Coturri Albarello 2001

Served With: Pasta with Red Sauce

Five Things: intense, dusty, chocolate, deep, terroir

COO: Sonoma County, California

Notes: San Marzano tomatoes from Italy have an almost mythical wine-like terroir status in the culinary world due to the volcanic soil in the region. Tony Coturri's wines have that same ability to transport you to a specific place and time, in this instance, Sonoma Valley, California, 2001.

Website: Coturri Winery

Rating: Very Good

Tags: coturri, albarello, 2001, sonoma, california

Coturri Chardonnay 2007

Served With: Picatta

Five Things: deep golden color, meyer lemon, balanced acidity, sandalwood incense, unfiltered

COO: Sonoma Mountain, California

Notes: This unfiltered wine is not your typical California Chard, and I mean that in the best possible way. So pairing it with a dish full of lemons and capers -- which can be treacherous to lesser wines -- could have been a problem. But, it was one of the most synergistic pairings I've ever had, each bite and sip in harmony. That doesn't happen very often...

Website: Coturri Winery

Rating: Delicious

Tags: coturri, chardonnay, 2007, california, sonoma

Ridge Lytton Springs Zinfandel 2003

Served With: Pasta with Broccoli Rabe & Sausage

Five Things: bramble, black fruit, pepper, medium tannins, long finish

COO: Sonoma County, California

Notes: Sometimes a wine makes you work a little bit for a payoff, and this one did just that. It had the faintest bit of must upon opening (which disappeared), and took a good half hour to open up, and but we were ultimately rewarded once it did. This blend of zinfandel, petite sirah, carignane had well structured tannins and a long finish with a good balance of fruit which played off the mild heat from the sausage and slight bitterness of the broccoli rabe quite well. The moral of the story? Good things come to those who wait ;)

Website: Ridge Vineyards

Rating: Very Good

Tags: sonoma, california, zinfandel, carignane, petite sirah, ridge, dry creek valley

Coturri Founder's Series Zinfandel 2005

Served With: BBQ with a Calimyrna Fig & Balsamic Reduction Sauce

Five Things: deep purple (the color and the band), earth, white pepper, long finish, intense berry

COO: Sonoma, California

Notes: Pulled this one from the cellar for this match-up, and was not disappointed the result. Coturri wines are in a completely different universe, so the unusual fig barbecue-style sauce on the grill made perfect sense with this powerful unfiltered, unfined Zin.

Website: Coturri Winery

Rating: Very Good

Tags: coturri, sonoma, california, zinfandel, 2005