EVENTS
THE LV ALIMENTARI/ENOTECA/WINE CLUB (featuring monthly tastings)
We have an Enoteca & Alimentari (bottle shop & grocery): natural, organic, biodynamic wines, artisanal amari, beer, and zero-proof beverages "To Go"!
The retail shop is open from 5pm-close, 7 days a week! Pop in, get suggestions/recommendations, OR take home your favorite bottles after dinner. Going to a BYO? Stoopin' it on a warm, sunny evening? Contemplating the universe from your 12 x 8 concrete South Philly backyard? We've got you covered. And we also have a Wine Club!
Member subscriptions are monthly, with pickup and complimentary tastings on the first Wednesday of every month. Wine club members will also enjoy 10% off all retail bottles and alimentari items.
Membership tiers:
$75 (+10% Philly liquor tax): 2 bottles of "everyday wines"
$150 (+10% Philly liquor tax): 2 "every-day wines" &
2 special-occasion bottles
Somm's Pick: additional $60 (+10% Philly liquor tax)
Online enrollment is HERE.
Monthly Wine Club tastings are also available to the public for $25.
Please email chris.levirtu@gmail.com for more info or any questions.
Wednesday, February 23rd, 6:30pm
“Meet the Winemaker Umbrian Wine Dinner with L'udovica Fongoli of Cantina Fongoli”
$175 (includes food/tax/gratuity)
Reservation here! https://resy.com/cities/philadelphia-pa/venues/le-virtu/events/cantina-fongoli-wine-dinner-with-ludovica-fongoli-2026-02-23?date=2026-02-07&seats=2!
One of the wineries that Chris introduced us to on an August 2022 trip (through Abruzzo, Marche, and Umbria that seemed to happen at light speed, with him giggling behind the wheel) was Cantina Fongoli in Montefalco (Umbria), where we visited on a pleasant late afternoon. As we dropped out of hyperdrive, the winery’s topography came into focus: robust hills, somewhere between (as you’d figure) Tuscany’s luxurious, familiar, Renaissance scenery, and Abruzzo’s uncompromising physicality. As we approached the azienda’s rustic building, we passed two young American women - something about their accents and vocal inflection said California - sitting at an outside table, enjoying a wine tasting. We toured the facility and walked out among some of the vines. Angelo, the great-nephew of founder Decio Fongoli and currently overseeing the 4th generation farm, led the way. Fongoli is in the center of the Montefalco wine area, and, like most of the oldest farms, the family also originally bred pigs and cattle, and produced olive oil. Their first bottled wines were produced in the 1940s, and the cantina was the main protagonist in securing a DOC designation for Sagrantino di Montefalco in the 1970s. The production is biodynamic, using only indigenous yeasts and self-produced grapes. The wines are aged in oak and bottled on-site. The property also is home to olive groves, a truffle field, meadows, and wooded areas - it’s idyllic.
Our visit was a big unwinding; we felt like guests in the home of friends who also happen to make extraordinary wine. We sat with Angelo, Letizia, and their daughter Ludovica, munching salumi and cheese, and drinking glass after glass of singular, vibrant, exciting wines. We laughed and bonded, they gave us local dining suggestions, and then we drank more wine (bear in mind, this was the first time we’d gotten to meet them). It was a great hang.
Ludovica will be bringing an assortment of the Cantina’s products and Chef Andrew Wood - very much in his creative wheelhouse when immersed in la cucina umbra - has created an amazing menu to accompany them.
Antipasti
House-cured prosciutto and salumi
House-made juniper ricotta, quince mostarda
Testaroli
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'Laetitia Bullarum' Umbria Frizzante 2021
Smoked trout
Umbrian lentil ragu, parsley
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'La Palmetta' (100% Grechetto) 2023
Primi
Tagliatelle: duck, ceci, soffrito, sage, parmigiano reggiano
Strozzapreti: Pork rib and tomato ragu, rosemary, parmigiano-reggiano
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'Maceratum' (100% Trebbiano Spoletino) 2022
'Serpullo' Montefalco Rosso Riserva DOC 2019
Secondo
Griglia mista d'agnello: lamb brochette, sausage, leg, belly, chop,
coal-roasted potatoes, onions
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Sagrantino Montefalco DOCG 2017
Decius' Passito (100% Sagrantino) 2015
Dolce
Nocciata: walnut nougat, orange
