant Piccolo and in 2017 Chaval.
Chef Ilma Lopez has worked in some of the most demanding and rewarding kitchens in the industry, such as DB Bistro, Corton, Tailor, El Bulli, Café Boulud, and Le Bernardin. When she left New York City to the quieter reaches of Maine, Lopez found a new terrain she couldn’t resist. Arriving with a mastery of colors, flavors, textures, and spices—and a seasoned ability to work under pressure—Lopez makes classic dishes her own, with attention to micro-detail and thoughtful twists. For her work, Lopez earned a 2014 StarChefs Coastal New England Rising Star Pastry Chef Award, has been a twice a semi-finalist James Beard “Best Pastry Chef” (national), and you may have seen her name in an issue of Bon Appetit Magazine highlighting her incredible talents when naming Portland, Maine as their pick for ‘Restaurant City of The Year’.
Sommelier Erica Archer is Maine native and a true oenophile, having obtained high levels of certification in her field. In 2010, she was awarded the Wine Spirit and Education Trust Level Three Advanced Certification in Wines and Spirits (with merit), became a Sommelier in the American Court of Master Sommeliers, and received her Certified Wine Professional award from the Culinary Institute of America in St. Helena, California. Erica is the principal of Wine Wise, a wine education and events service and is skilled at creating truly creative and memorable wine experiences that take guests beyond a typical tasting with her intimate understanding of what makes each wine unique. And she’ll do it with her trademark down to earth style and sense of humor.
