On a mild fall evening earlier this week, on a breathtaking Beverly Hills rooftop, Crateful founder and CEO Emanuele Ponzo hosted an intimate gathering of wine aficionados for a four-course dinner pairing featuring Italian winemaker Ca’ del Bosco. It was one of those rare meals that food writers fondly catalog among their more memorable experiences. Then again, that’s what a Crateful dinner is.

If you’re not yet familiar with the company and you enjoy eating food, it’s time to educate yourself. Crateful Catering is a Los Angeles-based high-end meal delivery and catering service. Ponzo’s mission is to provide clients with organic, healthy, well-balanced, and delicious meals. James Beard Award winner Luciano Pellegrini serves as executive chef, and his culinary magic was on full display once again this week in the form of decadent duck pâté appetizers, a mouthwatering Maine lobster salad with grapefruit accents, and a delicate sea bass so tender it flaked at the mere sight of a fork.

The chef’s gastronomical creations were symbiotically enhanced by elegant pairings of Italian vino from Ca’ del Bosco, whose creator, Maurizio Zanella, was seated at the center of the table, sharing his wealth of knowledge about the ancient Franciacorta region in Lombardy, northern Italy; a land of tiny hamlets, patrician villas, and medieval castles; a glacially created hilly region south of the foothills of the Alps, long renowned for its sparkling wine, rivaling that of Champagne.

And sparkle the wine did. And dazzle. And thrill. Zanella launched the evening by uncorking the Cuvée Prestige, a jewel of a bottle of bubbly. A 2006 Chardonnay, paired brilliantly with the sea bass, was perhaps the revelation of the evening, creating a buzz of conversation around its every nuance. The event was capped off by a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot, bearing the creator’s name (the wine creator, Maurizio, not the creator, if you believe in that sort of the thing, and after a glass or two of this, you just might start).

You’ll find Ca’ del Bosco wine at Wally’s Wines & Spirits, which I’m thrilled to say is now open in a new location, 214 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica. Saluti!