HarveyFamilyWineBlog

Halloween in Napa Valley

Terra is one of the best restaurants in Napa Valley.  It's not the type of place one would think of to go for Halloween.  We discovered Halloween at Terra three years ago with our friends, Bill & Connie, and now can't imagine Halloween without Terra.  This year we had our friends from Orange County, Dean and April, come to visit especially for this treat. Dean had the best costume.  Management agreed that this was the first time a bare-chested customer was ever served on their premises.    
The staff really gets into the spirit, as you can see.  How many times are you visited by a flower pot during dinner. 

Scott was excited to find a German Fruhburgander - an early ripening mutation of Spatburger (Pinot Noir).  It is classified as a separate variety.  It went perfectly with their Signature dish - Broiled Sake marinated Alaskan Black Cod.  As you can see, the entire staff got into the spirit of the evening. We had hoped to go to the Silverado Brewery bash afterwards but decided we were pretty satiated with food and drink at Terra.

Wine & Magic Blended into One Great Event in Napa Valley

Back in June, I wrote about a great wine tasting/magic show that we participated in in Chico.  Well, now we are going to host  one in St. Helena. (along with our Fulton Lane neighbors--Big Horn Cellars, Calafia & David Fulton Winery).   Proceeds will benefit the St. Helena Kiwanis.

This is the first event of its kind for Napa Valley--an afternoon of Enchantment with international champion magician, David Minkin.  He has performed for the likes of Johnny Depp, Chriss Angel, & Rob Reiner.  The hardest part was determining a date when all of us AND the magician would be available.  Unfortunately, we didn't realize all the winemakers are scrambling in the thick of harvest.

Two Wine Tours & Shows on Sunday, October 11th.

Tour #1 begins 1:00 pm

Tour #2 begins 4:00 pm -  Limited Seating - 50 seats per show

Start your tour @ 890 Fulton Lane for Wine Tasting of five wines from Big Horn Cellars, Calafia, Scott Harvey, and Jana Wines paired with hors d'oeuvres from Fulton Lane's own Panevino--one of Napa's finest caterers.

An hour later you will meander across the street to David Fulton Winery for a taste of their acclaimed Petit Sirah and settle in to be amazed by David Minken's one hour of magic.

Amble across vineyard lined Fulton Lane to our house to enjoy dessert, chocolates, port and dessert wines and we can celebrate the magician, David Minkin's birthday.  This is where you can redeem your $20 gift certificate for a 4 pack of wines and have an opportunity to purchase any of the wines tasted at a 15% discount.

It would be great to see you there.  You can purchase tickets at www.scottharveywines.com/magic

It takes a lot of beer to make great wine

Scott and I do a lot of wine and food pairing dinners so we were intrigued when Mike & Ken from Silverado Brewing Co. invited us to their Brewer's Dinner last week.  There was a great group of about 40 people--with several other winemakers present.  While enjoying a Blonde Ale during the reception, one of the first people we met was Doug Ernst from the St. Helena Star.  He was introducing himself to everyone.  We understood why when at the end of the evening, Doug went up one side of the table and down the other and remembered everyone's name that he had met during the reception. Very impressive.

Not being much of a beer drinker, I was wondering how I was going to make it through four courses and five beers.  My concerns were allayed.  These fresh beers were not heavy at all and paired beautifully with the menu Chef Bernardo Ayala prepared.   My favorites were the Amber Ale paired with the Grilled Black Mission Fig Salad and the Wheat Ale with the Cedar Planked Pacific Black Cod.  I made it through every course and even had beer with dessert!--A Hefeweizen.  We were happy to hear that the Brewing Company is going to do these great dinners once a quarter so we can let our friends know not to miss this amazing experience.

What wine goes with Alligator?

Scott loves to try weird foods.  When we travel, he'll pick the strangest thing on the menu.  He is a very adventurous eater.  For me, growing up in the midwest, I'm  pretty traditional when it comes to food.  As much as he loves making wine, I think he would covet Andrew Zimmern's job on Bizarre Foods. 

Much to my dismay, Scott has found some local sources to satisfy his exotic tastes.  There's a great  vegetable/fruit stop off of Highway 80 that we pass quite often going from Napa Valley to Amador Country.  Scott discovered much to his delight, that in addition to great prices on oranges and apples, they carry alligator in the freezer.  He couldn't resist.  While it comes marinated to try to mitigate its chewy character, Scott barbeques it with a butter/garlic sauce.  The marinade and the sauce can't quite disguise its rather fishy flavor.  This is one food that doesn't taste like chicken.

The question we then had was what wine would be best with the alligator?.    There was no doubt--it was the Jana Rose. Riesling would've also worked because of its versatility.  What wine would you choose?

We have a freezer full of Rocky Mountain Oysters, rattlesnake, goat, and elk.  I'm sure there will be other delicacies added so stay tuned for some unique food and wine pairings.

Hosting a Wine Club from Sacramento gives us a gourmet feast

Napa Valley, the private wine tour - part 2

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Celebrating Cheers St. Helena's first 1st Friday wine tasting

St. Helena is a charming town in Napa Valley but in recent years Yountville, a small town south of us has been gaining in popularity.  Yountville has all the new restaurants--one of the best new additions is Bottega owned by our chef neighbor, Michael Chiarello.  There are several storefronts for lease in St. Helena and it needs an injection of life--especially for its merchants.

Hence, the inspiration for Cheers St. Helena a gatherning of friends, community, and visitors to toast St. Helena and the Napa Valley.  Many stores kept their busnesses open until 9:00 pm where participants could wander through town to taste wines, shop, and try samples from many local restaurants.  The inaugural event was last Friday and in the worst weather we've had in early May in years.  Who would anticipate a downpour in May!  Everyone was concerned this could affect the attendance--after so much planning.  Well, concerns were allayed.  Great turnout in the rain.  Everyone was enjoying the experience.  Scott Harvey Wines poured at Goodmans Department and we had a wonderful time meeting new neighbors and introducing them to our wines.  I bought a shirt I couldn't resist for my husband, Scott.  He enjoys snapped button shirts and a turquoise color that would match his green eyes caught my eye.  We are looking forward to the first Friday of June and meeting more new neighbors and doing more shopping at Goodmans.

The Winemakers of Fulton Lane

Living in St. Helena in Napa Valley definitely has its advantages.  The natural beauty is spectacular but one of its best attributes is the people. Scott and I are fortunate to reside on historic Fulton Lane, just 1/2 mile northwest of the center of town.  After several get-togethers over the years, we realize we have five winemaking families within a couple blocks of each other.  We decided to form an association call the Winemakers of Fulton Lane.  Here's a picture of our first official breakfast plannning meeting. The wineries consist of David Fulton, Chiarello Family Vineyards, Big Horn Cellars, Calafia, and our line of Scott Harvey Wines.  We decided our first event should be  walk-around tasting to several of our homes and our resident Fulton Winery.  It was to be trade-focused so we piggy-backed onto the Premiere Napa Valley event held every year at the CIA--just up the street.  Sunday morning between 9:00 am and 12:00 would be good before everyone started heading back home.  One of the challenges was what food to serve that early with wine--especially with David Fulton's Petite Sirah.  Our friend Dean Weitz, a chef from So Cal, was up to the challenge.  Breakfast potatoes, quiche, smoked salmon, sausage wellington, were just a few delectables that were available.  The morning of the event was pouring rain and we all figured we'd be eating breakfast potatoes for the next seven days.  At 9:00 sharp we had tasters knocking on our door, Wooters from different parts of the country.  The pace never let up until afternoon.  We figured we had about 60 people all in all going from house to house trying different wines and interesting food pairings.  Not bad for a first event.  We realized we have something very special that is difficult to duplicate--especially when a writer from the Chicago Times said she was in town to write a story about Premiere but the real story was our unique neighborhood gathering.

Mosel Riesling--Who farms those unbelievably steep vineyards?

  From our last blog post you can see Jana and I are having a grand time in Europe.  After making a small detour through Dublin, we are now visiting fellow friends and wine makers, Markus and Sybille Kuntz on the Mosel.  Believe it or not, the cheapest way to get to the Mosel from Prague is by Ryan Air via Dublin, so we stopped for a few pints of Guinness.

I got to know Markus when he was making great Rieslings for a winery in New York's Finger Lake region.  About 12 years ago he went home to Germany to take over a famous old Estate Winery in Trier where he met Sybille.  They are now producing some of the best dry style Rieslings from their vineyards in Lieser and Bernkastel on the Mosel.  You always wonder who those poor grape growers are that have to farm those unbelievable steep vineyards rising straight up out of the banks of the Mosel.  Now you know, its Markus and Sybille toiling away to bring us wonderful dry Rieslings.

      We ate and drank our way through two wonderful days.  We started with their every day Spatlese troken Riesling.  The wine is produced from their four main vineyard sites with an average vine age of over 40 years old.  The wine cost 9.5 EUR and has a residual sugar of .8% with an acid of .77.  If you go back to the Riesling blog I posted a while back, I talk about a new taste scale developed by the International Riesling Foundation.  Aaccording to the International Riesling taste scale this wine is dry.  We quickly finished that bottle and moved on to three vintages (2003, 2005 & 2007) of their Gold-Quadrat troken Riesling.  This is what they call their Power Riesling from old vines being 40 to 60 years old.  The wines showed the classic mineral, flinty and spicy character.  Price on these wine is around 15 EUR.  From here we moved on to Vineyard designated (Lieser Niederberg-Heldon) wines, the best they have to offer.  This vineyard produces a dry (troken) wine they call Dreistern (Three Star), and an off dry (feinherb) wine they call Dreistern Goldkapsel.  These old non-grafted/own root vines produce a wine that definitely tells the two stories all great wines need to tell.  The first is I'm Riesling and the second I'm Mosel.  These wines range from 20 to 25 EUR.  You can find these wines on their website www.SybilleKuntz.com.  They are sold in selected markets in the US.  If you email them at weingut@sybillekuntz.de they can tell you which distributors carry their wines in the US.  I know in California they are distributed by Regal wines at 800 886-3425.  They are wines worth looking for.

Food and Wine Pairing for a Wine Dinner

Wine dinners have been around for years.  I've always wondered at the marketing value of these dinners.  How many attendees even remember the name of the winery the next day?  For the chef,  It's a great vehicle to showcase his creativity.  Almost always, it enhances our wines in the best possible way.  Scott always says " it takes great food to really exhibit the nuances of his wines."  We have a lab in our home.  When we get down to the final blend, Scott and I will cook dinner and try the wine with food.  If the wine fights the food in any way, too flabby or acidic, Scott is back in the lab tweaking the next morning. 

This brings me to our latest wine dinner at Brooks Restaurant in Ventura, CA.  Unfortunately for me, this was one wine dinner that Scott went on his own.  Apparently Chef Andy Brooks pulled out all the stops. Scott found it one of the most outstanding food pairings he ever experienced with his wines.  We sent samples for the Chef to determine his menu.  We have a wonderful opportunity in this video to see what happens "behind the scenes" as a chef creates his masterpieces.

http://gallery.venturacountystar.com/video.cfm?VideoID=642

People always ask what is my favorite wine in our portfolio

I almost always say--Jana Cathedral.  First of all, it has my name on the bottle.  That makes it pretty special to me.  It also represents the place where Scott proposed to me--Cathedral Rock in Sedona,Arizona--after four months, no less!  He said the vortex got him.  It's an amazing place. 

Scott has always been impressed with the Martin Vineyard where the Cabernet Sauvignon is grown for this wine.  It represents the largest percentage of fruit of the three Bordeaux varietals that the blend is composed of.  You can view here a short video of Scott describing the similarities of the 2008 vintage to our currently released 2004 vintage.  Appellation America describes perfectly what makes this region so special and the controversy around naming the appellation.  Can't say that I found the name "Coombsville" very attractive either--especially for our very top of the line. The area is actually a plateau.  When Scott was winemaker and president of Folie a Deux, this was his best Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard.  Fortunately, after the winery was sold, he was able to keep this contract.  Because this area is one of the cooler areas in Napa Valley, it has unique flavors that Scott refers to as pyrazines (it reminds me of a green tea character).  The vineyard was picked last week.  Scott brings me a glass of the fermenting juice to my desk every few days so I can see the progress of my "favorite wine."