DETAILS: Join the incredible chefs and team at The Ugly Duckling for an incredible wine dinner featuring the Rioja wines of Lopez de Heredia, each paired with delicious food from Chefs Damian Sansonetti and Ilma Lopez. Lopez de Heredia is recognized as one of, if not the best, Rioja producers in Spain. They have been making their wine the same way since they began in 1877. This is a wonderful opportunity to taste through a library portfolio of these wines that also happen to be one of the favorite wines in the world for these chefs. The menu will feature regional and local ingredients with a Spanish flair and influence.
Limited to 16 people seated around the intimate horseshoe bar at the Duckling.
Featured Wines:
2013 R. Lopez De Heredia, Viña Cubillo, Crianza, Rioja, Spain
2012 R. Lopez De Heredia, Viña Gravonia Crianza Blanco, Rioja, Spain
2008 R. Lopez De Heredia, Viña Tondonia, Rosé, Rioja, Spain
2006 R. Lopez De Heredia, Viña Tondonia, Reserva, Rioja, Spain
2007 R. Lopez De Heredia, Viña Tondonia, Reserva, Rioja, Spain
COST: $135 plus tax and gratuity
RESERVE by email reservations@chavalmaine.com
LINKS: The Ugly Duckling
Before Chef Damian Sansonetti was the acclaimed chef de cuisine at the uber-French Bar Boulud in New York, co-owner Damian Sansonetti grew up savoring his mother's and grandmother's cooking from handmade pasta to grilled fish to learning how to cure meat and make sausages with his grandfather. A career in food was practically his birthright. After 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. Sansonetti was a 2022 finalist for the James Beard Award, Best Chef Northeast.
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 multiple-time James Beard top-Chef finalist, and you may have seen her name in the September issue of Bon Appetit Magazine highlighting her incredible talents when naming Portland, Maine as their pick for Restaurant City of The Year. You can find her daily at their new bakeshop and luncheonette The Ugly Duckling.
