January 2016   Food Fun



A lot of people take January off Alcohol and rich foods, we do the opposite. It's a quiet month with minimal work in the cellar, the tasting room is more quiet than other months and Mat & I can have fun with Food and Wine, travel a bit and plan food adventures for the year to share.

We started the with a search for great pairings with our Brut Rose' and continued all month.
Freestone Artisan Cheese shop owner / cheese monger Omar hosted us graciously at the store. We went through about 20 cheeses, pickled chanterelles and more.

Dinner at Seaside Metal in Guerneville, beet salad

 Baked hot wings at home, one of Mat's favorites.

More cheese tasting

 A visit to Anderson Valley and a few nights at the Mendocino Inn & Spa.
This 10 room Inn is a great get away with a hiking path out the back that links directly to Van Dam State park and beach.

Searing Liberty Farm Duck Breast, we moved into some library Pinot's for this.

 Village Inn in Monte Rio has a new Chef and menu of course. My high light was the mushroom soup, in the center was a nice group of crunchy pickled chanterelles.

More sampling of cheese and other bites

 One of our favorite cheese pairing for the brut Rose'. From Anderson Valley, this goat soft cheese is rich and creamy and adheres closer to the classic sparkling pairing of Brie type cheeses. Available to purchase at the Freestone Artisan Cheese shop.

 Next up we started sampling recipes for our Annual February Mushroom Foray. We always serve a mushroom filled lunch and a lot of Paul Mathew Vineyards Pinot's.
This 1st time tried recipe was a hit for us, Mushroom and turkey Pot Pie.
Now we can start making some adjustments from the original recipe, think DUCK!

Next up February filled with mushrooms.

Top food and wine memories from 2015

An evening in San Francisco at Monsieur Benjamin. Best Foie Gras appetizer and Roast Chicken Entree of the year. Frog legs are here.

Lobster and meyer lemon Risotto made at a friends to pair with Chardonnay. The lobster was butter poached using Thomas Keller's recipe then put into the risotto. Spectacular.

Surprise wine, holding by a thread, fun

 Grilling Chicken with

 Frasca Boulder, CO  -  10 course Tasting menu

                         
My first introduction to pineapple guava, WOW

Artisan Cheese Festival, Crab Poutine from Nick's cove

 Car Bomb cupcakes, c/o Fabino Baking

Bink's, Scottsdale, AZ

                    Crab Season which we are missing now.

                             Hog Island BBQ oysters, amazing with PMV Valdiguie or champagne

First course of 12 at The Restaurant at Meadowood, tasting menu. Eel wrapped in seaweed

Chicken Liver Mousse, yes, I'll take two. Village Inn Monte Rio

 Oysters, flash fried, sirachi mayo

                        Home smoked oysters, so incredible!

                                    
Wine Tasting at 9am with Evan Goldstein, Yes

              Start of asparagus season

                                   Canadian memory visited, frozen belini's.

An Okanagan treat, Crab bisque @ Radz

                Devilled eggs are back...

                                                  The BEST wedding cake ever, cheese.

                           
                             Guerneville Spring Fling

 Seaside Metal, Guerneville

Willi's Wine Bar, Foie Gras.

                                                                   A new favorite at home, beer can chicken prawns.

 Mushroom season, finding a pound of black trumpets

December Celebration 2015

Every year we hold a special dinner for our Wine Club featuring all library wines with a multi course paired dinner. This yeas we had an extra special twist, our newly released Brut Rose'.

For this evening, our tasting room becomes a dining room seating 40 guests. A team of chef's work all day and the service team arrives at 4 to set the tables.

The menu has been planned out for weeks starting with a caviar dollop on a potato chip paired with the sparkling wine.

Next is a delicious mussel soup with our 2011 Chardonnay, a perfect combination. A very rich cream soup with a strong essence of mussel with an austere chardonnay, very well paired.

Lobster in puff pastry paired with our 2007 Chardonnay from magnum. Both were spectacular and together even better!

A salad of winter greens, pomegranate with Redwood Hills Chevre paired 2 wines. Mat picked the 2012 Bohemian Pinot, the only non library wine of the dinner and I picked our 2014 Rose' of Pinot.

"Mosaic Mushrooms" are next up and very popular from the chef's former restaurant days. A combination of sautéed local mushrooms alongside cowgirl creamery Mt. Tam triple cream and grilled Nightengale Baguette. An oh so rich and wonderful dish paired with 2 wines.

2006 and 2007 TNT Vineyard Pinot to accompany this course.

Liberty Farm Duck confit for the main course with 2 Horseshoe Bend Pinot's, from 2009 and 2010 vintages.

We finished the evening with a new local business, Fabino Baking. A trio of cakes that was a perfect finish to a fabulous evening of celebration.

 What a night, we have a year to start planning the next Annual and a year to rest.