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 Chef/Co-Owner Damian Sansonetti of Chaval and Piccolo for a Virtual Wine Dinner from the comforts of home and technology. 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.
This will be the first in 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 through wine and cuisine using the produce of local Maine farmers. harvesters, and purveyors. On April 17 we’ll travel to the South of France.
Cost is $140 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 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.
