Category Archives: Wine

Taste of Terroir in Livermore

Posted on by 3 comments

What do you get when you put 16 of Livermore’s top wineries with 16 top Bay Area chefs? You get “Taste of Terroir,” the sixth annual wine and food experience, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. July 24 at the Palm Event Center at Ruby Hill in Pleasanton.

The chefs and vintners will be creating food and wine pairings that will vie for “Most Innovative Pairing,” “Best Expression of Local Ingredients,” and “Judges’ Best” awards. Guests also will have a chance to vote for the “People’s Choice” award. Afterwards, guests will enjoy desserts paired with Livermore Valley ports.

Participating wineries include Concannon Vineyard, Steven Kent Winery, and Page Mill Winery. Restaurants include Scott’s Seafood, Maholo Grille, and the Restaurant at Wente Vineyards.

Tickets are $75 per person.  They are available here or by calling the Livermore Valley Winegrowers Association at (925) 447-WINE.

Restaurant Happenings

Posted on by Leave a comment

The produce garden at 25ºBrix

Longtime stalwart Napa restaurant Brix has morphed into 25ºBrix with new owners and a new look.

The owners, the Kelleher Family winemakers, picked the slightly different name to symbolize the sugar level at which they pick their grapes for their Cabarnet Sauvignon. Their consultant on the project was David Gingrass of Two in San Francisco, who has put in a 2-acre garden on the property, which will grow produce for the restaurant.

Menu items include beer-battered soft-shell crab with cherry tomato vinaigrette ($22); Berkshire pork schnitzel with sunny quail eggs, caper brown butter and spaetzel ($28); and whole roasted branzini with potato and crab hash ($32).

An adjacent wine shop on the property sells cult and hard-to-fiind Napa Valley wines. Visitors also can pick up fresh-baked baguettes and gourmet picnic baskets to-go from the restaurant.

Down the road in St. Helena, Go Fish restaurant has livened up its outdoor dining area with acoustic contemporary and blues music every Thursday night. A flat-panel TV also has been installed, along with a misting system to keep patrons cool in the summer heat. On the Fourth of July, Go Fish plans to fire up the grill on the patio to cook up an outdoor feast.

More al fresco eating can be had at the Dry Creek Kitchen at the Hotel Healdsburg. Every Wednesday night through September, the restaurant features “Family BBQ Night,” a three-course meal served family-style for $32 per person.

Offerings may include Painted Hills Skirt Steak and Niman Ranch Pork Loin; bourbon baked beans and potato salad; and fruit pie.

Along the coast, Nick’s Cove on the east shore of Tomales Bay, is hosting winemaker events with featured winemakers and specially prepared dishes from Chef de Cuisine Adam Mali.

June 19 at 6 p.m. is “Coastal Expressions” night, featuring wines from Radio-Coteau. July 17 at 6 p.m. is “Contemporary. Innovative. Out of the Ordinary,” an evening of wines from Duckhorn, Paraduxx and Goldeneye. Price for each wine dinner is $75 per person.  RSVPÂ by calling (415) 663-1033.

For those who are always on the go, Jack Falstaff in San Francisco has created a new “Power Lunch” menu. It’s a selection of two-course paired menu items such as potato & leek soup with Jack’s classic chicken Caesar salad; or walnut and baby green salad paired with “PBLT” (slow roasted pork belly and beefsteak tomato on grilled sourdough). “Power Lunches” are $16 to $19.

Enjoy them with a new selection of “Zero Proof Concoctions,” such as Hibiscus Cooler (Hibiscus iced tea with kiwi syrup) or Raspberry-Rhubarb Lemonade. All are $6.

Jerry Regester of C Restaurant + Bar. Photo by John Sutton.

Finally, down in Monterey, Jerry Regester has been appointed executive chef of the new C Restaurant + Bar at the new luxury hotel on Cannery Row, the InterContinental The Clement Monterey. He was most recently executive chef at The Restaurant at Wente Vineyards.

His debut menu includes Monterey Cioppino with mini cheese ravioli, artichokes, tuna, clams, and calamari in a spicy Dungeness crab broth; and fettuccine with smoked sardines, sun-dried tomatoes, and shaved garlic.

C Restaurant + Bar. Photo by John Sutton.

Delectable Dates To Mark on Your Calendar

Posted on by Leave a comment

If you love cheese, then head to Cheese Plus in San Francisco, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. June 21, as the specialty store celebrates its third anniversary with a Summer Solstice Food Festival.

More than two dozen food artisans will be on hand to show off samples of their products. From noon to 2 p.m., cookbook author and San Francisco Chronicle food writer, Janet Fletcher, will sign copies of her latest book, “Cheese & Wine” (Chronicle Books).

A knife sharpening expert also will be on site to sharpen your knives and give advice on how to care for them.

Up in Wine Country, there are a bevy of events to come. First up, the Martini House in St. Helena hosts its fourth annual Riesling Week. June 16-21, the restaurant will showcase Rieslings from Germany, Alsace, and Austria.

A special four-course prix fixe menu will be offered, with each dish paired with a different Riesling such as pan-roasted monkfish wrapped in Hobbs smoked bacon accompanied by a pour of Domaine Weinbach ”Schlossberg” Grand Cru, Riesling, Alsace, France, 2005. The dinner is $115 with the wine pairing; $70 without.

Next up, also in St. Helena, enjoy the third annual Napa Valley Jewish Vintners Celebration. Nearly 40 Jewish vintners from California, as well as Israel, will celebrate “Connecting Our Roots,” June 20-22. Proceeds will benefit Jewish non-profit organizations in the valley.

The three-day event begins on a Friday with a reception at a private St. Helena estate, followed by exclusive winery open houses on Saturday, then a glam gala at the Culinary Institute of America’s Greystone Campus, and ends with Sunday brunch at the Napa Valley Museum featuring guest speaker, the best-selling author, Scott Turow.

Tickets are $650 per person. For more information, call (707) 968-9944 or click here.

And lastly, designer heels and big-name wines? Who can resist that combo? If you can’t, then the fourth annual “Wine, Women and Shoes,” 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. June 29 should be on your must-do list.

The event, at the St. Supery Vineyards and Winery in Rutherford, raises money for women’s causes. Since its inception, more than $2 million has been raised for women’s charities.

Enjoy a fashion show of chic foot candy, wonderful wines, and a live and a silent auction. And don’t forget the “Shoe Guys,” who will be carrying shoes on silver trays so you get a peep of those must-have peep-toe pumps.

Tickets are $150 for regular admission; and $250 for premiere admission, which includes front-row seating at the fashion show. For more information, call Belle Orpilla or Katie Wolford at Planned Parenthood at (925) 676-0505 ext. 5220 at 925-676-0505, ext. 5222; or email info@ppshastadiablo. Also, visit: www.ppshastadiablo.org.

For Dads Who Love Meat and Cabs

Posted on by 2 comments

The Napa Valley’s Signorello Vineyards and Snake River Farms in Idaho has just the gift for you: “The Ultimate Luxury Food and Wine Experience.”

On Father’s Day, Valentine’s Day, and the winter holiday celebration, you’ll receive a shipment of Kobe beef and cab. Father’s Day, it’s four rib eye steaks and three bottles of Estate Cabernet Sauvignon. Valentine’s Day, it’s four tenderloin fillets and one bottle each of Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, East Hillside Cabernet Sauvignon and Uvaggio. For the winter holidays, it’s a rib eye roast and one bottle each of the Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, Padrone  (Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon) and Meta.

But wait, there’s more: As a Kobe & Cabernet Club member, you’ll also receive a 15 percent discount on wine purchases throughout the year, a 10 percent discount on all Snake River Farms products throughout the year, invitations to members-only events at the winery, and special club member rates at the Yountville Inn in Yountville.

And the tab? The average cost of each shipment is $390. Big spenders who want more information, should click here.

Remembering Robert Mondavi

Posted on by Leave a comment

2005 Continuum and 2004 Opus One

Robert Mondavi may be gone now, having sadly passed away May 16 at the age of 94. But this visionary legend always will live on.

The winery that bears his name in the Napa Valley is no longer owned by the Mondavi family, having been sold to the beverage giant, Constellation Brands, four years ago for more than $1 billion. On the right in the photo above is the last vintage of Opus One (the premium Bordeaux-style blend made in a joint venture with Baron Philippe de Rothschild of Chateau Mouton-Rothschild) released before the sale of the business. On the left is the 2005 Continuum, the first release of the first new wine made after the sale with the help of all three generations of Mondavis. Only 1,500 cases were made of this blend of 60 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 20 percent Petit Verdot, and 20 percent Cabernet Franc.

Mondavi was a man who put California wine on the map; whose tenacity drove him to start his own winery at age 52 after disagreements with his brother, Peter, led to his ouster from the family wine business; and whose philanthrophy was seemingly endless.

In 1996, he and wife Margrit paid $2.1 million to purchase the Napa site for what would become Copia: The American Center for Wine, Food, and the Arts. In 2001, the couple gave $35 million to the University of California at Davis to establish the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science.

Over the years, I had the pleasure of meeting Mondavi at the ground-breaking ceremonies for each of those events. And last November, I, along with a handful of other media, was graciously invited to the Mondavi home in the Napa Valley, where Thomas Keller of the French Laundry and his staff prepared a nine-course dinner and where the 2005 Continuum was poured for the first time.

Over the years, I saw this once vibrant man grow more frail, first relying on a cane, then a wheelchair. But through it all, he remained, as always, the picture of grace and dignity.

When I finally open those two special bottles of wine, I will drink a toast to this man who did so much and meant so much to the growth and reputation of the Napa Valley wine industry. I hope you will remember him, too, anytime you enjoy a bottle that bears the Mondavi name.

« Older Entries Recent Entries »