Authentic Italian restaurant, Nonna Beppa, is perhaps best known for Chef ‘Wendy’ Cacciatori’s simple, traditional, and elegant showcase of flavors from Italy’s Emilia Romagna region. Their comprehensive wine program and imported fresh, handmade cheeses are equally impressive.

Join Nonna Beppa sommelier, Gaetano Muscatello, and Italian cheese producer & importer, Andy Marcelli of Marcelli Formaggi, for a wine and cheese tasting voyage through Italy. Our conversation with Gaetano and Andy, will be accompanied by 3oz pours of various Italian wines and a variety of fresh Italian cheeses, selected by Gaetano and Andy respectively.

On the Menu:

Wine (3oz Pour)

Fiano di Avellino, Guido Marsella (2015) Campania

Verdicchio Villa Bucci Riserva, Bucci (2014) Marche

Cialla Bianco, Ronchi di Cialla (2015) Verduzzo, Ribolla Gialla, Piccolit, Friuli

Archineri Bianco, Pietradolce (2017) Carricante, Sicilia

Nobile di Montepulciano, Boscarelli (2014) Sangiovese, Toscana

Fresh, Handmade Cheese

Ricotta affumicata

Caciocavallo

Yogurt

Ricotta with Herbs

Pecorino Stagionato

About Gaetano Muscatello:

Gaetano Muscatello has worked in the hospitality industry for over 25 years. Beginning in his birthplace, Rome, Muscatello worked as a pastry and sous-chef at a very young age. Later, he moved to Manhattan where he was able to explore various sides of the restaurant industry, culminating in restaurant management. As he grew in the business, however, his true passion became increasingly and undeniably apparent - wine.

Over the past 16 years, he has worked primarily as a Wine Director, integrating his diverse management experiences into his role. He has received various degrees, among them is a degree from the Diploma Class of Wine and Spirit Education Trust. Using the experiences he’s gained through his travels in Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, and most of the Mediterranean, he thrives off sharing his knowledge about food and wine so what he does “never feels like a job.” In our conversation with Muscatello he said, “George Washington once said that wine is a necessity of life but never forget. Drinking great wines makes it better.” We couldn’t agree more so join us in raising a glass.

About Andy Marcelli & Marcelli Formaggi (excerpt provided by Marcelli Formaggi)

We are the Marcelli Family; a family made up of Chefs and Specialty Food Industry professionals. We embrace and celebrate the culinary treasures of our ancestral home in Abruzzo. It’s an area of pristine and unspoiled beauty, where one third of the region is comprised of National Parks and called “The Green Heart of Europe”

We specifically import exceptional award winning organic cheese, which is made by our ancestral family in the small mountain village of Anversadegli Abruzzi, population 300. We also import other specialty products from the same village and area, such as, extra virgin olive oil from 1000 year old orchards, savory mountain honey, pasta and the saffron of L'Aquila. All of these products are EU certified organic and are made by small family producers.

These are not just products placed in bags, bottles and jars. They are products that come from small families who embrace and celebrate centuries of tradition. Ancient knowledge, hard work and dedication, craft these gifts of pastures, fields and orchards.

Read more about Marcelli Formaggi here.

About Nonna Beppa

Here in New York at Nonna Beppa, the pasta Wendy Cacciatori has become known for, is handmade at a work station visible to customers through a window. The signature dish is that tortellini, made from a recipe used at two restaurants owned and run by his family in a small town north of Bologna that date back to the end of World War II.