Via Dino’s Grotto.

I came into Dino’s Grotto for a happy hour Negroni and a few plunges into the large canisters of pickled carrots, tomato, and cauliflower set atop the bar. I left tempted to plunk down $145 for a wine dinner the Shaw restaurant is hosting this Friday night. Chatting with proprietor Dean Gold while he shaved black truffles onto a neighbor’s fettuccine, the restaurateur waxed poetic about the out-of-this-world by way of Sicily bottles he would be pouring — and the renowned, controversial winemaker that would be joining him.

Gold uses words like “worship” and “convert” to describe how he feels about winemaker Frank Cornelissen who runs a shack of an operation on the hills of Mt. Etna. He’s so old school in his production technique that he’s new school. He uses no yeasts, sulfites or other additives, sprays or fertilizers in a process that’s beyond organic or bio-dynamic. This leads to an absence of standardization for the wine, meaning one bottle may drink completely different from the next. If a table orders a second bottle of the same wine, Gold will clear the original glasses because it probably won’t taste just like the last one. If a bottle has turned a little fizzy when the customer wasn’t expecting frizzante, they’re encouraged to go with it. It’s to be expected with Cornelissen’s wine. One wine writer, who described Cornelissen as being in a league of his own even among a “Crazy Club” of boundary pushing winemakers, likened the amount of sediment in a finished bottle he was offered to flakes in a snow globe.

The result is a rare wine experience that seems to go beyond any conventional notion of tasting grapes and is rather hard to describe. Cornelissen is currently touring his polarizing wines around the United States with one quick stop planned for D.C., an opportunity that seems pretty hard for an oenophile to resist after listening to Dean. It’s a high price tag, but the dinner is intimate compared to what appears to be cramped events in other cities. Gold has upped the wines he’s pouring from four to eight, with six courses of Italian food planned. We’ll let Dean proselytize.

Fermented and sour wine, and that’s a good thing…
“The majority of wine these days is incredibly sterile from an artistic point of view. It’s ironic that the hot thing in beer is naturally fermented beers and sours. All these things that from the eyes of a beer head makes things wonderful. Wine is reaching the same point where you can make wine totally pristine, but you lose all the stuff that makes wine wonderful. Cornelissen is part of the other extreme. It’s the way they made wine 3,000 years ago.”

On how Cornelissen ended up coming to Dino’s Grotto…
“We have been a fabulous supporter of the whole natural wine movement, and as a result when they had the one dinner to do with Cornelissen we were one of the few restaurants who’ve supported his wines and other similar wines enough that they wanted to come to us. The wines are so bizarre that really they’re a cult wine and not necessarily driven by reviewer scores, but driven by people like me who are fervent converts.”

On the rudimentary yet unique outcome of the wine…
“Modern wine making is this whole litany of processes. Hundreds of commonly used additives, adjuncts, and processes. He uses none of it so each bottle of Cornelissen wine is completely different. I can take a sip or two of Brunelo Montalcino and I can know a lot about that wine. You drink a whole bottle of Cornelissen and still have no idea what’s possible. The next bottle could blow you away in a completely different way.”

On how the wines are like Pavarotti and a wild animal…
“Each level becomes more intense. Magma — I don’t even know how to explain what the Magma is. It’s just one of those things that is overwhelming. To me, Frank Cornelissen is like Pavarotti in his prime. It’s not about the training. It’s not about technique although Pavarotti had all that stuff. Pavarotti just had a raw animalism to his voice. It was a wild voice and that’s what Cornelissen’s wines are. They’re a wild animal.”

On the food pairings for Friday…
“We’re having a lot of fun with the meal because all rules of traditional food/wine matching go out the window. He’s got a rosé that’s incredibly challenging. It’s bone dry. It’s made by fermenting things on the skin, both red and white. We worked on the recipe for this great octopus and cuttlefish with this dinner in mind. It’s not something you would normally do for a wine dinner because it’s so distinct in flavor. But with Frank’s wines, you don’t have to worry about that.

“The white wine is going to go with a very strongly flavored Sicilian swordfish. Then we’re going to do some venison and we’re going to do a little roast to go with the Munjebels. And then the grand cru, the Magma, we’re just going to put it up against cheese. The last time I bought cheese from Italy I had this dinner in mind so I bought some really spectacularly good cheese that have very distinctive flavors.

“Remember, I’ve had Munjebel before. I’ve had the Magma before. I know that these bottles are completely different. So I’m not thinking about matching a specific dish to a specific wine. I’m thinking about what will challenge the wine, how to bring things to the table that will help us get a handle on what these wines are.”

On the price of the dinner…
“It ain’t cheap. It’s $145 for the dinner plus tax and gratuity. I’m paying $60 to $200 a bottle for most of these wines, and we’re doing eight wines. There’s going to be plenty of wine for people to taste and enjoy. To me, this is something you do just once or twice.”

On what it all means to Dean…
“This is the most exciting thing to happen to me personally in wine since my first trip to Montalcino. It’s that big a landmark that I’m going to meet Frank Cornelissen. I’ve taken about 22 trips to Italy and all of those trips have involved going to wineries. And nothing compares. Absolutely nothing compares.”

Limited tickets are available for 6:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. seating on Friday, December 12. Seats must be purchased in advance, by Wednesday, December 10, and are available on the Dino’s Grotto website.