First stop: Chateau Julien Winery

The winery and tasting room were beautiful and had a very open (lots of windows) and European feel.  We were welcomed and tasted through what they offered, though we were a little disappointed we didn’t get to try some of the varietals that were displayed like Gewurtztraminer.  This winery makes about 60,000 cases/year and sells mostly through their tasting room, but does distribute around the country. The best of the tasting was actually their flagship wine the Private Reserve Merlot.  Even nicer was the setting.  We had packed a picnic lunch and were able to sit outside, eat, and enjoy the scenery.

Next we were off to Heller Estate Organic Vineyards.  They own 1000 acres and all the grapes they use for their wines are estate grown.  In addition they dry farm (no irrigation) and hand harvest.  They are also the oldest winery in Carmel Valley.  We received a warm reception and had a chance to taste through their wines.  Notable: the 2009 Malbec definitely had that “wow” factor.  great deep but bright color and wonderfully balanced on the palate with a strong finish.  I also put a star next to my notes for the 2006 Merlot port “beautiful tawny color.  tastes like candy.”  Smooth.  The 2008s almost across the board were ashy/smoky.  Apparently that year they had wild fires to contend with which left smoke hanging over the vineyards resulting in the black smoky finish on the 2008 wines.  You either love it or hate it, but it is unusual and a testament to the natural essence of their wines.

Next we stopped at a newer winery: Boekenoogen Wines (Dutch name).  Their oldest vines were planted in 1996 and their first label was in 2006.  They had a selection of Chardonnay, Pinot Noirs, and Syrahs to share with us.  My star went to their 2009 Estate Chardonnay:  nose of baking spice and green fruit, palate – yum and unexpected.

My favorite stop of the day (the venue, the hospitality, the wide selection of wines, the patience with my insistent note taking): Bernardus.  Needless to say I recommend stopping in for a sample.  Wow factor: 2010 Griva Sauvignon Blanc (including 3% Semillion) was estate fruit.  The wine had an intoxicating nose and wonderful body and flavor.  I was there to taste and didn’t want to buy any bottles, but I broke down and bought this bottle.  The only bottle I purchased that day.  They also make a late harvest Sauvignon Blanc from that vineyard which was beautiful.  And they’re not even known for their whites.  Their flagship wine: Marinus a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot, and Cabernet Franc.

It was Saturday and the building itself was surrounded by a sea of farmers market tents.  Inside were specialty shops to get excited about.  It reminded me a bit of Europe: a butcher, a cheese shop, a baker, a chocolate shop; I could go on, but I did have my camera with me:

This is a place to get some great looking food.  A little here, a little there, or even better – on the far side of the building (facing the water) sit down for a good meal.  I was with friends and we headed to The Slanted Door.  A restaurant first recommended to me for its wine list (apparently the appropriate hook to get me into the city).

This was my first introduction to Vietnamese food and all I can say is if you are any where near San Francisco and aren’t trying to see the city on $5/day, eat here.  The food was so very flavorful with great texture, color, and variety.  And, of course, you’ll be drooling over the wine list as well.  Many German, Austrian, and French wines offer crisp companions to the food.  Not to mention an opportunity to try new grape varieties and taste the minerality of European terrior as it compliments the Asian cuisine.  Score one for globalization. Delicious.

The Menu:

• Roasted salmon chowder
• Grilled lamb loin with creamy Parmesan polenta, vegetable medley, and Sebastopol exotic mushroom demi-glace
• Honey crisp apple and brown butter tart with maple whipped cream

“A simple and straight forward menu.”  This lead us to a conversation about Sean’s food mantra: “less is more” and “let the food shine.”  He went on to explain that the more ingredients and complex a dish is, the more difficult it is to pair with wines.  I don’t know about you, but this was music to my ears.  Source great ingredients and you don’t need magic, just talent and respect; “let the food shine.” Cheers!

1.  The chowder inspiration/thought: creamy chowder with a deconstructed salmon cake on top:  chopped sweet peppers, chives, chive oil, sour cream.  The salmon was seasoned with salt, pepper, and olive oil.  Roasted and then flaked.  In his chowder (mostly prepared before I arrived) Sean included carrots, onions, celery, corn, red sweet peppers, chillies for a little heat, country ham, chicken stock and shrimp stock.  He used a rue (flour and butter mixture) as well as starchy potato water to thicken.  Separately, he cooked cubed russet potatoes and butternut squash.  They were kept separate to maintain their structural integrity and texture.  At the last moment, whisk in some heavy cream and add potatoes.  Sean also added some lemon juice to cut the bitterness in the paired chardonnay.

2.  Polenta = 4 parts water : 1 part polenta.  Salted water, rapidly boiling, whisk in the polenta (no clumps, baby).  Slow cook at a light simmer – stirring regularly for 45 min to an hour.  And then oh, the possibilities.  Sean instructed that you can “zing it up” by substituting 1/4 of the water for chicken stock or milk.  Then even more interestingly, you can finish the polenta by adding cheddar cheese, confit garlic, mushrooms, caramelized onions, or fontina and the list goes on – add these at the very end after it’s thickened.  In this version Sean added salt and pepper, butter, and freshly grated parmesan.  In addition – if you were looking for another variation you could spread out your polenta in a container or sheet, cool, and then substitute for pasta in your lasagna.  The wonder of our friend Polenta.  Oh, or cut up the next and pan fry.

Our star:  the lamb was marinated overnight in garlic, fresh parsley, sliced onions, fresh thyme, and olive oil.  The loins were laid out over a rack allowing some of the excess marinade to drip off.  After a few minutes the lamb loins were salt and peppered on both sides.  They were then laid on a hot cast iron grill plate (grilling indoors with cast iron = cast iron rocks).  On the grill, seared and smoking then flipped in the opposite diagonal direction, “x” marks the spot…  The smells.  Ahh, the smells.  The steam and smoke gently wafting them in this direction.  Oozing through the air, stirring my hungry senses…  The lamb was seared and then finished in the oven to medium-rare.  The meat was then allowed to rest before slicing and serving.

Fun fact: the only use for the microwave in this kitchen is to heat/warm the dinner plates.

The vegetables had been previously prepared/blanched/lightly roasted were then sauteed together in a large pot with minced garlic and parsley in butter.  Salt and peppered.  And then cold water was added to just barely cover the bottom of the pot.  Plating: veggies spread out, polenta in the middle, lamb and sauce on top.  The chef presents his art with each meal.  That is to say the plated food is served and with the final one (host/hostess’ plate) Sean walks out to introduce the guests to the food in front of them:  appreciation with a dose of anticipation.  As I sometimes think of it, a great opportunity to shake the hand of the person who feeds you – farmers. chefs. happy.  Needless to say, after the third and final course, Sean received a round of applause.

3. It turned out honey crisp was the type of apple from Washington state.  These beauties has a wonderful texture when raw – crisp when you bit in, but then began to break apart and melt in your mouth, both tart and sweet: great for baking and a tasty treat.  For the tart dough Sean mixed flour, sugar and butter (think crust).  Then he made a brown butter schmear of brown butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla bean.  The apples were sauteed in butter and sugar.  Construction – dough was rolled out, smeared with the schmear, and the apples layered on top.  Crust was folded back up over the top – think rustic tart (or look at the photo).  Heavy whipping cream was whipped in an electric miser.  Then the maple syrup was drizzled in and mixed by hand, gently but thoroughly with a whisk.  Canadian, grade B syrup at a rate of about two tablespoons of syrup to one cup cream.  Sean also made a strawberry nectarine puree for color when plating.  One bite of the tart left little for want and he served the slices of tart as their own show piece.

Our first stop was Beringer Winery just north of St. Helena.  We had an appointment at 10 am and spent the next two hours in lovely company sampling some of the 70 different types of wine they make.  As this small world would have it, Beringer was founded by two German brothers in 1876.  Caves, history, beautiful landscaping, and three different tasting rooms left us with lots to learn – and drink.  Gunther and I both had our notebooks out at each winery.  My two favorites at Beringer: 2008 Meritage Blend, Knights Valley: Merlot based purple ruby color, plum (seems I mostly drank this one and was lazy on the notes, simply drawing a star next to it) and the 2007 Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon: fruit, jam, nose = black, smoke and tobacco as well as a strong leather/animal/barnyard/Brett note.  Robert Parker of the Wine Advocate gave this wine 97/100 points.  Apparently agreeing with me in the enjoyment of these robust almost carnal aromas and body.  We had the opportunity to also taste the 2008 Reserve, the current release, which showed much more elegantly.  It did not receive as many Parker points, but much more clearly (without the Brett) presented the fruit and as a result the terrior.

Time for lunch and this little gem of a recommendation is most definitely worth passing on: Gott’s roadside stand.  Just south of St. Helena on your right (coming from the north) is a delicious burger place with quite a local wine selection and delightful outdoor seating.  The weather gods looked down favorably on us that day – it was early February, blue skies and bright sunshine, trees blooming, and the temperature was almost 70 degrees.  Nice one, California.  We had multiple recommendations for the Ahi Tuna burger, which Gunther had and enjoyed.  After multiple cabernet sauvignons I couldn’t resist the description of the wisconsin burger served on sour dough bread. Yum.  We refreshed our palates with a local sauvignon blanc whilst soaking up some rays and catching up on each others professional careers.

The next winery we visited was more midsize, producing 50,000 cases a year.  Chateau Montelena struck fame and momentum in the mid 1970s after the famous – or infamous depending on which side of the Atlantic you were routing for – blind tasting of French vs. California Chardonnays and Cabernet Sauvignons.  This story is a large part of the California wine industry’s history helping launch American wines onto the international wine scene.  Hollywood caught wind of the story (and Chateau Montelena) and made the movie Bottle Shock.  In that big tasting, Montelena won with its Chardonnay.   Enough background: we didn’t have an appointment at this winery and were pleasantly surprised to pull up to a pretty quiet scene.  The cellar door was open and Gunther walked right in, a couple minutes later someone came by a bit perturbed at our presence.  I let the guy – my cousin – with the exotic accent handle this one, at which point he explained that the door was open and he was a winemaker.  “Winemaker” was apparently the magic word.  A few minutes later we were given a private tour by winemaker Cameron.  Wonderful tour of their very newly renovated cellar – lots of cool new toys.  I could see the wheels turning in Gunther’s head, trying to figure out how he could get a system like that one.  Next it was up to the tasting room for a sip of each of their wines.  We were treated to an addition – 2004 Cab Sauvignon, but unfortunately missed out on their Riesling which was already sold out for the year.  My favorite: 2009 Chardonnay – no secondary malolactic fermentation, aged 10 months in barrel – 10% new oak, structure and acidity suggest it will age well, light on the nose, great palate, crisp, medium body, balanced lovely acidity.

Last stop of the day: Vincent Arroyo.  Smaller winery that makes about 10,000 cases a year and just around the corner from Chateau Montelena.  We had an appointment and great reception at Arroyo.  We tasted through their wines and also had an opportunity for a private tour of their facilities.  Their wines were exciting to say the least; I enjoyed more than a couple.  Notable: the 2009 Entrada did amazingly after sitting in an open bottle for a day, single vineyard blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Sirah and Sirah, bright fruit.  Their 2008 Petite Sirah Reserve had awesome color and was aged 34 months in American oak.  Needless to say I have a new respect for American oak, and appreciated getting to try a wine that was not on French oak.  And if you’re looking for something different, check out their port which is made from the Petit Syrah grape.  This winery does sell most of its wines as futures (before they’re even fully finished wines) so kudos to them and, well, get ‘em ’cause they’re hot.

More photos from this trip on my flickr page.

My cousin Gunther, a wine maker from a small village in Germany in the Rhine Valley, joined us.  He as I loved to watch the chef work, discuss ingredients and pairings, and of course dine on the fine food.  And so, lunch consisted of three courses: first course – scratch ricotta ravioli with oven-dried Roma tomato cream sauce and Cryo wilted spinach.  Served with our Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel.  The ravioli pasta and filling were made by hand.  Unfortunately I missed the making of the pasta, but observed the cooking and plating.  The ravioli were earlier frozen and then cooked in boiling, salted water.  They were plated with a myriad of colorful sauces (my German heritage has lead to the notion -and resulting excitement- that it can be all about the sauce): the roasted tomato cream, a loosened sour cream (mixed with milk and a bit of salt), and basil oil.  Red, white, and green – Simi definitely remembers its Italian roots.  Oh, and the dish was dusted with freshly grated Parmesan.  Rich and elegant taste.

Second course – lamb loin on brown butter polenta with rainbow chard and Sebastopol exotic mushroom sauce.  At which point, merely from listening to Sean’s description, my mouth began to salivate.  The final serving met expectation and then continued to exceed expectation when enjoyed with the wine.  Specifically the lamb was paired with Simi’s 2008 Landslide Cabernet Sauvignon.  The Landslide is a flagship wine here at Simi; a Meritage + blend (as I like to think of it) – 84% Cabernet Sauvginon, 7% Cabernet Franc, 5% Merlot, 2% Malbec, 2% Petit Verdot, 1% Tannat.

Cooking notes: lamb was marinated in parsley, onion, salt, pepper, garlic, olive oil and red wine.  With the technology of a vacuum sealer, creating pressure on the lamb to soak up the flavor, Sean cut his marinating time to 2-3 hours.  If preparing this at home without a Cryo sealer he suggests marinating it overnight.  Then the lamb was laid on a rack over a baking pan as another pan was heated on the stove.  Into the sizzling pan to be seared on both sides the lamb was then removed and placed back on the rack.  The entire baking pan was put into the oven until the meat was medium to medium-rare.  About six minutes in a 400-450 deg oven.

Third course – dessert.  A little background – Bananas Foster was created in 1951 in New Orleans and used to be made table side at fancy restaurants.  If you feel confident enough to deal with tall flames in your kitchen, then this is definitely something for you to try.  Butter, sugar, and bananas are cooked in a pot (caramelized) and then rum is added and ignited.  This was traditionally served over vanilla ice cream.  Sean did a twist on the original Bananas Foster and made Bananas Foster Bread Pudding.  The pudding was served with a caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream.  Hello.

There are experiences and wines that are unique; wines that I can’t get every day, I’ll probably never have again, and I won’t forget.  This past fall at Simi Winery’s 135th birthday I tasted wines made by Isabelle Simi herself just after prohibition and aged in redwood including a 1935 Cabernet Sauvingon that was beautiful and held its own.  Then there was the 1984 Cabernet that I opened and had die on me almost before I got it to my tongue (I ended up being more excited about those bottles than the wine in them).  Today I tried a new friend’s Pinot Noir.  More specifically she and her husband planted and maintain an acre of Pinot Noir vines in the southwestern (one of the prettier parts) of Sonoma County.  Most years they just sell their fruit; in 2007, however, they worked with a winemaker who kept their lot separate and turned their grapes into wine.  Last week  Julia gifted me one of those bottles!  Below are my tasting notes.

Wine: 2007 Leepin Lane Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley, California; 50 cases produced

Appearance: If this wine were for sale one of its major selling points would be color.  The appearance is clear and an enchanting garnet color.

Nose: Clean nose, light to medium intensity; aromas of red cherry, cinnamon/nutmeg, cedar, an herbaceous note – perhaps eucalyptus, and a stony/steely minerality.  After the wine sat out and breathed for a bit I got more smoke on the nose.

Palate: high acidity, light tannins, medium body but balanced; flavors of raspberry and currant in the front and stewed fruit in the back, pungent herbaceous – juniper?, earthy stone/steely minerality.

Food pairings: When I drank this wine, I craved a chicken and pasta dish with a light marinara sauce or a French seafood stew.

Two cents worth: Very good quality; congrats to the growers of this tricky grape/fickle vine!  I enjoyed this wine both for sipping and with dinner. I wonder if it only has another year or two of drink-ability, and would suggest enjoying sooner than later.

Cheers!

Perhaps because I’m at the beginning of my career in wine and food I am fascinated by the ingredients and have lots of questions.  Or maybe it’s because Sean basically gets to make anything he fancies to pair with Susan’s wines and has choice of beautiful produce and meat. Either way, everything seemed anew.

The first course was served with Simi’s pinot noir and showcased a local, seasonal delicacy – dungeness crab.  A salad of lettuce leaves, diced red bell pepper, chopped tangerines, avocado, and chives tossed with a tangerine dressing (recipe below).  Then topped with a healthy serving of shredded crab.  Lovely.  I grabbed as much of the leftover salad as I could.

Note: when cooking (and baking) it is important to taste as you go and especially before you serve.  You probably knew this.  You might not know, however, that when you’re creating or building a dish to be served with wine, taste the dish with the wine in the same glass you’re using to serve – recreate the experience.  Glassware as well as the flavor combination with your paired food can and will alter your experience.  Sean was kind enough to include me in this process, tasting each dish with the wine before it was served.

The second and main course was Simi’s Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel with chicken and “scratch pasta” (made from scratch).  I don’t quite know where to start in describing this savory business.  Here are my notes: the pieces of chicken were in a brine for 2-3 hours.  Then rinse each piece and pat dry.  Salt and pepper both sides.  In a super hot, flame-licking oiled pan add the chicken, skin side down.  Get them dancing – skins crispy.  Then in the oven for 10-15 min.  Hand-made and hand-cut pasta: add a good bit of salt to the boiling pot of water, and cook quickly as you would any fresh noodle.  In a pan heat chicken stock (use 50% chicken feet when making your stock) or water.  Add brown butter (talk about an awesome ingredient to have on hand).  Add blanched and chopped broccolini and fresh arugula.  Shake as you stir the pan.  Add cooked pasta.  Plate with chicken on top and dust with gremolata.  This description doesn’t do justice, but hopefully the photos will help.

Still with me?  Dessert: chocolate molten cake, with a mascarpone, milk, sugar, and lemon juice sauce.  Sauce created an unexpected but want-to-lick-the-plate treat.  I love the desserts that are divine without being death-by-chocolate sweet.  Strong coffee or a freshly brewed cup of hot tea to finish the meal.  Cheers.  Dance my way home happy.

One morning on the way to breakfast, the sun was rising over the city and the Sacramento River.  We stayed on a historic river boat called the Delta King.  From 1927 to 1940 the steam boat ran from Sacramento to San Francisco through the San Joaquin River Delta.  After Pearl Harbor, the Delta King and its sister ship the Delta Queen, were in Navy service as hospital transports.  Since then the Delta King sank a couple times and starred in a movie.  It’s been a hotel in old Sacramento since 1989.

We had a wonderful experience despite the charm of slanted floors.  The views and the service were lovely.