August 29th                 Duck, Duck, Duck, no goose


A favorite protein for us and perfect with Pinot! We have duck very regularly at home in many different preparations and shared this fun with our Wine Club this past weekend.

 

The menu started with Duck Rillette which we love to pair with our Rose' or

our newest addition the 2014 Gewurz. 

A fun Hors D'oeuvre as guests arrived in excitement of the Duck filled night.

This Duck Rillette was made from both Roast Duck and Duck Confit. Recipe coming to our web site.

 

 

 

We started with a new recipe that Mat loves to do, Vietnamese Duck jerky.

The recipe comes from Charles Phan's beef jerky substituted.

A soft jerky with great texture and flavor.

We lined up 3 very different pairing wines:

2014 Rose' of Pinot, 2013 Valdiguie and 2012 TNT Vineyard Pinot Noir.

We always recommend to taste each wine before pairing, and then to taste each wine with the dish.

This snack size course is packed with flavor and the wine preference was tied between the Rose' and the Valdiguie. My personal favorite was the Valdiguie, I had tried it before and believe it really works so well together.

 

3rd course is the classic, Duck Confit ( Duck legs cooked and store in their own fat ).

We poured three Pinot's with very different profiles:

2009 Horseshoe Bend, 2012 Bohemian Vineyard from Freestone and 2012 TNT Vineyard.

 

 

 

   The Confit course was the most difficult to choose the pairing because they all were great together but the table of attendees picked the Bohemian Pinot for 1st place.

Our 4th course was my idea and it was my least successful dish. The duck did not show case as I expected even though it tasted wonderful and the tortilla through off the wines. The winning pair was with the Bohemian Pinot.

Up next, our chef of the night being from New Orleans prepared Duck Gumbo. Using a whole roast duck with the classic recipe. The flavors were amazing and really great with Pinot! all the wines were great pairings but the boldest TNT Vineyard won the pairing.

 Duck breast seared with duck fried potatoes with no surprise. Three Pinot's and unadulterated duck flavors. There was no loser with this pairing. Individuals that love the 2009 Vintage picked that one and people who love the Bohemian picked that and the TNT Vineyard had it's followers as well. The great part is enjoying a fabulously perfect seared Liberty Farms Duck Breast and the wine that does so well with it PINOT!

Lucky for us we have a Wine Club member with great talents as a pastry chef who agreed to create a Duck dessert, Yes folks, the finale was fantastic!!! And no wine, just smiles.

Another fun evening with many of our great Wine Club members. A tight squeeze to have Mat available at the start of a very early harvest, but we did it. Now the next few months are focused on Wine Club Party and the December Celebration Dinner. Our Foodie Seminars will resume next year. Stay tune for 2016 Events.

August 2015        Harvest is here...



Our 1st vineyard to be picked every year, Ruxton, was picked Monday August 17th. The average harvest date for Ruxton Vineyard is Sept. 7th. I think the average date has just been upped a week or more.

Punch downs and cold soaking are now a daily occurrence and gone are the days of golfing and kayaking, for a few months.

2015 is showing a lot of shatter from the growing season and with the drought, these 2 facts have influenced the beginning of harvest with small crops and early ripening.

We anticipate great quality from the small clusters with a good concentration although come bottling time next summer, there will be a lot less wine. It is always interesting to see what Mother Nature tosses our way.

JULY 2015         Oyster Heaven


After a brief break from our Foodie Seminars, we came back with a favorite focus, Oysters.

Oyster lovers get a special line up of prepared oysters, starting with fresh shucked on the half shell with raspberry mignonette. Three wines lined up: our unreleased 2013 Brut Rose got a sneak preview as this is a classic pairing. We also had 2014 Rose' of Pinot and 2014 Gewurztraminer.

Our 2014 Gewurztraminer is bone dry, the newest wine added to our line up. We first show cased this wine in Spring at our Wine Club party and officially started pouring in the Tasting Room in June.
We constantly have people not interested and with a little explanation they agree to taste, next thing they purchase a bottle or two or more. This is a special "Gewurz", coming from a 40 year old vineyard, stainless steel fermented and truly a great expression of this grape. Lychee nut, Jasmine, honey with minerality. We are changing peoples opinion of this grape daily, including mine!

  This was fun to taste but the winning vote went to the Brut Rose', hands down.

Second oyster of the night was smoked oysters, yippee! I grew up with these delicious morsels direct from the can. A special treat during the Holiday season, a can placed in each of our stockings so we didn't have to share.
Mat never really appreciating my affinity for smoked oysters, " yuck, keep those away from me" he'd say when I rarely open a can any more. But he did find a recipe to prepare these for our oyster pleasure this evening. And they were splendid, agreed by all even Mat. As for the pairing....it was a 50/50 tie between Gewurz & Valdiguie.

Third course, Oyster Stew with the line up of 3 wines, Rose' of Pinot, Gewurz, Valdiguie.
Chardonnay would have been another option but we do like to keep new pairings and the less expected option available and this was one. Gewurz won 1st place. The stew had fennel and mirepoix with heavy cream, garlic, spices and topped with croutons.

Next on the menu was Oyster Rockafeller. Pancetta, spinach, pernod, tarragon, bread crumbs, garlic, shallot, green onion done on the grill. We decided to remove the Gewurz from the wine option and add Pinot noir and of course this was a crowd pleaser. Although the Valdiguie took this course as best pairing.

Next up, BBQ oysters, one of my favorite. The BBQ compliments the oyster so well and goes great with wine and the oyster flavor maintains. I do love our Valdiguie with this preparation and the group voted 50 / 50 down the middle of the table, the left side picked the Valdiguie while the right side picked Pinot

 

 

 

For the finale, Mat was out back frying the last 50 oysters of the night. While we patiently awaited the last course, we were entertained by one of our guest, Thank you Tim!

The line up of 4 wines offered were Rose' of Pinot, Gewurz, Valdiguie and Pinot Noir.

The plate was served with an arugula Caesar and a sirachi mayo. Throwing in some additional flavors although the flavor of the fried oyster really stands above everything and enjoyed with all the wines but, #1 was Pinot Noir.

 

 

 

An evening of oysters, wine and friends... what could possibly disappoint, nothing!

We'd repeat this all tomorrow if it wasn't so much work.

May 25 - 28                A trip to B.C.'s Okanagan Valley

It had been years, probably 17, since I had visited the Okanagan Wine Region and Mat's 1st visit ever. With a handful of appointments at the top food spots, hotel and winemaker visits, we began our experience.

People are friendly, the area is small and a lot of recommendations are available upon request.
Our best hints were being told the Valley is a 3 hour drive from top to bottom. So, we focused on the top section of the valley our 1st day, the second day we drove down to the middle area and the third day we moved to the lowest section of the valley and finished our trip there.

Our 1st day we arrived mid afternoon and hungry, Salted Brick for lunch was perfect. Local centric, owner / operator, a nice start, seasonal fresh ingredients. And for dinner Raudz is a great addition to what I knew of as a sleepy food scene twenty years ago. Crab cappuccino and preserved lemon risotto were our favorite items but there were so many that we didn't try.

The third day, we stopped in Penticton to pick up a picnic lunch. Brodo Kitchen on main street is owned by a former Four Seasons Hotel chef that I had worked. This stop was both fun and tasty. Knowing Paul's level of experience, I knew the food would be great. We had a chance to catch up while our lunch was being prepared and packed, which was very nice. I would highly recommend Brodo Kitchen for a casual lunch, catered event or a picnic. Another great food experience in the valley for us.

Kelowna is a town of 150,000 population that increases to 500,000 in high season, so we recommend going off season to enjoy the lake front view rooms, multiple restaurants, wineries and picnic areas without crowds.

The wine country is located around the lakes, really stunningly beautiful scenery and the growth of wineries is staggering. We visited many main stays that I've known from the early days but added in many new hot spots and a couple that were just on the way. We struggled to find the perfect map until the last day. Each small region has a map but to view the entire valley, the OK Falls directory has this full map on the back.

Our high light wineries were as follows.
 #1 Blue Mountain - South of Okanagan Falls
This was on the top of my list from twenty years ago. Their sparkling wines sold out regularly and the still wines were and still are so worthy, we brought more than a case home. We tasted with the son of the founders who is the current winemaker, Matt. Each of the wines has such a classic quality without a doubt of sense of place, 100% Estate. Driving to Blue Mountain Winery also assists with this, at the top of a hill at the end of the road, well removed from everything. Wonderful!

 #2 Tantalus - Kelowna
 One of our 1st stops of the trip and we had a connection from Sonoma from a few years ago. While tasting, David the winemaker came by and ended up chatting with us for the remainder of our visit. The wines which we had never tasted were solid. We even got to taste their limited production ice wine. Small production and 100% Estate, definitely worth a visit. We bought a bottle of the Sparkling to enjoy in our hotel, which was unique, searing acid and refreshing.

 #3 Quails Gate - West Kelowna
We started with an early lunch in their restaurant over looking the lake. A lot of wineries have restaurants which is not common in CA due to the laws. Kind of backwards to me with the height of Canadian laws but, this is the only winery restaurant that we ate at.
After our lunch we met with Nikki the winemaker, she invited us into the cellar to taste barrels. We tasted through Chardonnays, Pinot's, a few Bordeaux varietals and finished with a pallet cleanser Pinot Gris. Multiple cooperages all from 2014. It is so fun to hear the trials and tribulations from the cellar perspective, which tasting rooms don't really offer and Nikki has personality plus. Winemakers bonding.

We had our last night in Osoyoos, five minutes from the American border. We opted to stay in the town and search for our final valley dinner by foot. We found a nice little wine bar style spot that
we enjoyed, Dolci Social. All local wine by the glass and small plates over looking main street.

Three days was sufficient to get a lay of the land. We enjoyed seeing yet another different wine region than the one we live in. This trip proved to be a great refresher of the Okanagan and proof that it has upped it's game in every sense.

May 3rd               Spring Wine Club party


Every Spring and Fall we celebrate with our Wine Club. This bi annual event gives our wine club members the opportunity to taste the wines that are in the club shipment and often not yet released to the public.

We created a menu to focus on the wines and highlight what means the most to us, perfect pairings.


Fresh shucked local oysters with a raspberry mignonette and 2014 Rose' of Pinot. The raspberry mignonette is the reason this works so well.

Mat's infamous tuna ceviche with our 1st bottling ever of 2014 Gewurztraminer. An outstanding success! We've been pairing this dish with our rose' and pinot's for years, which do very well. Although the newest addition to our portfolio stole the show as the food and wine pairing stardom.
Many people. me included, don't love this classic German varietal that comes in the tall thin bottle.
All I can say is "Mat is a god dam good winemaker to have changed many peoples perspective".
The truth is also that the Tuna Ceviche really stole the show and great wine pairings were truly noticed.

To pair the new unreleased 2013 Ruxton and Horseshoe Bend Vineyard pinot's, we needed to a have a food with oomph and our Grill. Thus Mat chose to grill pork butt with a multi spice dry rub. Simple yumminess with tightly wound youthful Pinot's, a  hit!

The joy of  watching Wine Club members that we might only see twice a year mixing and mingling, An opportunity to go back and forth to the current 2012 Pinot's in the tasting room to the unreleased 2013 Pinot's at the backyard party, not usually an option.

It gives us great pleasure to get feedback on the success of  our wines once they leave our tasting room. Members stash them away to enjoy on their own or share them as a special introduction to guests that are worthy. All in all, our fans help make us who we are, down to earth, husband and wife team, making wines people love to enjoy!

March 30th and 31st          Two Food and Wine Events


Betty Spaghetti is a new restaurant in our neighborhood. They invited us to do a Winemaker dinner.  What a wonderful opportunity for our friends and neighbors to come out to try a new restaurant and enjoy our wines and local company.

The chef came by the tasting room to preview our wines and discuss menu ideas and wine choices. When the menu was sent over a few days later, the excitement started to build. A line up of course descriptions jumped from the page, burrata and apricot paste, chicken liver pate, rabbit ravioli. It was looking like a very promising evening.

Our joyful guests started with a fresh taste of spring in a glass, 2014 Rose' of Pinot. This was paired with the burrata. Not only an incredible pairing but the apricot paste was amazing. Worthy of jarring up this wonderful paste, sous chef Jenn added some baking spice and chili when preparing. This gave the apricot a nice subtle spiciness that worked so well with our Rose'.

Next up was my personal request to feature an item from their dining room menu, chicken liver pate' which I love. We recently released the 2014 Gewurztraminer which I picked as the pairing wine.
The room awed and oohed as they tasted these two together. It works perfect and you can try this pairing anytime at Betty Spaghetti.

A beautiful treat was the Rabbit Ravioli. One friend told Mat he didn't think we ate fast food.
Mat loves Rabbit! It is tricky to showcase the flavor as well it can be perfect for Pinot, which it was.
A great preparation of braised in pinot rabbit, perfect placed in ravioli's with a jus of mushroom and carrots then sprinkled with parmesan. Wow, they did it, a huge hit with the crowd.
Paired with our 2009 library Pinot from Horseshoe Bend vineyard.

The main course was seared duck breast with our 2012 Ruxton Vineyard Pinot Noir. Always a winner to put these two together, tonight showed true to this.

At this point everyone was content beyond need and the perfect finale came out to send us on our way.

Congratulations to the Betty Team from front of the house to back, A splendid evening was had!
betty-spaghetti.com

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Willi's Wine Bar - Tasting Tuesday's        March 31st

When Willi's invited us to participate in this 6 week annual event, there was no hesitation. One o our all time favorite Restauranteurs original spot. We booked us and promptly added reservations for after.

The flight of wines was chosen by the GM / Sommelier Anthony. 2014 Gewurztraminer, 2012 RRV Pinot Noir and 2013bCab Franc. I could hardly wait to see what pairings would be.

#1. Curried Calamari Ceviche, mango, avocado salsa
#2. Salt and pepper scallop, suncoke puree and crispy pancetta
#3. Sweet and sour Figs

This set up is offered once a week on Tuesdays from 4pm - 6pm with a different winery and pairing each week. I think it is run for 6 weeks every Spring.

The regular crowd at Willi's are spoiled with this hip cuisine and we recommend for visitors to Sonoma to experience the Starks at their finest. There is something for everyone.

At 6pm, once the pairing and pouring and informing people about we were are, we sat at the bar for a treat of flavors.

Our 1st Foie Gras since the return from the crazy ban, did not disappoint. And we were treated to 2 very special wine options to pair with, both were exceptional.

New favorite dishes of the evening were a scallop dumpling that was wonderful with our Gewurztraminer and a Goat cheese gnocchi with mushrooms. These dishes are both ultimate wine pairing foods, we would have been happy to have 4 wines with each dish.

We ate to our hearts content and enjoyed a pinot flight. Yes, we are still sold on this great Santa Rosa keeper! Obviously if you haven't been, we'll recommend you go. Our dear friend that visits from Las Vegas won't miss it on every Sonoma County trip.

williswinebar.net     
4404 Old Redwood Hwy
Santa Rosa, CA 95403 Phone number (707) 526-3096    

March 2015                              Artisan Cheese Festival

We love cheese and we love local. This event is in it's 9th year and it screams both.

Not all the cheese is local but probably 80% or more is. The chef's and cheese mongers are. It attracts people from all over the country and it's right here in Sonoma County where the farms are.

This year Friday evening was all about cheese mongers working with a single cheese. The space was filled with bite size morsels displayed.

Saturday has a full schedule of seminars that take place in the hotel's many conference rooms. We have attended many in the past and this year opted not.

The Grand Tasting on Saturday evening has many Sonoma County and a few Bay area chef's serving a creation that incorporates a cheese. This is the event to enjoy food and wine. Our table was set in the middle of the room, a great spot to recommend people to different tables for wine pairing's. We were pouring Pinot of course but Chardonnay and Cab Franc as well.

Nick's Cove from Tomales Bay served a Lobster Poutine that paired great with our Chardonnay.
Ahwhanee had beef cheeks on a polenta cake that we recommended with our Horseshoe Bend Pinot.
There was a very fun grilled tomato sandwich with cheese soup by the Duck Club in Bodega Bay.
So many incredible ideas you might consider attending next year.

Sunday is the very popular market place where hundreds of people come to taste the individual cheeses and purchase. Many other cheese friendly products are being sampled as well as wines, beer and ciders. Mat takes this event under his wing and I stay in the Tasting Room. He comes home tired and full with many stories of the people he's met from all over the country that have favored our wines and the opportunity they had for the introduction. It is great exposure for us and we love supporting this very cheesy event.

Check the web site for next year. It is a must put on the calendar for March's schedule 2016.

artisancheesefestival.com