Delicious & Festive!

“Mushrooms make a delicious, crowd-pleasing party food fried in this light, crisp batter,” says Emma Lipp, Head Chef and partner at the acclaimed Valley Bar and Bottle restaurant in Sonoma. She created this recipe to pair with her father’s COHO Wines Headwaters 2017 Napa Valley Red Wine, a Merlot-based Red Blend.

“While any mushroom will work in this recipe, we recommend a mixture of chewier, sturdy trumpets and festive hen-of-the-woods mushrooms, which look extra lacy in their tempura party dresses. The dipping sauce flavoring is based on Japanese dashi, the umami-rich base in Japanese cooking. The earthiness of the mushrooms combined with the delightfully savory sauce, all brightened by texture, lemon and chili, pairs wonderfully with the bright, deep fruits of the 2017 Coho Headwaters.”

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We adore Charcuterie! Whether as an impressive appetizer or a fun, relaxed dinner, it is hard to beat a no-cook, make-ahead collection of tasty bites ready to be paired with delicious wine. A delightful mix of cheeses, cured meats, olives, nuts, fruits, vegetables, jellies, and spreads can be as much fun to put together as they are to enjoy. Much like a great wine, the secret is the layers of textures, colors, and tastes that elevate a good board to a great board.

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Made Simple by Private Chef Robin

Family and friends gathered around a festive table laden with delicious food and fine wine is one of the most magical parts of the holiday season. To help you create unique, memorable and, best of all, stress-free holiday get-togethers, we invited Private Chef Robin, author, teacher and wine country chef extraordinaire to give you her best tips and share her favorite menus.

When food and wine really complement each other, it elevates both. But how can you tell which wines will complement what you are dishing up? We asked Wes Hagen of Thornhill Family Winery He is a wine educator, Sommelier, and brand ambassador for the Miller Family (founders/owners of the famed Bien Nacido Vineyard in Santa Maria). He shared his rules and a recipe.

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Be ready for gatherings with toasting tips, wise words, and some delicious appetizer recipes (plus a bonus cider recipe!).

Toasting Tips This Holiday Season

This is the time of year for gatherings of friends and family at parties and festive feasts. So we’ve pulled together some toasting tips for you:

1. Typically, the host of the gathering will offer the first toast. Although at weddings, often the Best Man has the honor of offering the first toast.
2. It is considered proper to ask the host for permission to offer a toast, and to thank the host as part of the toast.
3. Please make sure all glasses are filled before beginning your toast.  Although we favor sparkling wines for toasting, non-alcoholic drinks are fine as well.
4. If someone is giving a toast to you, no need to stand.  Just sit and (hopefully) smile.  And no need to drink to yourself.
5. In most cases, shorter is better.  That saying about brevity being the soul of wit may apply here.

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Whether on the beach, in a barn or at a park, we love wine festivals.

Don’t you? Getting to swirl and sip a variety of wines (and possibly admire original art, classic cars and/or hear great live music) is a terrific day.   Here are 10 Essential Tips for Making Wine Festivals even better:

1. Get ready for your day: Comfortable shoes, sunscreen, a hat and an easy-to-carry bag are all must-haves.
2. Allow time for traffic and parking. This is especially true for festivals held at beaches or popular parks in the summer.
3. Eat before you enter. Although many festivals offer yummy pairings, they are often “snack-sized.” Bonus: festivals in wine country may have fabulous restaurants nearby.
4. Bring your own water. Water stations might be few and far between, and you’ll want to stay hydrated on a sunny day of wine tasting.
5. Make liberal use of dump buckets. While a tasting is meant to be just that–a taste, in our experience it is not unusual to find booths pouring half glasses of wine. If you plan on trying a dozen or more wines, you will want to pace yourself.
6. Focus on wineries whose wines you haven’t tried–this is your opportunity to discover new favorites.
7. Ditto on unusual wine varietals. Not familiar with Albariño or Aglianico? This is your chance. Keep an open mind as you sip and learn.
8. Ask questions! The pouring staff are typically very knowledgeable and glad to share the story of their wines with you.
9. Collect business cards from wineries whose wines you’d like to purchase later–or snap photos of their labels.
10. Consider designating a driver or hiring a car for the ride home.

Enjoy your day!

Our International Series club level recently featured delicious wines from beautiful Lomond Vineyards Estate, which rests on the Agulhas Plain near the southernmost tip of Africa in one of the most heralded and passionate winegrowing regions, Cape Agulhas (“The Cape of Needles”).

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Packing a lunch for a winery picnic is a brilliant idea. Never underestimate your abilities to enhance a day of wine tasting with fun food creations brought to you by YOU! To create an epic lunch situation featuring wine drinking and mingling friends nibbling, create a charcuterie  (shahr-cute-uh-ree) platter and bring along specialty cheeses, nuts, dried fruits, sweet fruits, spreads, and, of course, bread.

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Wine and cheese await lucky tasters at Romeo Vineyards in Napa Valley.

“Wine and cheese are ageless companions, like aspirin and aches, or June and moon or good people and noble ventures.” –M.F.K. Fisher, Food Writer, Founder of Napa Valley Library

Any wine and food pairing can be fabulous, or not, depending on the choice.  This is especially true of wine and cheese pairings. How to pick the perfect match? Here are a few hints from the experts at Le Vigne Winery in Paso Robles and Cowgirl Creamery in Pt. Reyes, Sonoma County.

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In 1996 we interviewed Julia Child

Since 1990, we’ve been traveling the dusty back roads of California wine country, seeking out artisan wineries handcrafting small batches of exquisite wines.  We taste the wines, meet the winemaking families, and then share our favorite finds with our wine club members.  Along with every shipment, we include Uncorked, your guide to the featured wineries.  We also include wine industry news, recipes, pairing tips and interviews with winemakers and wine industry luminaries.  In 1996, we were absolutely over-the-moon thrilled to have the chance to interview the one and only Julia Child.  This is part 2 of our interview with her.  See part 1. 

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