Here’s another chance to help yourselves to some of the world’s best wines – while also helping your favourite restaurants to stay healthy in what has been a deeply challenging time for the hospitality industry.
In this, the third in our series of restaurant collaborations, we team up with a rockstar of the Melbourne dining scene: Caterina Borsato of Caterina’s Cucina e Bar.
As well as offering special six-pack pricing to you, we’re handing 20% of the proceeds from sales of this product back to the restaurant.
CellarHand was founded by a sommelier and is a business largely built on partnerships in Australia’s world-class restaurant scene. We’re immensely proud of these friendships – honoured, in fact to be part of the hospitality ecosystem – which makes it devastating to witness the hardships suffered by this cornerstone of Australian culture.
So we want to celebrate and support these champions.
Caterina Borsato and Patrick Walsh met in the first days of the somm scene in the early ’90s. The former went on to start Caterina’s Cucina e Bar in ’95, the latter founded CellarHand. It’s been a friendship built on fun and trust ever since.
Caterina, known to many as erstwhile host of the Regional Italian Cuisine television series, has dedicated years to turning out sophisticated, traditional Italian lunches with a bow to modernism.
For all of its sophistication, Caterina’s is testament that pure flavours and simplicity go hand in hand. At the helm is chef Marcello Mariani, a Northerner from Veneto. His fellow team ensures authenticity by also drawing upon central & southern dishes.
A couple of years back, Caterina won the Citi Prize for Service Excellence at The Age Good Food Guide Awards, honouring her “outstanding level of service and contribution to the hospitality industry”. The restaurant has also received the coveted Marchio D’Ospitalità, bestowed by the Italian Chamber of Commerce to commend businesses that share authentic Italian cuisine outside Italy.
There’s no substitute for Caterina’s unique, expectation-defying hospitality – nor the flair and thrill of dining in – but these wines will take you as close as you can get.
And as a further spur, we’ll enclose recipe card for Caterina’s Gippsland Rabbit Leg Livornese style with sautéed greens, perfectly paired with La Spinetta’s juicy Sangiovese.
The Wines
Contratto Vermouth Rosso $47
Classic Italian aperitif drawing on the original Contratto recipe from 1910. Based on white wine from the signature Piedmont grape Cortese with pure and caramelised cane sugar, Italian brandy, water and more than 30 different herbs and spices.
2019 Frankland Estate Poison Hill Riesling $45
From white clay, this is a rich and spicy Riesling, reminiscent of great Germanic expressions over the sour Aussie norm.This is juicy, powerful and complex. Compelling length. Quince, lemon oil, apricot pith and tonic.
97 points. James Halliday, Halliday Wine Companion
2017 André Bonhomme Viré-Clessé Vielles Vignes $54
One of the loveliest features of the wine is this lightly palate-staining fresh fruit/sweetness/faint nuttiness that seems to go on and on. A delight! Such a ‘come hither’ style of wine – urging you back to your glass.
92 points. Mike Bennie, The Wine Front
2018 Scorpo Rosé $30
Whole-bunch pressed, unusual for rosé, wild-fermented in used oak. Juicy red fruits, but no hint of sweetness. light-bodied, but nonetheless is a serious wine.
94 points. James Halliday, Halliday Wine Companion 2021
2018 G.D. Vajra Barbera d’Alba $49
This vibrant Italian red has gorgeous purity of ripe cherries and berries with a dusting of cocoa, mocha and sweet spice.
2016 La Spinetta Il Nero di Casanova Sangiovese $40
This juicy, savoury Sangiovese is brimming with classic sour cherry, dried rose and terracotta notes. It comes from Tuscany’s Terre di Pisa Sangiovese DOC, with fruit from the Casanova vineyard in Terricciola and the Sezzana site in Casciana Terme.
Caterina’s Cucina e Bar
221 Queen St, Melbourne VIC 3000
Phone: 0418 568 722
Email: info@caterinas.com.au
Check out Caterina’s Tutti a Casa food kit and Pronto! Ready-to-eat menu