Date: March 24, 2010 @ 11:00 AM

Bread and Wine...Try PaneVino

When someone talks about “Bread & Wine” I usually get some sort of communion flashes – (usually without the guilt.) But, we are in the wine world, and it is normal to serve bread when offering wine for tasting. (I happen to be partial to a classic sweet baguette with a crispy crust that is easily torn apart. It is some French etiquette thingy to tear baguette and not cut it. I don’t get it.)

PaneVino www.panevino-napa.com has another great approach to bread and wine; breadsticks. Actually, they are called #6 grissini which was complicated so I had to look it up at Wikipedia. (I have learned from Carol, our family librarian, that real librarians prefer other sources but, get real, this is just my blog!)

Breadsticks (grissini) are generally pencil-sized sticks of crispy, dry bread originating in Turin and the surrounding area in Italy. They are originally thought to have been created in the 14th century; according to a local tradition, they would be instead invented by a baker in Lanzo Turinese (northern Italy) in 1679. Grissini are very popular in Spain as well.

Grissini dough on a baking tray.

The original recipe, grissino torinese (as still made in Turin), differs from the modern version in that it is thicker, longer, hand-made, often twisted and has a more bread-like texture. Toppings vary from simple coarse salt to seeds or dried herbs of your choice. The most popular variations are named grissino stirato (straight) and grissino rubatà (hand-rolled).

PaneVino is a local catering company – great people and food – and they happen to make these great breadsticks. They are handmade and I have tried the Sea Salt and the Cheddar. I prefer the Sea Salt but I notice that the Cheddar are the first to go. (They come in a cool clear tube that keeps most of them in perfect shape instead of the usual bread stick experience that includes shattered bits of dried bread.)

You can get them in the short-straw length or the dramatic super long size. They immediately make your table look like fun. It isn’t quite like flower arranging but you do want the tall ones to look good in the center of the table. I think that research needs to be conducted to determine the undeniable magnetic power of breadsticks. Find someone who can resist them.

I love the things. I have a working theory that if you eat them, one at a time, from the end-to-end, that they have no calories.

They are good with wine. I find that a crunchy texture can sometimes mess with the perception of the wine, but that is too picky to be a real concern, and it is more fun to pretend to be smoking a fifteen-inch-long cigarette and wondering who emptied your wine glass.