Good Morning!

Last week when I was in San Francisco, I had the excellent fortune to have dinner with two of my most fun friends, Cynthia and Michelle. They ask were did I want to go? I read the book Secrets of the Sommeliers recently and I remembered Raj Parr mentioned if you eat somethingg you love and you drink a wine you really love the pairing will work out perfectly. He mentioned one of his favorite meals in the world is the roast chicken at the Zuni Cafe in SF. Then he goes on to say he loves Syrah and when he goes to Zuni Cafe he loves the pairing.

I thought about that when I was reading his thoughts, I said to myself, isn’t Syrah too bold of a wine to go with a mild flavor like roast chicken? But, I like to learn and I like to eat and drink so, I said let’s do Zuni Cafe and eat Chicken! Just so you are aware, Zuni has a wood burning oven and they tell you up front the chicken will take at least an hour to prepare and it is a whole chicken so you will want to split it or take home massive leftovers!

The restaurant is located on busy Market Street in San Francisco and it is all glass and it faces the street and the other walls are exposed brick interior. It is a lively place and the bar is on the ground floor and many dining tables on the ground floor and a very intimate area upstairs where we could watch everything going on in the place and out on the street. We arrived and instantly ordered Champagne, oysters and Ceasar salads…we had an hour to have fellowship and catch up on our lives and reconnect. (Might have been the best hour of my week in SF).

The service and overall experience at the Zuni Cafe was stellar and we never felt rushed or like we were waiting on anything, timing is an art and I applaud our server for being a total rockstar. When the champagne and oysters were over I was ask about the second bottle of wine and I mentioned we wanted to do Syrah with the chicken and I told the server about the mention in the book and he pointed to 4 Syrah’s on the wine list and I selected a 2009 french syrah by Domaine La Bouissiere Gigondas…when he brought the bottle to the table it was really exciting for me, because the label had a picture of the mountains where we filmed part of The Winemakers season II it is called Dentelles de Montmirail. I have attached a photo of the label and the actual mountain.

The wine was much smoother than I had expected and the first sip really spoke to me as being french wine. It was much more subtle than the Syrah I am used to from the Central Coast of California. It was not packing the big alcohol punch I am normally used to either…it was not as fruity as I expected and it had a lighter mouthfeel than a big gripping Syrah I have had many times. It felt refined in the mouth and in texture, then the chicken arrived and it was slow roasted in the wood oven and it was crispy, sweet, fatty (but not in a bad way, in a rich and lush way). The texture of the white meat was so light and moist it was really mouthwatering and the dark meat of the bird was juicy and had a rustic and deep dark aspect, I am not sure I knew existed in a chicken. It almost had a wild game thing going on, not sure how to correct describe it but with the wine the two were totally magic.

One of my pals that dined with me was a chef for years and so saying she is a foodie, well, that is an under statement. We all raved about how awesome the pairing was and how when you find a great match like this you never want to stop eating or drinking. We still are raving over this night out and the food. Of course we had port and dessert and ended the night at a martini bar before rolling home.

Extraordinary dining is so special to me, really I eat 3-4 times everyday and I eat well, but when you consider how often we all eat, rarely do we truly dine and love the entire experience. Most of you know I have never really fallen in love with french wines, but I want to love them and after this evening at Zuni Cafe, I am back on my quest for finding the Rhone wines that will make me smile.

Thanks for letting me share this wine/dine experience with you, it really was very memorable!

Much LOVE and wine,

Tammi

Good Morning!

After a day at 5 wineries we were ready for and needed to eat something! One of my pals made reservations for us at the first seating at 5:30 and we were a few minutes early and we grabbed drinks at the bar. First impression of the place for me was there was a real feeling that we were in a special place and the level of attention paid to detail was spot on. It is causal but elegant and it feels intimate but very roomy.

I did my normal routine and ordered a glass of bubbly and my friends each ordered a drink and within just a few minutes we had made a friend of a dude named Eric at the bar from Philadelphia. We were seated in about 10-15 minutes and the server was quick to become our best friend. We ordered 3 appetizers and all 3 were excellent but for me the handmade cheese with on the crustini rocked my world. So subtle and so elegant but rustic (I know, really…but I felt like I was eating fresh farm food but in a high end dining room).

For dinner I had Bucatini and the poached egg on top was like if cream and velvet had a love child. My one friend ordered lamb and the grilled lamb was so rare and tender it melted in your mouth. My pal Jen ordered the chicken….I roast chicken all the time and I think it is really good…but after I had a bite of her chicken…well, when I grow up, I hope my chicken roasting skills reach this level. I have no idea what they do differently, but I will be hunting down every single cookbook of his and figuring it out!

We are all so happy with the service, food and experience we did not want the night to end and though we were all quite full, we split a chocolate cake with hazelnut cream….seriously, this was the devil in a cake. So rich, so decadent, but it was not really dense and it was light and I did not leave there feeling miserable, which is odd for me, because I LOVE to eat great food and I am kinda like a guinea pig and will eat until I bust. ( there’s a story from my childhood in this guinea pig connection, but I will save you the details of it’s untimely death).

We all left happy and can not wait to experience Bottega with more friends and family. I am sure Bottega will become a “go to” place when visitors are in town.

I have now eaten at 5 of the Iron Chef’s restaurants (or their competitors), Michael Symon, Bobby Flay’s, Mario Butalli’s, Elizabeth Faulkner’s and now Michael Chiarello’s, I know he did not win the competition but he performed excellently. The mild manor attitude he has always had on his show Napa Style, did not show during the Next Iron Chef, actually he came across kinda cranky (but I understand the pressure of reality TV, so I forgive the bitchiness). His place is a wonderful experience not just in dining but in living well and hanging out with friends and family. Napa can be kinda unapproachable if you are not a wine “geek” but Bottega really wrapped up our day perfectly.

That wraps up my day in Napa and I have to thank my pals, Rhonda, Jessica and Jen, they are great tasting, dining and just plain old fun friends to spend time with.

Next week I want to discuss my evening at the Zuni Cafe in San Francisco and the wines we had!

Have an awesome weekend!

Much LOVE and wine,

Tammi

Good Morning!

After the three great wine tastings, we needed a snack or maybe a full on lunch. One of my favorite places to hang out in wine country used to be called Taylor’s Refresher…it’s right n the main highway as you are driving through St. Helena. Last year the place was bought by another owner and it is now called Gott’s Roadside and this is not just a regular diner. This place has earned a James Beard award for it’s food…so it’s for real.

Over the years I have had Ahi Tuna, Champagne fish and Chips, fish taco’s, sweet potato fries, bacon cheeseburger, REAL milkshakes, mini-corndogs and of course they have a full wine list (and they are good wines, by the glass or by the bottle). They have a huge area filled with picnic tables and you can find a shady spot or enjoy the sun. Normally, the food line is backed up at least 10-20 deep, but we were there on a Monday at 2:45 so we missed the craziness of the crowd.

My wine tasting pals had never been there and we sat in the front of the building at a big table and the food was as awesome as I remembered. With this we soaked up some of the wine we had consumed…it’s not fancy but I think no trip to Napa is complete without them calling your name and you go get your food and bring it back to the table.

Across the street is the Merryvale tasting room, we always do these things together. Either before or after the sweet potato fries we hit up Merryvale and I have always used Merryvale as one of my “go to” tasting rooms when I have company visiting and they want to experience a great time. I love Merryvale’s wines, they are not cheap, I love their Oakville Cabernet…it will be at least $100 a bottle but I always buy a bottle or two to add to my personal cellar.

This trip to Merryvale tasting room was LAME. Normally, the hosts are totally engaging and they are excited to set up your tasting. Also, one of the coolest and most fantastic room/cellar/private dining areas, I have ever experienced and when we walked in and started looking into the room with huge dining table surrounded by barrels and dimly lit…it is quite spectacular, one of the hosts, walks over and closes the curtains and says we are having a private party in later and you can not see the room. Ok…well we strolled through their shop and I headed over to the tasting bar and stood there for about 7 minutes and with only one other couple in the massive tasting room and 2 other guys we working, but I could not get eye contact or engagement at all. I thought, well, I am not going to drop at least $200 and not get at least a hi..I’m outta here.

It might sound a little cranky (bitchy) but, I was done with that and the energy in the place was not at all what I have come to love and look forward to sharing with my friends. This experience will not stop me from going back to Merryvale and I will still love their wines, but I think this is one of my biggest complaints about certain tasting rooms, some are so welcoming and engaging and others are so stuffy and stand offish. I had an experience a few years ago on my first trip to Napa and we stopped in at one of my favorite wineries Whitehall Lane and I could not be more disappointed with the experience. I have been back to Whitehall Lane 3 more times since and still have not had a stellar experience in the tasting room, but I still enjoy their wines.

I think this is why I like to shout out great wine experiences whenever I can…I loved the experience we had at Truchard, Artesa and Crocker & Starr that day and over the years, I have had a tour and tasting at Beringer, Opus, Rabbit Ridge, Wente, Mumm, Peju, Merry Edwards, Cakebread and Far Niente all have been fantastic. Each place I had a blast, learned something really cool and the energy of the tasting room was vibrant and not the rushed feeling of hurry up and buy something and I can wait on someone else.

I love a great service experience, I made my living for years helping other people make a major career shift and I would bend over backwards to ensure the process felt exciting and motivating for each person. I just expect anyone in the service business to make the same effort I would for them if I were working with them.

Anyway, I wanted to share some more of my day in wine country with you…tomorrow I want to share with you the evening we had at a very famous chef’s place…Bottega.

Much LOVE and wine,

Tammi

Good Morning!

3rd stop on our day trip in Napa was Crocker & Starr. I met Pam Starr the winemaker about a year and a half ago at a Women for Winesense event in Napa and tasted her wines and I have had Crocker & Starr on my must visit list ever since the first sip. Pam has a very causal energy but as soon as she started to speak about her wines, I swear she had a beautiful blue and white aura…not like the weird Touched by an Angel thing…but like you can feel her passion and her wines were so elegant and rich I was in love with both reds she was serving that day.

I called ahead to see if we could schedule a tour and spoke with Marcy and we could walk the vineyards and enjoy many wines in a private tasting room, so that is exactly what we did. It is winter in Napa and kinda a grayish day, but the brilliant mustard is in full bloom. If you are not familiar with the mustard plant, it’s the bright yellow wild plants growing in between the vines from late January until about bud-break in the spring.

I had read up on the Crocker & Starr brand and I knew that the land was originally the site of the Dowdell Brandy Distillery and the distillery was closed when prohibition hit. But now they use that site for the Casali or House of Celebration. All their wines are estate grown and they are sustainable and organic and they have over 100 acres. Charlie Crocker bought the land in the early 1970’s and in 1997 Pam Starr and Charlie became partners and have been making some of the most balanced wines I have ever had.

We arrived and we were ready for fun and Marcy had wine waiting for us to enjoy on the porch and she gave us a quick history before the tour and of course being women, we had to all visit the little girls’ room and while I was inside, I was able to say hi to Pam Starr…this was a thrill for me, I kinda doubt she was as excited, but I had been tasting all morning, so my enthusiasm was even more elevated than my normal.

After the vineyard tour we headed to the private tasting room and it looks like a banquet room from a castle (it’s quite nice). We started tasting and each wine was bright, pure and elegant. I keep using the word elegant with the wines of Crocker & Starr…when I looked back at all my tasting notes, I used the word elegant and balanced 14 times..I really enjoyed these wines and one of my pals ended up joining the wine club to have wines shipped back to Texas. I ended up buying 2008 Cab and 2008 Cab Franc, I wanted to buy some Sauvignon Blanc but for some reason I forgot…D’oh!!! I mean their 2005 Sauvignon Blanc was rated in the top 100 wines that year…I need to go online and have them send me some STAT!

If you are looking for a beautiful tasting experience without the packed tasting bar and if you like a more intimate tasting of truly fantastic wines…Make a point to set up an appointment and spend an hour with the folks at Crocker & Starr.

I hope you are loving the day we had in Napa as much as I have…Tomorrow, I wanna talk about our afternoon snack at what used to be Taylor’s refresher and the Merryvale winery…

Much LOVE and wine,

Tammi

Good Morning!

Coming up with titles for my blog is sometimes fun and sometimes difficult….this one was easy! I picked Artesa winery to visit second on our day of wine tasting for 3 reasons: It was really close to Truchard, I had heard the views were spectacular and I have tasted their wines before and had liked them and wanted my friends to have a large selection of wines to taste.

We pulled in and the fountains and views were everything I had heard about and the building alone was quite impressive…as we walked up the steps we took a few minutes for photo ops and of course being with women in high heels who have enjoyed a little wine, they hammed it up in the” Next Top Model ” fashion. We entered and they ask if we were there for a tour and we said just a tasting and we were sent into the tasting area and locked in our place at the bar. Next we knew, we were standing in front of Jesus Martinez our host for the our visit.

Jesus was fun and friendly and so were we. We started out trying white wine and then jumped straight over to the pinot noir’s and we stayed with the pinot’s for the rest of our visit. Before I get started on the flavor profile of all the pinots’….Let me say, I know the hosts in the tasting rooms work hard and there is probably many aspects of their jobs that are not glamorous (washing glasses, carrying cases, listening to people argue about which wine is “Better”)…but Jesus created such a free space for us to enjoy and express ourselves, it was magic. In our group of 4 we had: one who would rather have a Corona, one who likes wine but would normally drink 20 year old scotch, one who like a red with so much punch it will paralyze the tongue and myself who wants to try everything.

Jesus really had a knack for helping each of us find the beauty in each wine and all the while my pals are peppering him with questions about where to eat, drink and hang out in the area. He gave us enough room to have fun but keep us on point with the wines and tasting, he has excellent tempo when it comes to his guests. Jesus also witnessed the “Runway modeling” session as we moved from the parking lot to the tasting room and he finally mentioned he had watched us as we arrived, well, that made us feel like old friends from that moment forward.

I ended up buying 2009 Pinot Noir (several bottles) the very smooth, extremely velvety texture is what sold me. Normally, Pinot Noir always has a big cherry finish and I really enjoyed the smoky, leathery thing this Pinot had going on, so I picked up several bottles to cellar and try again in the future.

I will say Artesa is a beautiful place and I’d like to go back and tour the grounds and winery at some point…but what I will remember most about Artesa is Jesus. We will make a point to visit and taste here again!

Much LOVE and wine,

Tammi