08/28/2026
Check it out!
There are wine dinners, and then there are wine dinners where the story behind the wine is almost as interesting as the wine itself.
And I’ll be the first to admit this.
I don’t know a great deal about wine.
I know food.
My team knows wine.
And one of the things I have always enjoyed is listening to people who really understand something explain why it matters.
They can church up the descriptions and lore better than me, so I let them.
That is what makes this dinner pretty damn interesting.
Thursday, September 10, the Centro team is putting together a dinner around the wines of Vigneti Massa in Piedmont.
Walter Massa is one of the people most closely associated with bringing the Timorasso grape back from near extinction and helping put it back on the map in Piedmont, according to brutha Nate Evans.
That is a pretty cool story by itself.
But what really caught my attention was the chance to taste the wines across different vintages.
We will start with two Timorassos, then move into Barbera, including Monleale from both 2019 and 2011.
Same producer.
Same wine.
Years apart.
Even for somebody like me who is much more comfortable talking about bread, pork, pasta and old cookbooks than wine, I understand why that is so interesting.
Listening to my team talk about this was absolutely mesmerizing.
You get to taste what time does.
You can buy bottles and stick them away for years, but most of us do not have the kind of memory that lets us perfectly remember what that wine tasted like eight years earlier, even as meticulously as I can take notes.
Here, you get to taste those changes side by side.
My team has built the menu around these storied wines.
It is very Northern Italian in spirit without trying too hard.
These ingredients have a storied history, with Chef Michael’s twist.
Baccalà.
Risotto.
Fresh house pasta.
Milk-braised pork.
Porchetta.
Truffle.
Parmesan.
Apples.
At the end of the day, it is just really good food built to be really freaking good and go with some very interesting wines.
And I think that is what makes dinners like this super fun for us.
You do not have to be a wine expert.
Clearly this brutha isn’t.
You just have to be curious.
MENU BELOW
FIRST
Baccalà Mantecato
Grilled ciabatta topped with creamy salt cod and potato spread, poached shrimp and celery salad
Vigneti Massa “Piccolo Derthona” 2025 Timorasso
SECOND
Mushroom Risotto
Roasted JoyGrow mushrooms, egg yolk and Montamore cheese
Vigneti Massa “Derthona” 2024 Timorasso
THIRD
White Lasagna
Sheets of fresh pasta layered with milk-braised pork shoulder, caramelized onion, truffle béchamel and Parmesan cheese
Vigneti Massa “Monleale” 2019 Barbera
FOURTH
Porchetta
Pork belly roast rubbed with fennel pollen and garlic, served with salsa verde and roasted potatoes
Vigneti Massa “Monleale” 2011 Barbera
FIFTH
Honeycrisp Apple Bar
Shortbread topped with caramelized Honeycrisp apple and streusel
Thursday, September 10
Doors at 6:15 PM
Dinner at 6:30 PM
$110 per person
Includes dinner, wine pairings and gratuity.
Tickets https://www.exploretock.com/centrodesmoines/event/621170/the-autumn-cellar-wine-dinner
