Tunde, the queen of Sangiovese

In February, during Benvenuto Brunello, the Leccio d’Oro prize was given in Montalcino. Three categories: restaurant, wine-bar and osteria. In the first, the award went to Nancy Silverton’s Osteria Mozza di Nancy Silvertonin Los Angeles, one of the hundred establishments in which there’s the touch of the Bastianich-Batali duo, already awarded in 2000 with Babbo. Then came Enoteca Cortina, run by Rita and Gerry Gaspari in Cortina d’Ampezzo, and finally Osteria Brunello in corso Garibaldi a Milano.

The latter is one of the few places in the Brera-Garibaldi area which are worth visiting. Here you can find good substance and no fluff while the rule is usually lots of fluff and no substance. Hers is a nice story, revealed by the opening sentence in the wine list, a sentence by Gino Veronelli: “Homeland is not the place where one is born, but the known and loved one”. These are essential words as the soul of this place is Tunde Pecsvari, today Milanese but earlier Roman and earlier still Hungarian, since she was born in Balatonfüred on lake Balaton. She lived her first 18 years there, and the following 18 here. What happened is that in 1996 she arrived in Rome in spring. It was sunny and there was lots of cheerfulness all around: “Tunde, I thought, why should I bother going back? And I didn’t. I perfected my Italian and opened a web agency designing websites and selling online advertisements”.

And if now we write of her as a sommelier and restaurateur it is because “life is a waltz that continually changes its tune”. This time the quote is by Oreste Brezza, a vine-dresser in Barolo, a man from Barolo in a wine list that opens with a declaration of love to another village, another variety and another wine: “Here we are devoted to Sangiovese”, that of Montalcino, his majesty Brunello”.

How unique is the road that from Balaton has led Tunde to Montalcino! After all it passes through Japan too because in 2003, together with her historic business partner, Antonio Sconamiglio, they decided to open an office in Milan. This is what happened: they both enjoy sushi and Bento, between Largo La Foppa and Piazza XXV Aprile, was underneath her house. One day that turned out to be beautiful after appearing as a bad one, Tunde accidentally was present during a negotiation. The buyer was interested in the place, not the sushi.

Panic: “I asked myself where would I have gone for dinner. I talked about it with Antonio and in 2004 Bento became ours. More than that: we extended the business to include Fabrizio Casolo who already had lots of experience in the food & beverage sector. What I didn’t now at the time, but very soon discovered, is that restaurants are not – and cannot be – a second job: they need to be looked after, personally. They need dedication, commitment and constant attention. So we soon left the web agency and totally focused on Bento”.

What today is Osteria Brunello – and previously was the Etrusco, with so called Tuscan cuisine - started as an even bigger challenge: offering good Italian food in Italy, a mix of Tuscan and Milanese traditions, seasoned with liveliness. One hundred meters from Bento, but on the opposite side of the street, the Etrusco was for sale, a chance the trio grasped immediately. Osteria Brunello opened in October 2008. As of a few months ago, Nicola Cortesi is in the kitchen.

As Tunde explains, and therefore one can understand how the Leccio d’Oro was left in good hands: “Of course, the focus is on Montalcino and its wines. We have a wide selection of Rosso di Montalcino and, as a tribute to the name of the restaurant, I went wild while choosing the Brunello labels. We have over 50 in our list, from 32 different producers. Vintages range from 1997 to the last born, 2008. To let everyone have the chance to taste the wines from Montalcino, we always serve by the glass at least three wines from this land: a Rosso, a Brunello and a Moscadello, on top of some other wines from other regions in Italy.

“Our inclination is for sangiovese but Brunello cannot cast a shadow on another great Italian grape variety, namely Nebbiolo, and the wines based on it from Langhe, from Northern Piedmont and Valtellina, all areas which are well represented. And should a wine list with over 250 labels be too big to be effective, just look at the ‘Sommelier’s tips’ at the beginning. Here are listed only ten labels among which everyone, according to our intentions, should find the wine that suits their taste. And if a client doesn’t finish his bottle, we can reinsert the cork so they can take it home and finish it at ease”.

Useful numbers: Bento +39.02.6598075; Osteria Brunello +39.02.6592973. The first is open daily for lunch and dinner; the second only in the evening, again daily. And as of April, at lunch time too. Well done.