August 13, 2016

                               Celebrating the Gravenstein Apple


This month our featured food product is the Gravenstein Apple. What fun to see the trucks pass the tasting room with loads of these wonderful mostly green with red stripe fruits being transported.

The Annual Gravenstein Apple Fair falls on this weekend as well. A fun family fair full of apple opportunities, arts and music.

We here focus on foods that will pair with our wines. And we follow up by explaining what really did pair best from the groups evening of samples. The dishes prepared are all from the Farm Trails "Apple Cook Book ' which is a collection of recipes from the Fair's competitions over the years, the participating farmers and the Farm Trail team. A really nice collection of sweet and savory recipes.
We are featuring the savory....

#1 Belgian Endive stuffed with apple, goat cheese and walnuts. This was my personal favorite course, I will prepare this for a party or 1st course in the future. Light and flavorful, easy to make. A nice blend of ingredients placed in a endive cup. The wine pairings were really fun too, the winning pairing was our 2013 Chardonnay with Brut Rose' coming in second.

Chardonnay pulled chicken sliders with Gravenstein Apple slaw. What's not to love with this spicy and probably healthier that most sliders. The crunchy apple slaw makes it extra special.
We tasted four wines and unanimously our 2013 Bohemian Vineyard Pinot Noir won. All the wines were enjoyed with this course.

Apple Risotto, what a treat and unique dish. The risotto was made with apple juice instead of stock and chunks of apple. We discussed how great it would be as a side to grilled pork or seared scallops. The wine pairing was a real mix, the Gewurztraminer, Valdiguie and Pinot Noir were evenly enjoyed by the group. There was no single winner. That's not so common.

Braised Duck  with Apple and Cabbage, the favorite course of the evening and favored with our very special Bohemian Vineyard Pinot noir.

Filo Triangles with Gravenstein Chutney and Cheddar, also tried blue cheese. What a fun food and wine pairing! Both the Brut Rose' and the 2012 Syrah were fabulous! A great finish to a flavorful dining experience.

A special addition, our Forestville Bakery, Nightengale, Gravenstein Bread which is a special made only once a year. We all loved this savory bread and will be excited for it's return next August.

Any of these recipes can be requested but we will only add a couple of them to our recipe page.

The #1 take away was the versatility of the apple ingredient. The array of wines that worked. Another very nice food and wine learning experience.

Saturday June 25th, 2016

Oyster Heaven Foodie Seminar

Definitely one of our favorite foods to prepare, eat and pair. So many different ways to cook these wonderful morsels and we did many.

400 oysters, 15 people, 2 shuckers and a lot of wine: makes for a very fun night of pairing.

We had 3 different mignonette's: Hogwash, Raspberry and Pink Peppercorn that was finished with our Brut Rose'.

Not surprising, the Brut Rose' wine was chosen best pairing and the Hogwash was the favorite with the pink peppercorn second.

 

 

On the grill BBQ oysters are amazing with wine, which wine was the winner?

Valdiguie, yes it was #1 pairing.

I recommend you try it. Next visit to Hog Island Farm take one with you!

 

We did grilled in the shell oysters with a garlic, butter, parsley and chardonnay sauce. The nightingale bread was so great to soak up the sauce! And the #1 pairing was Chardonnay. Our 2013 Chardonnay is elegant and bright with a delicate oak influence and a perfect food pairing due to the apparent acidity level and lower alcohol.

Chowdered, rich and creamy with plump poached oysters was next, I thought the Chardonnay would be the best pairing but preferred Brut Rose'. The group consensus was the Chardonnay, although it was a really mixed response. The RRV Pinot and Valdiguie were favored by many.

The next oyster prep was ' The Real Oysters Rockefeller ' from the Hog Island Oyster Lovers Cookbook. Scrumpcious and rich with no photo and favored by all with our 2012 Ruxton Pinot. It was a extra special treat that we had a Ruxton Family member at the table too!

Fried oyster is dessert for oyster lovers! Fullfilling does not describe these but after a meal of many oysters and a full belly, it is easy to finish with a few of these. We had 2 sauces, siracha mayo and a Meyer Lemon aioli, oh so good. No wine needed really but the Brut Rose' was pretty darn good to clean the palate!

At the end of this beautiful West Sonoma County warm Summer evening, the backyard and the fountain were a perfect closer. A little bit more Pinot Noir, stretch the legs and a great day done.

The chef needs a break, off to MI he goes until the next time.

May / June 2016

France, The Farmhouse and our 10th Anniversary

Mat and I were married in 2006 and had planned to go to Burgundy for our honeymoon.
A combination of an expired passport, the craziness of organizing a wedding and the fact that all of our family was visiting from out of state, the honeymoon to Burgundy was postponed. Ten years later we made it.

Out of the 12 days away, eight were spent visiting Vineyards, Tasting out of barrel and new releases, visiting a Barrel production Facility and eating and drinking our way from Lyons to Dijon and back.

The markets were amazing of which we had a few meals from. Boulangerie's on almost every corner, a refreshing change from Starbucks. Paul Bocuse and Daniel Boloud's birth place of Lyons, it is the culinary capitol of France.

 The Vineyards are endless, not like Napa and Sonoma's huge single vineyards. These are all tiny plots, side by side with vines that are 40 - 80 years old.

Our favorite meals were a combination of cheese and charcuterie plates or Michelin rated Paul Bocuse. There were many simple peasant food meals and very little Foie Gras which was expected to be eaten daily.

A lot of amazing wine of course...

And returning home to one of our favorite Restaurants for our actual Anniversary dinner at the Farmhouse.

All beautifully paired by the Sommelier. An Anniversary to remember. Time for a diet.

Spring Wine Club Party  - April 30th 2016

Our bi annual party is an invitation to our Club Members to taste new releases that are not available to taste and purchase in the tasting room on a daily basis. These wines are pre released especially for our members to taste at our party.
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As per our tradition, Mat and I pair food bites to pair with our featured wines. We always take great consideration into the season, the product availability and preparation. We feature recipes that are easy to do at home. Check out the recipe page, most of them are there.

For this Spring our focus is on four wines
           - 2013 Brut Rose'
           - 2014 Weeks Vineyard Chardonnay
           - 2014 RRV Pinot
           - 2014 Bohemian Vineyard Pinot

Mat loves to cook and takes a lot of pride in preparing the food pairings, All the favorite cook books come out,  testing and tasting happens for weeks leading up to the event.

This Spring we chose  two recipes to pair. One from a local cookbook that we are currently selling in the tasting room and featuring for our August "Foodie Seminar" from Apple Festival.

The second recipe is from the Charles Phan, Home Cooking Book which is a favorite of Mat's. Both of these recipes will be added to the web site Recipe page.

We welcomed guests with a taste of the Brut Rose' paired with a Tomales Bay freshly shucked oyster and Seaside Metal's pink peppercorn Mignonette. Really, we believe you cannot go wrong with Sparkling and oysters but to add the spectacular mignonette from our local Seafood guru,
"Seaside Metal" of Guerneville. the two go so beautiful with the Pinot Noir based wine.

The next wine, our 2014 Weeks Vineyard Chardonnay, a beautiful rich yet balanced wine paired with the featured Apple recipe: Pulled Chicken Sliders with Apple Slaw. The chicken thighs are seared in spice and then braised in Chardonnay.  The Apple Slaw is a perfect refreshing component for Chardonnay and a beautifully sunny day in the backyard.

We were treated with the presence of two of our Vineyard families to pour the Pinot's. Dean and Karen ( Ruxton ) Barbieri and Tom and Sue Cleary of Bohemian Vineyard. The opportunity for members to meet the growers is a extra special treat.

The Pinot's were paired with Mama's Meatballs Vietnamese style and a huge hit. Comments came in of one Pinot working better than the other but the consistent comment was the love of these meatballs, unique preparation worth a try at home. Not your average meatball, about 2" in diameter with a very rich sauce.

The 2014 Pinot's will not officially release till late fall or early 2017. These wines are really fun and showing incredibly well given their youthful state.

In addition we offered two favorite cheeses, Beemster aged Gouda, Mat's favorite Pinot cheese and Cypress Grove's Midnight Moon, one of my favorite local producers.

The Event came and went in a blur. Overwhelmed by the response and support, I think this Fall our party will be sold out way in advance. Thank you to our fans.
Big hugs 

March 18 - 20   California Artisan Cheese Festival

              In it's 10th year, we continue to enjoy this great event.

Friday's Cheese Monger - from all over the Bay area...

Saturday's Gala of Bay area Chef's, starting with Girl and the Fig Sorbet

And the Finale, Sunday's Market place was filled with taste of cheese from the producer's, Salumi, wine, beer, cider, bread, chocolate, books and 1500 fans. What a great way to spent a rainy Sunday.