A decadent pairing: Moussaka and 2007 Esprit de Beaucastel

One of my favorite cookbooks is the classic (and sadly now out of print) Mediterranean Cooking by Paula Wolfert. There are probably a dozen recipes in it that we’ve made multiple times, and one of them has become a family favorite that we return to at least a few times each year. The original page is marked up with a half-dozen annotations and additions, and the book, binding long gone, opens to it as soon as you set it down on the counter. That recipe is the Greek classic moussaka. If you're unfamiliar with it, it's the ultimate in comfort food. There's a layer of sautéed potatoes at the bottom. On top of that is a rich lamb-based meat sauce with warm spices. Above that is slices of broiled eggplant. And on top is a layer of creamy béchamel sauce. There are, of course, many variations of this ancient dish. In fact, Wolfert herself suggests a variation where the top layer is a yogurt sauce rather than béchamel. But as with any recipe that you make enough, we feel like it's become, over the years, ours.

With Eli, our 19-year-old, home from college for the summer, we've been cycling through some of our favorite family recipes, and last week made moussaka. It was glorious, as it always is, and we decided to up the ante on the unapologetically luxurious dish by pairing it with perhaps the most hedonistic wine we've ever made at Tablas Creek, the 2007 Esprit de Beaucastel. From a warm, low-yielding year, it's always been a wine built to impress. There's a sweetness to the fruit (though it's a dry wine) that's both a reflection of that year and of that era of our winemaking, when we were leaning a little more into lushness. It received some of the highest scores we've ever gotten, including a 95-97 point rating from Robert Parker that resulted in us selling out about six months before we expected, and our highest-ever placement (#33) in the Wine Spectator's year-end Top 100.

The wine has aged beautifully, adding lovely meaty, leathery, truffly notes to the currant and sweet spice flavors that it carried from the beginning. The sweeter elements to the wine suggested it might be a good pairing for the moussaka, which includes cinnamon and allspice, as well as the sweetness from three cups of sautéed onions and a cup of tomato puree. And it was glorious:

There are times where you stumble unexpectedly on the perfect wine for a given meal. Those experiences are wonderful. But there are also times where you think a wine will be great for a particular dish, and it is. Those experiences are in some ways even more satisfying. This was one of those cases. I'll share the recipe, as we've evolved to make it, below. It's a fair amount of work, though it can be done in advance and so can be great for a gathering. But there's nothing technically difficult about it, and the rewards are amazing. If you make it and can try it with a bottle of Esprit from the late 2000s, I can promise you it will be mind-bendingly good. But even if you don't have that exact pairing, go ahead and try it. There's a reason why lamb and Mourvedre is such a classic pairing. They're just magical together.

Ingredients:

• 2 large eggplants (about 2 lbs)
• Salt
• Olive oil
• 3 cups minced onions
• 2 tsp. garlic, minced
• 2 lbs. ground lamb
• 1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ground allspice
• 1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup tomato puree
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup chopped parsley
• 5 medium potatoes, about 2 lbs. Red-skinned are ideal, but it's not fussy.
• 1 stick (8 tbsp) butter
• 3 1/2 cups milk
• 6 tbsp. flour
• ground nutmeg

Note that all four of the layers can be prepared simultaneously, though if this is your first time, my recommendation is that you not try to do anything else while making the béchamel.

For the eggplant layer:

• Peel eggplants and slice into half-inch rounds
• Soak those eggplant slices in salted water for a half-hour
• Preheat a broiler
• Squeeze extra water out of the eggplants, then pat dry with paper towels 
• Lightly oil a large baking sheet, lay out the eggplant rounds on the sheet in a single layer, and brush with more olive oil
• Broil until lightly brown, then flip and broil the other side until lightly browned
• Allow to cool

For the meat layer:

• In a large Dutch oven or other enameled pot, heat 6 tbsp. of olive oil on low heat
• Add the onions and garlic and cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until they are soft, about 10 minutes
• Turn heat to medium and add the lamb and cook, breaking apart with a wooden spoon, until browned
• Stir in the spices, tomato puree, water, parsley, and salt to taste, and bring to a simmer
• Turn the heat down to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, until you get a thick sauce, about 30 minutes.

For the potato layer:

• Peel the potatoes and cut into 1/8-inch rounds
• Heat 3 tbsp. olive oil over medium heat in a large nonstick skillet and add the potato slices
• Cook, turning and separating so that the slices brown evenly but nothing burns, about 10 minutes
• Sprinkle with salt and set aside to cool 

For the béchamel layer:

• Heat milk either on the stove or in a large microwave-safe measuring cup until hot
• In a medium Dutch oven or cast iron pot over low heat, melt 6 tbsp. butter 
• Whisk in flour and cook, whisking continuously 2-3 minutes until it just starts to turn golden and smells nutty
• Whisk in heated milk and cook, whisking very regularly, for about 10 minutes or until it achieves the consistency of a thick cream soup
• Season to taste with salt, pepper, and a sprinkle of nutmeg

To assemble the moussaka:

• Butter the bottom and sides of a 10" x 14" x 2" Pyrex or ceramic baking dish
• Cover the bottom of the baking dish with an overlapping later of potatoes
• Pour the meat sauce over the potato layer and spread evenly
• Top the meat layer with a layer of eggplant
• Pour the béchamel over the eggplant and smooth with a spatula
• Dot the top of the béchamel with the remaining tbsp. of butter

At this point, you can cover the dish with foil or plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 24 hours, or you can cook it. When you're ready to cook:

• Preheat the oven to 375°F
• Bake until the béchamel is golden brown and the whole thing is bubbling, about 40 minutes if assembled warm or 50 minutes if refrigerated
• Remove from the oven, let settle 5 minutes, then slice into squares and serve

A lovely Vermont summer dinner of lamb, tomatoes, potatoes, and old Beaucastel

My family and I spent most of July in Vermont. I grew up there, and each year we try to go back and give our kids the chance to discover the streams and forests, fields and ponds I spent my childhood exploring. My sister and her family make their home next door, and my mom still spends half the year there, in the house I grew up in. I know that the setting hasn't changed much in the last 50 years. It probably hasn't changed much in a century:

When we go back, we're a group of nine, five adults and (this year) kids aged 18, 15, 13, and 9. Everyone likes to eat, and a many of our most memorable moments of each trip are spent around the table. To keep it from being too much of a burden on any one person, we share out the tasks of cooking, setting, and washing each evening, and always designate a few people each evening to be Riley (think "life of...") so they can relax without guilt. If you're in a rut on your vacation meal planning, I highly recommend this system.

As our time in Vermont wound down, my mom and I were signed up to cook one night, and we decided to make a meal that would allow us to explore some of the treasures my dad accumulated in the wine cellar there. Earlier in the trip we'd opened some old Burgundies and a few old Tablas Creeks, but this time decided to dive into the stash of Beaucastel. That stash included two of my favorite vintages: 1981 and 1989. To pair with the wines, we decided on racks of lamb (sadly, not Tablas Creek, since we were on the other coast, but delicious racks from the local co-op grocery). My mom cooked them according to this favorite David Tanis recipe in the New York Times, where the racks are rubbed with a blend of mustard, garlic, anchovy, salt, pepper, and herbs. These racks are then roasted over par-cooked potatoes, which have been boiled then crushed. As everything roasts in the oven, the potatoes absorb the juices and flavors of the lamb and its rub. As a side dish I made a variation on roasted tomatoes from a favorite Barbara Kafka recipe, where small tomatoes are rubbed in olive oil and salt, then roasted whole at high temperature with peeled cloves of garlic scattered around. When they're removed from the oven, you scatter some strips of basil over the top. A few photos, starting with the lamb, which turned out perfectly:

The potatoes were meltingly delicious:

I love roasted tomatoes with lamb, because their brightness helps cut the richness of the meat. The garlic pieces are great for spreading on crusty bread.

And finally, the wines, which were definitely worthy of all this fuss. The cool, damp underground cellar where the wines have spent the last four decades is great for the wines' evolution, but (as you can see) less than ideal for their labels:

As for the two wines that night, both were excellent, and the 1989 truly outstanding. My sense was that the 1981 was a little past its peak, and starting a graceful decline, while the 1989 is still at the top of its game:

• 1981 Beaucastel. A nose of truffle and balsamic, sage, graphite, leather and a little juniper. On the older side but still quite present and intense. On the palate, still intense and firm, with good acids, flavors of meat drippings and plum skin, coffee grounds and pencil shavings. The finish is still persistent.
• 1989 Beaucastel. Plusher and more powerful on the nose, aromas of mocha, black cherry, mint chocolate, and soy marinade. The mouth is fully mature but still has lovely fruit: cherry and currant fruit, new leather, meat drippings, sweet baking spices, and chocolate covered cherries. Long and luscious but still somehow weightless. 

It was a fitting conclusion to a wonderful three weeks. And I couldn't help thinking that my dad must have been smiling down at us all witnessing it.

A Guide to Making One-Minute Social Media-Friendly Cooking Videos for Wineries

By Nadia Nouri

I’ve always been passionate about demystifying the world of wine, especially for my fellow Gen Z friends who aren’t exactly sure where to start. One of the most commonly asked questions in our tasting room (especially for some of our more obscure varieties) is, “What food would you recommend pairing with this wine?” With cooking videos having taken over the internet, it seemed like a no-brainer to film and post the recipes we already have on our website so we can share how our wines can easily be paired with familiar dishes. While filming and cutting down a 20- to 40-minute recipe into a 1-minute video isn’t an easy feat, it’s well worth being able to share different ways of enjoying our wine – and we think more wineries should do the same. The benefits of creating cooking videos include:

Reach. Our average reach on Instagram is roughly doubled for recipe reels, compared to the average reach of our other reels. That reach allows us to connect with those who may not have otherwise discovered our wines. And this makes sense; short-form video has taken over the social media space, boosted by Instagram's algorithm and the natural appeal of video. Because, let’s be real, a photo of a bowl of soup can only have so much appeal — it’s got to be able to stop you mid-scroll. 

Durability. Not only do more people see our videos the first time they appear in their feeds, but our recipe videos get 8x more saves on average than our other videos, meaning people will come back to those particular videos, and may use them as jumping off points for more of our content. Plus, a one-minute video with actual process of how simple it can be to achieve a delicious wine pairing is shareable content for Tablas Creek fans and foodies alike. 

Approachability. These videos allow us to showcase our wines in a more approachable and accessible way. By pairing each wine with a recipe that customers can easily make at home, we can break down the perception that wine pairing is out of reach unless you're already a sophisticated wine drinker. Easy-to-follow recipes that have been bundled up into a short video are also a fantastic introduction to wine. Our goal is to create videos that are both informative and entertaining, making it easy for anyone to feel comfortable experimenting with wine and food pairings. 

If you haven't seen them on our feed, here's a recent video, pairing our Dianthus Rosé with a Spanish omelette:

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A post shared by Tablas Creek Vineyard (@tablascreek)

A step-by-step guide to making cooking videos:

What You Need:

1. Phone: videos on social media do not necessarily need to be high production, so any camera works!
2. Tripod: having a steady picture will make a difference in the final product. It doesn’t need to be fancy, but it is definitely worth investing in a tripod to have your hands free while cooking.
3. Good lighting: Whether you’re using artificial lighting or natural light, it’s important that the videos are bright.
4. Editing software: I use CapCut for editing all my videos, but use whatever platform you like and feel comfortable with.

How To Film And Edit A Cooking Video:

1. Plan out your shots: The less you have to move your tripod around the better. Be prepared for every step in the recipe; think about transitions, close ups, what parts of the recipe are going to be the most appetizing or satisfying to watch.
2. Film each part of the cooking process: If you have to chop up 4 carrots, you don’t need to film chopping every single one, but capture at least one of them. This will give you more choices of clips to choose from when editing. While it might seem daunting to film every single step, it will make the recipe easier to follow if each step is shown, even if for just 1 second.
3. Film the finished product: Plate it, add garnishes, pour wine, and really set the scene.
4. Take pictures: Having photos for a cover shot helps keep your feed looking consistent and clean.
5. Import all clips into your editor: From here you can begin trimming down clips to find the best content to use for the final video.
6. Add background music: Find sounds that are trending on Instagram or TikTok to add to the background of the video to give some interest. I like to import the sound into the editor so I can sync the clips to go along with the rhythm of the music. CapCut’s editor allows you to directly link your TikTok account to find trending sounds or saved sounds.
7. Export and Share: Export the video at a quality that your chosen platform suggests. Then it is finally time to share your recipe with the world!

 

After making a dozen or so cooking videos, here are a few tips and tricks I’ve learned along the way:

1. Source recipes you know will pair well with your wine: We have a variety of recipes - some from renowned chefs, and others from the Tablas Creek cru. With the recipes that are on our website, we already know they’re tried and true, but we have tried new recipes with some of our wines before that didn’t work out. So be sure to test them!
2. Ensure you have enough storage on your phone: While this might seem like a no-brainer, when your phone is full of Tablas Creek sheep content like mine, you might have to take a moment to clear out your camera roll before being able to film. 
3. Take your time: Not only does the recipe have to taste good, but it has to look good for the camera. The recipe should be visually appealing, so be sure to keep that in mind during filming.
4. Tell a story: The video should have a clear beginning, middle, and end. By the end of the video it should feel complete, not like something is missing.
5. Keep it short and sweet: I like to keep our videos fast-paced and under a minute, which can be time-consuming in the editing process, but is well worth it.

Happy cooking! 

Petit Manseng and Pavlova: A Perfect Pairing

[Editor’s Note: We would like to introduce Nadia Nouri to the Tablas Creek blog audience. Nadia joined the Tablas Creek team fresh off her graduation from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo this May as our first-ever Marketing Intern. Her natural understanding of marketing's importance to a business, love of wine, and creative abilities convinced our team to create a position for her at the end of her internship. You can expect to see more of her contributions in the coming months.]

By Nadia Nouri

As soon as October hits, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas can’t come any sooner, and I am ready to get into the holiday spirit. What comes to mind when I think of the holidays is good food, good wine, and good company. I’m always looking for inspiration for food and wine pairings.

I come from a multicultural family where my father was born and raised in Tunisia, and my mother grew up in New Zealand. Both of their cultures heavily influenced many of the dishes I grew up eating. So when I tried the newly released 2019 Petit Manseng, one of the dishes that my mother never fails to make around the holidays came to mind: pavlova. Pavlova is a meringue-based dessert, with the addition of cornstarch to give it a crisp, light texture on the outside, while being soft and fluffy on the inside. I have always been told by my Kiwi family that it is a dessert that originated in New Zealand, but the history of pavlova (or “pav”) is a muddled one. Australians claim that they invented it, while New Zealanders disagree. To put the debate to rest, Oxford English Dictionary ruled that it originated in New Zealand — I’ll take that as a win for the Kiwis!

Pavlova is traditionally topped with fresh seasonal fruit, making it the perfect pairing with sweeter wines. Petit Manseng, a rare non-Rhone variety grown on our estate at Tablas Creek, has a tendency to produce sufficient sugar content while maintaining acidity to produce a naturally sweet and balanced wine that pairs well with all kinds of desserts. I decided to make pavlova and top it with fruit to balance the sweetness and acidity of the 2019 Petit Manseng. The toppings I chose for mine were Golden Kiwi fruit (a traditional pav topping), mango, and passionfruit pulp. You can top it with whatever you like (even chocolate!) and switch it up to pair with different wines.

The recipe is actually quite simple — so simple that it fits on a little sign that my mother keeps in her kitchen — but the result is impressive, not to mention delicious! 

Servings: 8 

Ingredients: 

For the meringue:

6 egg whites

1 ½ cups super fine baking sugar (can blend/whiz granulated white sugar to make it more fine, but not to the point of becoming powdered sugar)

2 tsp. heaped cornstarch

2 tsp. white vinegar

For the topping:

1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream

3 tbsp. powdered sugar (to taste)

Splash of vanilla extract

Golden kiwi fruit

Mango 

Passionfruit pulp 

Directions: 

Preheat the oven to 212°F (100°C). Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper, and trace an 8 or 9 inch circle using a cake pan as a guide. Be sure to flip the parchment over so the pencil mark is facing down.

Whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks (4-5 minutes). Gradually add the sugar, cornstarch, and white vinegar, while continuing to whisk, until firm and glossy (another 4-5 minutes). The mixture should be completely smooth, with no grains of sugar coming through.

Mound the mixture onto the parchment-lined baking sheet in a circle, keeping in mind that it will spread slightly in the oven. Be sure to keep it nice and tall, for maximum marshmallow-like fluff. 

Bake on the center rack for 90 minutes until crisp, but not colored. Do not open the door to check on it. If you must check for color, turn on the oven light. 

Turn off heat, and cool the pavlova completely in the oven with the door closed for at least 6 hours (or overnight). This allows for no dramatic change in temperature that could cause it to collapse. 

To assemble, transfer the pavlova to a serving plate. Whip heavy cream with powdered sugar and vanilla. Spread the whipped cream on top of the pavlova and decorate with fresh fruit. Feel free to be as artistic or abstract as you like.

Serve with a chilled glass of Petit Manseng and enjoy! 

A Maine Summer Dinner and Pairing: Fresh Cod and Esprit Blanc

Earlier this summer, we took an extended vacation to New England. I'm from Vermont, and long-time readers of the blog will know that my parents would always go back for the summer and fall to the 1806-era farmhouse that I grew up in. My mom still does. My sister and her husband converted the barn of that farmhouse (which was in one iteration the office for the importing company my dad founded, Vineyard Brands) into a home for their family to live in. So, this summer trip back is a chance to bask in family, give our boys the chance to spend time with their cousins, and soak up some welcome moisture and green mountainsides in the middle of what always feels like a long, hot, dry summer here. After not being able to travel back last summer, we extended this year's trip to a full month, and created a mini-vacation within that Vermont trip by renting a house on the water in Maine for a week. It was lovely.

To someone from California, the difference between Vermont and Maine may seem minimal, but it's not. If Vermont is the New England equivalent of Lake Tahoe, Maine is its Mendocino. And nowhere is that distinction so clear as in the food, where Vermont focuses on fresh produce and local cheeses while Maine's specialty is seafood. We did the requisite oceanside lobster rolls, but Maine seafood is more than just lobster. The rocky coasts and cold, clean water make an amazing source for everything from oysters to crab to the New England staple, cod. And it was in searching for a great cod recipe that we stumbled upon one of our trip's culinary highlights: a simple but delicious recipe we found in the New York Times Cooking app for One-Pan Roasted Fish with Cherry Tomatoes. 

We made a few alterations to the recipe. We found good local slicing tomatoes, which we chopped roughly instead of using cherries. We didn't have any fresh mint to hand, so we used fresh basil. And the starch that we had was some local new potatoes. But the result was delicious. Note the nautical chart placemats, which I think are a required purchase for any guest house on the Atlantic Ocean:

The recipe calls for a teaspoon of honey, which got me thinking about Roussanne for a pairing. What I had to hand was the 2019 Esprit de Tablas Blanc that we'll be releasing this fall. [For my detailed tasting notes on it, check out my blog from last week about the upcoming Fall 2021 VINsider Wine Club shipments.] I was a little worried that the sweetness of the honey and that of the ripe tomatoes was going to be too much for the wine. I couldn't have been happier to be wrong. The creaminess of the fish, still moist but flaking apart easily, combined with the lightly roasted tomatoes to make an amazing pairing for the rich, textural character of the wine. The saline notes on its finish seemed to speak to both where we were and where the fish had been just a few days before. The honey wasn't noticeable in the food, but it emphasized the honeyed Roussanne character of the wine. We cleaned our plates, finished the bottle, and dredged the potatoes through the sauce it made, wanting more.

There are times where you stumble on the perfect wine, for the perfect meal, in the perfect place. This was one of those dinners. But the recipe was so easy, and would be so adaptable to different fish, different tomatoes, different starches, that it's going to be a regular in our arsenal going forward. If you make it, try it with a bottle of Esprit Blanc. It was magical.

Obscure Pairings: Terret Noir and Lebanese Meatballs

[Editor’s Note: We would like to introduce Troy Tucker to the Tablas Creek blog audience. Troy has worked in our tasting room for the past year while operating multiple wine endeavors of his own. One of those is as the proprietor of Terroir to You, a wine and pairing service that brings the restaurant pairing experience to your home. He’s always thinking of pairings to share, and we are grateful that these often include Tablas Creek. This is his first contribution in a planned series highlighting food pairings for the varietal bottlings of some of our obscure grapes.]

By Troy Tucker

A couple of weeks ago, I gathered anyone that would listen into the staff kitchen at Tablas Creek for a recipe experiment. I had been pondering a pairing between our 100% Terret Noir and Lebanese lamb meatballs and wanted to test it out on our team. The pairing, and the experience, worked out even better than I had imagined.

A room full of wine people sharing their thoughts on a wine and food pairing is, quite literally, my happy place. I wanted that moment to continue, so I thought I would share how this moment came to be.

It all began during a phone conversation, when a fellow advocate of wine asked me if I needed anything from Whole Foods. He was picking up ingredients to make lamb meatballs. At the time, I happened to be studying Northern Italian wines while drinking a 2018 Nebbiolo from the Langhe – and BOOM! It hit me! The wine nerd/foodie in me took over and I answered my friend, yes please, pick me up an extra pound of ground lamb also.

I began thinking about the structure of Nebbiolo and why it pairs so well with lamb: the wine has acidity that cuts through meat’s richness, tannins that the protein in the meat can attach to, and subtle notes of spice that often plays well with those used in lamb preparations. All I needed now was a way to bridge the fruit. Since Nebbiolo is known for its red-fruited profile, I rummaged through my cabinets for something, anything appropriate. Cranberry sauce was the winner.

I Googled a few lamb meatball recipes, finding this Lebanese style lamb meatballs recipe with cinnamon and allspice (there’s my spice bridge) that sounded delicious. (Author’s note: the recipe calls for 1 whole medium onion, this felt like too much, and in future renditions I stuck to ½ onion). After all was said and done, the pairing turned out to be absolutely incredible!

A few days later, I tasted one of the more obscure varieties from Tablas, the 2019 Tablas Creek Terret Noir. As soon as that wine touched my palate, comparisons to the Nebbiolo and lamb meatballs it paired so perfectly with started flashing through my mind. Like Nebbiolo, Terret Noir is red fruited, high-acid, and floral, with subtle spice and integrated tannin.

I took a bottle home to share and pair with another batch of Lebanese lamb meatballs. It turned out to be a trial with no error. A perfect match! My taste buds were in paradise and before I knew it, I was making another batch in the Tablas Creek kitchen. 😊

Match-Making During Lockdown: Roasted Quail with Asian Flavors and Grenache

By Barbara Haas. Photos by Rebecca Haas and Ellery Hutten.

Chester, Vermont is where we've lived for fifty years and where I still spend summers. This summer has been unlike any other. With social distancing in force and restaurants closed, we've been eating every meal at home, and looking for ways to upgrade these home dining experiences. Thankfully, we were not the only ones looking around. Food wholesalers and local farmers, without their normal restaurant orders, have been looking for customers at the same time. A group of creative locals found a way to get the supply to the demand and, at the same time, help fund meals for people in need.

Chester Helping Hands, founded by local restaurant owner Jason Tostrup, sells a weekly box of produce, supplied by a regional wholesaler, as well as unusual products from local vendors, all at very reasonable prices. At the same time, his restaurant Free Range provides family dinners twice a week for families who want or need food. All you do is reserve on line and pick up your meal curbside. Those who are able to are invited to make a donation, but no questions are asked. Donations have ranged from $5 to $500. Free Range has been providing about 700 meals per week, with all work done by volunteers. This community endeavor has been a win, win, win for all concerned.

One of the fun things about this program is that you never know from week to week what will be in your box. As our car snaked through well-organized lines in the elementary school parking lot a few weeks ago, we first made a donation for the free meal program, then received our large box of produce (put into the trunk by a volunteer). Next stop was for “poultry and eggs”, which in this case were six semi-boneless quail and a dozen beautiful little quail eggs, from Cavendish Game Birds in Springfield, VT. 

Quail is a treat for us, because it is usually only available in restaurants. So we put our heads together to build a meal around it – and, of course, to pair the succulent little birds with just the right Tablas Creek wine. The “we” of this collaboration are Barbara and Rebecca Haas, partners in Tablas Creek and mother and sister respectively of Jason Haas, and Tom Hutten, husband of Rebecca. Also at the table were Emmett and Ellery Hutten, ages 10 and 6, who would be eating quail for the first time.

After combing the internet and several cookbooks for inspiration, we came up with our own recipe for Roasted Quail, Asian Style (see recipe below). We accompanied the roasted quail with a side dish of sautéed shiitake mushrooms with local bok choy, and simple boiled rice. In consultation with Jason we determined that a bright and fruity red wine was the best choice for the gentle sweetness of the marinade, so up from the cellar came a 2013 Grenache and a 2015 Cotes de Tablas, and we prepared to see which was the better match. 

I should say here that after living with Robert Haas for fifty years, I find it totally normal to give food and wine equal billing.  Sometimes over those years, Bob would have a special wine to serve and I would be tasked with finding food that would enhance it, or at least not fight with it. Sometimes it was the reverse. I would have a special dish I wanted to try, and he had to find the right wine. Always to be hoped for was the perfect pairing, a rare and special event.

When the little brown quail came out of the oven, redolent of ginger and garlic and hoisin sauce, we were all more than ready to dig right in. After the first bite of quail, we sampled the Grenache. Brief pause for reflection, then the three of us looked at each other and broke into wide smiles. It was as if that wine had been created especially for our dish! There was enough richness in the wine to stand up to the sweetness and exotic flavors of the quail and enough acid to balance the palate. It was one of those stellar moments when the wine and the dish each made the other taste better. 

We then tried the 2015 Cotes de Tablas and found that this was not as happy a match. The Cotes, which is led by Grenache but also has significant portions of the more-tannic Syrah and Mourvedre, had more perceptible bite, and the tannins were emphasized by the sweetness in the quail sauce. The Cotes would have been much more at home with, say, savory grilled lamb with herbes de Provence and roasted potatoes.

But we felt victorious with our choice of Grenache. When that rare match of two harmonious tastes occurs, the experience is something like listening to two notes of music which make a more beautiful sound together than either does alone. So don't feel reluctant to try different pairings; even the ones that don't really work are fun, and you learn something. And then you get the occasional moment of perfection!

RECIPE: ROASTED QUAIL WITH ASIAN FLAVORS

Ingredients:
2 tbsp Hoisin Sauce
2 tbsp Sesame seeds
1 tbsp Chili paste with garlic    
3 tbsp Dark sesame oil
2 tsp Sugar
1 tbsp Minced fresh ginger
3 Cloves of garlic, minced
¼ cup White wine
¼ cup Soy sauce
6 Quails, semi-boneless if available
2 tbsp vegetable oil

Directions: 

1. Combine the first nine ingredients in a ziplock bag, and add the quail. Turn the bag over to make sure all sides of the quail are in contact with the marinade. Marinate for 30 minutes.
2. Heat the oven to 375°F.
3. In a large non-stick pan, heat the oil over medium-to-high heat. Sear the quail quickly on both sides being careful not to burn them. Save the leftover marinade.
4. Transfer the quail to a small roasting pan and roast for approximately 20 minutes. Whole quail may take ten minutes longer.
5. Meanwhile, simmer the reserved marinade in a small pan for 10 minutes until slightly reduced.
6. Remove the quail to a warm platter and top with the marinade.

Serve with Tablas Creek Grenache, lightly cooled.

Other Wines We Love: 2012 Qupe Sawyer Lindquist Vineyard Grenache

The next in an occasional series of our non-Tablas Creek wine discoveries.

Bob Lindquist is one of my favorite people in the wine business.  As the founder of Qupe and one of the pioneers of California's Rhone movement, Bob probably needs little introduction to most fans of Tablas Creek. He has been making wines from Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo County grapes since 1982, and has been honored with many awards, including the 2015 Rhone Rangers Lifetime Achievement Award. Even more interesting, to me at least, he's still on the Rhone movement's cutting edge. He's planted Rhone varieties in new places, most notably the Sawyer-Lindquist Vineyard in the cool (UC Davis Region 1 on the Winkler Scale) Edna Valley. He adopted Biodynamic farming early enough that this year is year 10 of the Sawyer-Lindquist Vineyard's Demeter Certification. And he's still a tireless promoter of the category we both inhabit; I've run into him in airports and at out-of-state wine events more times than I can count.

Bob's wines are in style like his manner: thoughtful, understated, and long-lived.  They're rarely flashy when they're young, although they're always pure and correct.  But they have remarkable longevity, and (like Bob) the more time you spend with them, the more insight you realize they have to offer. 

Last night, we opened a bottle of Qupe 2012 Sawyer Lindquist Vineyard Grenache. We paired it with a Blue Apron recipe for seared steaks with parsley-caper butter, which we dressed up by grilling the steaks and zucchini and then serving the zucchini over a whipped ricotta concoction we'd loved from a different Blue Apron recipe.  The food was terrific: one of the best meals we've cooked this year.  The steaks turned out juicy and flavorful, with the meaty flavors brought out by the umami of the parsley-caper butter.  The mashed potatoes were tangy and rich, while the sweet smokiness of the slow-grilled zucchini was given texture and cool richness by the ricotta.  But the wine was the star of the show.  Grenache has a tendency toward being candied on its own, but this rendition had none of that: just pure crunchy red fruit, vibrant acids, and a little welcome spice at the end. The wine came across as almost weightless, in the best possible way: flavors distilled down to their essence, as I often find from grapes grown in a region almost too cool for them to ripen.  Just an absolute pleasure to drink.  A snapshot, mid-meal (I didn't stage a shot at the beginning because, well, I wasn't expecting the revelation we got):

The Grenache grape can be something of a chameleon, which is perhaps unsurprising for a grape planted in so many diverse places around the world.  It is a warm climate staple, and most regions where Grenache is widely planted (including the southern Rhone, Spain, and Paso Robles) are warm ones.  And some of the characteristics that I found in this Qupe Grenache are those we see here at Tablas Creek: its red fruit profile, its brilliant garnet color, its good acids, and its spice.  But while many examples of Grenache world-wide are earthier and show more baked red fruit character, this wine felt so fresh, even at age 6, like it was all high tones and electricity. I don't know what age will do to the wine, but given Qupe's track record for aging and the wine's freshness, I'm confident it's going to go somewhere exciting, though it's so good and so pure now, I'm sure lots of it will get consumed in the near term.  And best of all, it's not an expensive wine, still available for $35 on the Qupe Web site.  If you have the chance to snag some, or you have some in your cellar, you're in for a treat.

Bravo, Bob.

Fresh Herbs in the Glass and on the Plate: Vietnamese Spring Rolls & Vermentino

By Suphada Rom

At Tablas Creek we make wines primarily from varieties known from France's Rhône Valley. I love pairing traditional French fare with our wines- that to me is elementary, in the sense that, well, it just makes sense to pair the two. However, the food scene is diverse and ever growing, and as much as I love French food, it's not something I eat everyday. Right now, I can't get enough Vietnamese food. There is just something so vibrant and fresh about all the ingredients used, whether it's freshly chopped basil atop a tart salad or leaves of mint tucked inside a rice paper wrapper. The fresh ingredients of this style of cuisine inspired me to produce a spring pairing - Spring rolls and Vermentino.

I've been mildly obsessed with the craft of rolling the perfect spring roll. Luckily it's not that hard to make, I just tend to sweat the details, like is there just the right amount of noodles or is it equally balanced on either end with both shrimp and pork? That said, don't be intimidated by the wrapping portion and do have friends over to help you roll- it's not a spring roll party without them! For my spring roll recipe, I love my mom's recipe, but I swear, every time I ask for the recipe, it's slightly different (I think she's keeping some cooking secrets to herself!). I've outsourced a recipe from one of my favorite restaurants- The Slanted Door in San Francisco, California. Chef Charles Phan has an incredible cookbook (entitled The Slanted Door) from which I pull many recipes to share. I love his recipe for spring rolls, as it is simple and all about getting the freshest ingredients. Delicious and satisfying, I decided to have a couple friends over for a spring time spring roll party. 

Spring cuisine is all about fresh vibrant herbs, lighter fare, and mouthwatering white wine. And nothing we make is more mouthwatering than Vermentino. The 2016 vintage marks the fifteenth bottling of this mouthwatering Sardinian variety on the Tablas Creek property. We have about 3.25 acres dedicated to Vermentino plantings, and bottle (in generous vintages) a little over 1000 cases. It's one of my favorite varieties, simply because it's so clean and bright: citrus, bright acidity, and salty minerality. On the nose, the 2016 Vermentino is herby and chalky, with notes of key lime. On the palate it's delightful, with notes of nectarine and lemon. My mouth is left watering because the of the wine's acidity. The herbs in the wine's aromas tie in beautifully with the mint in the spring rolls. The surprising factor was the peanut sauce, which worked really well texturally with the wine. I love having something really bright and acidic paired with something rich and creamy.

 

If you recreate this dish (or create a TCV wine and food pairing of your own!), be sure to let us know on any of our social media handles - Facebook or Twitter or Instagram - or just leave us a comment here! When you do, tag @tablascreek and use #EatDrinkTablas

A few other resources:

• Recipe for Spring Rolls is published in The Slanted Door by Charles Phan. Recently, he was featured on KCRW out of Santa Monica and divulged his spring roll recipe through their blog, found here.
• Looking for another way to enjoy Vermentino? Check out a post I wrote for last year's vintage of Vermentino: A Nostalgic Ligurian Pairing: Clams in White Wine and Strozzapreti al Pesto with Vermentino
• Our 2016 Vermentino was a wine in both our classic shipment and whites-only shipment this spring! (Re-)order here.
• Not a Member? Good News!- you can purchase the 2016 Vermentino by clicking here or by visiting us in the tasting room.

Flatbread (and Roussanne) Two Ways: Potatoes/Fennel/Rosemary/Onion and Leeks/Mushrooms/Corn

By Suphada Rom

How many times have you decided to have a casual get together with a couple of friends and then, all of a sudden, you're throwing some sort of backyard shindig for the neighborhood? We've all been there and trust me, I know the feeling of panic. The sensation rushes through your body as you try to figure out what you're going to make to keep the party going and keep the hungry well-fed. My go-to has always been pizzas (or in modern California parlance, flatbreads). Diverse in their nature, they serve as a blank canvas, ready for you to throw on a multitude of toppings. With that in mind, you can craft different flatbreads to appease all palates, not only making everyone happy but making you look like the most well planned host ever! We decided to have a little flatbread party of our own here at the winery, and went non-traditional. The result: two recipes for flatbreads that pair beautifully with Roussanne. Both are vegetarian, though if you're the type who that makes nervous, both would do beautifully with a sprinkling of crisped pancetta cubes too.

 
Rosemary, Fennel, and Potato Flatbread with Comte Cheese to the left, and Leek, Mushroom and Corn Flatbread with Gruyere Cheese on the right. And Roussanne.

Garlic and herb dough, ready to rise!

After just an hour in the sun, the dough was so big and pillowy! 

The flatbreads were delicious and versatile with multiple vintages of Roussanne, including the 2013!

More Roussanne than I can (almost) handle!

For the flatbreads, I didn't follow a recipe, per se, but to say I created the recipe is certainly an overstatement. I picked elements I knew would play up the features of our Roussanne. Tender cooked leeks, sweet fennel, and rich potatoes were just a few of the ingredients I knew would marry well. All of those ingredients atop a light garlic and herb crust? Delicious. Also, whenever I cook with Roussanne in mind, I love caramelizing any and everything. Doing this step in cooking not only softens the ingredient for texture, but it tends to bring out this sweetness, and not the cloying kind, but the kind that is rich with mellow sweetness. Caramelized onion tart? How about oven roasted fennel? Yes to both- and yes to a fantastic pairing with our Roussanne.

Why Roussanne? Well, with the release of a new vintage along with some exciting news and press, I knew I wanted to pair these flatbreads with the pure varietal bottling. In any vintage, Roussanne reels in richness on the nose and persistence on the palate. Incredibly versatile, but not in the same way that, say, rosé is. You may have read my last post about tacos and rosé and how I love rosé's versatility. This is considering that most rosés should be consumed relatively youthfully. Roussanne is versatile in the sense that you could enjoy it now, in fact, we gladly did! However, if you stumble across a bottle that has a few years of age on it (maybe it's even a decade old), you'll be in for a real treat. Roussanne ages gracefully and through years in bottle, increases its depth and complexity ten fold. Youthful Roussanne evokes fresh honey and fresh floral notes while an older bottling may lean towards being a bit more towards notes of caramel- you may even detect a little saltiness. Drink now... or not. The choice is yours!

If you recreate this dish (or create a TCV wine and food pairing of your own!), be sure to let us know on any of our social media handles - Facebook or Twitter or Instagram - or just leave us a comment here! When you do, tag @tablascreek and use #EatDrinkTablas. As for us, well I'm advocating for more days with flatbreads... Flatbread Fridays, anyone??

A few resources:

• Our Roussanne is making headlines! Recently given 93 points and described as "fragrant, ebullient, ripe and refreshing" in Wine Spectator  
• Everything Roussanne:
   - 2013 Roussanne is almost sold out! Call the wine club office at (805)-237-1231 to reserve your bottle(s)
   - 2014 Roussanne is available in the tasting room or through our online shop
   - 2015 Roussanne is part of our spring wine club shipment. Members of our VINsider club get access to this exclusive        bottling and a 20% discount. Not a member yet? Find out more information here.
• Curious about how Roussanne ages? Check out our Vintage Chart- we update every season to give you a better idea of how the wine is drinking!

Ingredients and recipe for flatbreads are as follows:

Flatbread No. 1:

- mini gold potatoes (skin on, and thinly sliced)
- fennel (thinly sliced and lightly sauteéd)
- yellow onion (thinly sliced)
- rosemary
- comte cheese

Flatbread No. 2:
- leeks (cut in half lengthwise, thinly sliced and sautéed until soft)
- mushrooms (any kind will do, I used crimini- sliced)
- corn (oven roasted)
- gruyere cheese

Instructions:
1. Make dough according to recipe. You can use any you like, I chose one from the Minimalist Baker for a Garlic Herb Flatbread. Instead of frying it in a pan, I chose to bake them in the oven (with the toppings) at 375 degrees.
2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
3. While the dough is rising, you can prepare the toppings. The leeks should be sautéed in a splash of olive oil over medium-low heat, until translucent and tender. After the leeks are done, remove them from the pan, spoon into a bowl, and use the same pan to quick sauté the fennel. I stirred them around the hot pan for just a minute or two, just until they'd softened slightly. 
4. On a cookie sheet, spread out the corn kernels and coat with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes, or until tender and golden in color. 
5. Following the flatbread recipe, divide the dough up and roll each dough out. Coat the top surface of the dough with olive oil before adding toppings. Finish with salt and pepper.
6. Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until edges of crust start to golden slightly.