Monday, December 4, 2017


December 3, 2017

                                           9th Annual Celebration Dinner

Taking place at our Tasting Room, the first Sunday of December, we celebrate the end of a troubled year and the hopes of a better 2018 with a fabulous six course menu, a very special line up of PMV wines and some of our favorite wine club members and friends.

          Finally organized enough and lucky to have an "Ambience' "  friend to put up lights.

The reception offered a tasting of the 2016 Pinot's bottled in August. Wow is what I say!!!
 

                      Paired with a local favorite cheese, Toma from Pt. Reyes Creamery.
                            And a little shot of kambucha squash soup to warm everyone up.
 
Our Tasting Room is transformed into a dining Room for 30, with candles, linen and a support staff to make it all happen seamlessly.
 The menu is a locally sourced extravaganza of treats. Liberty Duck, Tomales Bay oysters,
           Bodega Bay Crab and much more.

Our sold out Brut Rose' was the first course wine and the very end of the saved stash. It was hard to hold onto enough bottles for this evening. A lot of requests were denied for this occasion.

Paired with Oyster Rockerfeller, recipe from the Hogg Island cookbook. A super popular start and the added beet juice rock salt presentation was amazing!

Second course was local goat cheese croquette, organic greens with pomegranates paired with a very special new wine for Paul Mathew Vineyards. Our 2017 Viognier bottles pulled from the neutral oak barrels that will be bottled early 2018. Spring wine club wine that yielded only 80 cases.
                     Fun dish, great pairing!



 
Super treat #4, we opened our first ever three litre bottle from the 2012 vintage. The Bohemian vineyard was picked to pair with our local crab cake with an orange vanilla sauce. This vineyard often shows a hint of orange or guava, delicate and beautiful.



Liberty Duck Cassoulet, rich and tasty and perfect for Pinot. Two pinot's side by side. Magnum bottles of 2012 Vintage TnT Vineyard and 2012 Horseshoe Bend Vineyard. Yes this was a big hit!

 


 
Main course, braised Lamb shank, Valleyford cheese polenta, paired with side by side wines.
2009 Ruxton Pinot ' aka - our lamb wine ' and our 2013 Syrah.
Two totally different wines both equally perfect.


A petite sweet finish of chocolate ganache truffles.

 
Our fabulous guest chef, Jeff Reilly plus....
Holiday décor made for a fabulous ninth annual dinner. A long and difficult year coming to a close and the hope of a bright future in every way possible for 2018. Happy Holidays, cheers


Sunday, November 19, 2017


November 18th, 2017
                                                 
                                            An Evening of Lobster



This idea was 100% Mat. He loves Lobster and I'm good with it. Thus a new dinner for PMV was upon us for a sold out crowd on an evening in November.



I picked the wines, set the table, serve and chat. Mat cooked and cooked and made us proud!

We started the evening with three wines in front of each guest, smell, taste, swirl. 2011 Chardonnay, 2014 Chardonnay and 2013 Bohemian Pinot.


Our first course, Lobster Bisque, a rich bowl of soup with a couple of fresh Lobster chunks. Our group of sixteen tasted the bisque with all three wines and the outcome was Chardonnay was the preferred varietal although divided between the 2011 and the 2014 Chardonnays. Although my preference was the Pinot. The richness of the bisque could handle it.



Next course was a Salad Roll.



This course had a unanimous wine pairing, Pinot Noir. There were a few fans of both of the chardonnays and mine was the 2011, coming from a cooler vintage the 2011 Chardonnay has beautiful acidity that has aged well. This course was enjoyed by all and the fact that each wine was picked by someone, it speaks versatility.

Next up, popcorn lobster, kinda like the more common popcorn shrimp. morsels of lobster deep fried.
This was served with deep fried avocado and 2 dipping sauces: siracha mayo and wasabi lime mayo.

More difficult to find the best pairing with so many combinations but we did...




Each wine took 33% winning. My favorite was the 2011 Chardonnay. With the siracha sauce the pinot did better and the wasabi sauce the Chardonnays did better.

Indulgence is getting more intense with the fourth course, butter poached lobster. Thomas Keller's recipe served with a slice of Nightengale baguette to soak up the butter. And easier to pick the winning wine, everyone voted for the richer of the two Chardonnays, 2014 Weeks Vineyard won hands down.


The final course, surf and turf, BBQ grilled lobster Tail, Filet with Bernaise Sauce.


We swapped things up a bit for this course, rather than two Chardonnays, we poured two Pinot's, The 2013 Bohemian continued from the beginning and we added in the 2012 Ruxton Pinot. This wine mostly because it has some age, earth and dark fruits, opposite of the Bohemian and I guessed it would do well. And yes it did win.



The last course was cleared and the group sighed in pleasure.

We encourage everyone to take notes about the pairings. After the crowd departed and the table was clear, we found these wonderful notes in black and white which left a great feeling of a successful night, Thank you all for coming out!





Wednesday, November 1, 2017

 Harvest 2017

This has been a tough year and this growing season falls suit.

We experienced very warm temps in June and July and the expectation of another early harvest was commonly heard. And then August happened, cool, really cool until the last week. That last week of August we had temps in the high 90's. At this point if the fruit is close to picking ripeness, a scramble begins to schedule picking.

 
 
 


 

 

 
We did our first pick Friday Sept.1st, Ruxton Pinot arrived at the winery by 9am. With the majority of all our fruit coming in that first two weeks, a little spread out as the temps did drop and the ripeness levels were scattered. We ended up picking the final Pinot Vineyard October 11th.

The horrific fires in Napa and Sonoma started late evening Sunday Oct. 8th. The morning of the 9th, Sonoma county's landscape had been changed forever. Willi's Wine Bar was gone and even in the promise to rebuild, that spot will not be the same, ever. We experienced an influx of emails, calls, texts. It was an emotional and crazy time for all. Routine didn't exist and a daily concern of 'what's next' did.



A heartwarming moment in West County was the discovery of the fire crews resting spot. 200+ firemen and 60+ firetrucks rested on a property between our tasting room and our home. A sense of safety was in sight.
As we tried to maintain a balance of life, our tasting room was open. We did not miss a day of visitors. Although that first week, the majority of visitors were friends and club members that had been evacuated or lost their homes. All the conversation was extreme, tears, hugs and a little laughter which felt odd and wonderful at the same time.



                                                      

A lot of wine was consumed. Every story shared. A time to console.

Thus Harvest in West County was over with a bang.

Our Fall Wine Club season was upon us and the thought of going forward was daunting. We then decided to host a ' Spirit lifting celebration' and had a silent auction to raise money for Fire Releif Funds.
We raised almost $2500. in that one evening, gave our valued people a chance to come together and break bread.
Fundraising is every where and support is the new norm.

                                            
                        
This will be a Harvest and a Fall in Sonoma County we will never forget.


Monday, August 21, 2017


Magical Mystery Tour                August 19th

The Wine Road Magical Mystery Tour had it's first trip in early 2016 with huge success. We agreed to sign up in August 2017 for the Russian River tour.

As a small producer, 20 people is a lot for us to entertain during regular business hours. So we agreed to host the group if we could be the 1st stop, 10 a.m. on Saturday morning. The group gets on a small luxury tour bus with a full day of four unknown stops, all serving 4 wines and special treats.

We decided to do a 'Breakfast of Champions' starting with our Brut Rose' paired with deviled egg and caviar on brioche. At 10:00 a.m., breakfast is essential.

 
 
2014 Chardonnay is a beautiful balance of fruit, acidity and oak which does well with salmon. Second bite of the breakfast, a smoked salmon frittata from Bia Cafe.
A great pairing of richness and textures.
 
 


Next up - mini bacon scones from our neighborhood Bia Cafe' to pair with RRV Pinot.  Pinot with breakfast needs some bacon. These mini scones were a perfect bite and the Pinot cut through the buttery component well.

 

 
 One of our favorite special occasion brunch items, we often have Christmas or New Years Day, Dirty Rice with poached eggs. This was a great ending with our 2015 Cab Franc. The wine is not too heavy as it is unoaked with a fresh fruit profile. The Spicy dish was perfect too complete of breakfast of champions


 


 
 I believe we started this group off right for their tour of the Russian River Valley. A little Brut Rose', Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Cab Franc. Good food in their belly and a buzz in their foot step.
 


July 29, 2017

Dress For A Cure Auction Dinner


As a conversation build up for our May Fundraiser at the Tasting Room, we had the two big ticket items for the Auction on display. This was intended to draw early bidders and interest, which it did. The winning bids had been sussing them out for the weeks leading up to the bidding event.

#1, A Restoration Hardware Dining Room Table with an extension, would seat up to twelve. #2, A PMV Winemaker Dinner for 6 prepared by Mat Gustafson and served by Sommelier Barb Gustafson.

The table was picked up in June by it's new owner and the Dinner was scheduled for our only available Saturday in July, the 29th.

The Hosts of the Dinner chose to celebrate a recent Wedding, Birthday and Anniversary with a group of friends at their home in Occidental. The menu requested was favorite dishes of Paul Mathew Vineyards and pairings. Thus a plan was set.




Our 2013 Brut Rose' with Tomato Bruschetta started the evening. Using our favorite Nightengale Baguette crostini and local heirloom tomatoes with fresh basil. When tomato season starts, we take advantage. A scrumptious start and Sparkling wine is a perfect way to toast to life.



 2016 Gewurztraminer paired with Mat's favorite Tuna Ceviche recipe with crispy won tons.
Tuna is combined with avocado, ginger, wasabi, tomato, cilantro....it never seizes to impress people.

 
 Liberty Duck Confit with Black Trumpet Risotto paired with 2010 TNT Vineyard Pinot magnum.
     Black trumpets from the past winter foraging season are such a great pairing with Pinot.

 
             Fabino Baking offered an incredible orange chiffon cake that completed the evening!
 

                                           

A great evening that reflected back to the reason we were all in attendance and how we all must continue to do what we can to help the less fortunate. Make our world a little less troubled and celebrate each day with what makes us feel good. Surrounding ourselves with good people and great food and wine.