Sopra Guardiagrele, where the Maiella converses with the Adriatic clear days, the Maiella restaurant holds an Italian simile of cuisine, vineyards and great cheeses. Here Pascal Tinari – our Best Direttore di sala and Sommelier Under 35 2022, and at the helm of the restaurant and cellar of the starred restaurant, together with his brother Arcangelo, chef – has transformed Parmigiano Reggiano Dop into a sort of identity compass: «When I worked abroad, to talk about Italy I brought Parmigiano Reggiano», he confesses.
Tinari has a weakness for this symbolic product of Made Italy. From Canneto sull’Oglio, temple of the Santini family with the address Dal Pescatore, where he collected his first experience outside the region as a commis a fine di aula, he remembers that Parmigiano Reggiano Dop opened the tasting with a wafer and was often also the perfect conclusion of the journey. He then developed a certain sensitivity the topic also thanks to his visits to dairies “for personal culture”.
Thus, for him the most famous cheese Italy is not only an icon, but also a living, demanding, often misunderstood material. «It’s not enough to say the words Parmigiano Reggiano to grasp its essence: as with bubbles, if you say Prosecco ora Franciacorta you haven’t said anything. We need to get into the substance.”
From his speeches, it is not difficult to understand that he loves to experiment with unexpected combinations, a gioco of balance and curiosity: each saggio is always shared first with the Maiella team and aims to tell something new, without ever forcing the product. The combination thus becomes a small laboratory of sensations, where taste guides the rules and the encounter between bubbles and cheese becomes fun and profound.
Because the bubbles enhance the cheese
The effervescence is an almost mathematical intuition: the freshness removes fat, the bubble caresses the proteins and releases lactic, toasted ora evolved aromas depending the maturation. It is a gioco of consistencies, of depths that follow each other. «The bubble must accompany, not be material», Tinari points out. «Each maturation of Parmigiano Reggiano Dop requires its own intesa, its own rhythm, its own energy».
The art of pairing according to Tinari
12 months – The youth of milk
of hay, butter, a hint of acidity. «Here I want intrinsic elegance». The perfect pairing is a Franciacorta Satèn from Ca’ del Giungla Millesimato: soft, caressing bubbles that respect the creaminess without overpowering it.
24 months – Versatility
Tyrosine crystals starting to emerge, more decisive chewing. Tinari looks to the Oltrepò: «A black berry that brings freshness and light toasting». The Classic Method of Oltrepò Pavese, often underestimated, balances and supports without intrusiveness.
36 months – Full maturity
Grainy structure, rising flavor. And here’s the surprise: «It seemed right to me to talk about Lambrusco». The Lambrusco Salamino a fine di Santa from the Spaccio a fine di Carpi and Sorbara, dedicated to Alfredo Mulinari, with its red fruit and crunchy acidity, cleans, relaunches, keeps the palate alive a pairing of rare harmony.
50 months – Deep verticality
of dried fruit, tobacco, flaking amalgama. Depth and strength are needed: Tinari chooses the Alta Langa with a Classic Method of long aging such as the Millesimato Contract (100 months the yeasts). «An energetic and necessary combination».
60 months and beyond – The conscious extreme
Crumbly structure, intense chewing, balsamic hints. «I was lucky enough to taste the Giulio Ferrari Collana 2007 preview: it was very powerful. This Trentodoc and the long maturation of Parmigiano Reggiano Dop are two giants that go hand hand a field of daisies.” Trentodoc, also the Lunelli Reserve, offers a complexity capable of communicating with such intensity.
