An invitation Restaurant Revolution’s Cellar Experience Dinner to taste island wines provided us with a good reason to step out on a steamy August evening in New Orleans. We had heard good things about this intimate wine dinner series organized by Wine Director Clayton Fox with a menu conceived by Executive Chefs John Folse and Samuel Peery. Located in the Royal Sonesta Hotel, Restaurant Revolution is recognized for its modern twist on classic Creole and Cajun cuisine, its extensive 10,000 bottle international wine list and its special wine and food dinners.
Always ready to travel to the islands by plane or, in this case, our palates, we liked the idea of island hopping through the perspective of wine. This dinner featured an amuse-bouche plus four courses paired with wines from Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, the Canary Islands and Madeira. Nattily dressed in a double-breasted seersucker suit, Fox explained how he selected the wines and presented the location and geography of each island. All but Corsica have volcanic soils, infertile with concentrations of lava, ash and sediment. Corsica’s mountain soils have more loam, clay, sandstone and granite.
Wine Director Clayton Fox and labels of the Island wines we tasted
Appropriately, the evening began with bubbles and from a wine region we have visited several times, Sicily’s Etna DOC. We have also interviewed Salvino Benanti whose family is one of this region’s most venerable producers. The crisp Benanti Noblesse Metodo Classico Brut Carricante, with its lemon, green apple and white flower notes, paired nicely with the two amuse-bouches, a Bayou Rosa oyster with cucumber foam and lemon zest and a Canary Melon topped with thinly slivered cured ham and sorrel. Benanti’s Importer: Wilson Daniels
Bayou Rosa oyster with cucumber foam and lemon zest
Our next stop – and the first dinner course – was Corsica, a French Mediterranean island we long to visit. The Clos Venturi Vermentinu “1769 Blanc” delivered crunchy, herbal-citrus notes with a hint of saline on the finish. This wine is aged six months in stainless steel on fine lees with bâtonnage, giving it a pleasant brioche character. Clos Venutri’s Importer: Grand Cru Selections. The dish served with this wine was a simple Gulf shrimp over fregola with bits of bottarga, preserved lemon and basil. Fregola is a pearl shaped durum wheat pasta popular in Sardinia; it is usually served with shellfish.
Gulf shrimp over fregola with bottarga, preserved lemon and basil
Our second course took us to Spain’s Canary Islands and a Bermejos Listán Negro Rosé paired with chargrilled octopus in sweet pepper and mojo verde served with crispy smashed potatoes. The fruity pomegranate, strawberry and blood orange notes in this rosé helped temper the heat of this spicier dish. Bermejos is on the easternmost island of Lanzarote, an island covered in black ash and lava. The soil is so poor that the vines are planted in holes (hoyo) to reach down into the organic matter buried under the volcanic layers. Bermejos Listán’s Importer: David Bowler Wines
Chargrilled octopus in sweet pepper and mojo verde with crispy smashed potatoes
A Sardinian red, Agricola Punica “Montessu” was paired with the main course of herb-crusted roasted rack of wild boar. Montessu is an IGT red wine from the Isola dei Nuraghi, a viticultural island considered part of Sulcis, located in the southwest of Sardinia. The red wines here tend to use French varieties and in the case of the Montessu it is Carignano (French: Carignan), which locally is considered in such high regard that it garners its own DOCG: Carignano del Sulcis. Notes of black cherry, raspberry, and rosemary and chewy tannins complemented the herb-crusted boar which was tender and juicy. Agricola Punica Importer: Kobrand.
Herb-crusted roasted rack of wild boar
The dinner’s finale was grand, indeed. The New York Malmsey Madeira is a selection from Rare Wine Co’s Historic Madeira Series created to commemorative this year’s bicentennial. Malmsey is a richer and sweeter style of Madeira. This one had notes of toffee, caramel, dried fig, roasted nuts and dark coffee with a long finish. It was paired with a dense sticky toffee and fig cake topped with whipped crème fraiche.
Sticky toffee and fig cake topped with whipped crème fraiche
The Cellar Experience with Clayton Fox series continues through 2026. Reservations are required, and seating is limited to maintain an intimate dining experience. Book on Resy. Here is the schedule:
An Evening in Provence – September 16,
Little Treasures of Bordeaux – October 21
The Rhône from Top to Bottom – November 11, 2026
The Royal Sonesta offers free four-hour valet parking in its garage for guests with validation.
Information: Restaurant R’evolution – New Orleans