15th Annual Tomato Festival Delivers!!!

This year's tomato festival, my first, was a blast. As a foodie with the exacting eye of a former special operations soldier, I can be highly critical and miss few things. Saturday's display was, without a doubt, the finest event of that nature I've been to.

The list of food vendors was as great as was the food itself, the wines were delicious and flowed from multiple locations around the beautiful, grassy venue and the ambiance was one of quiet energy. The Carlos Herrera Band set the tone for the day with upbeat but mellow Spanish-inspired rock-and-roll, and former Top Chef contestants chopped up the competitor's stage with a happy, fun energy that was new to me, as cooking shows always strive to convey the gravity of the moment. All the while thirty-minute seminars on various wine topics educated the truly curious from the flanks of the venue.

The day started with a quick little wait in line as we were greeted by volunteers who ran the event, given wristbands, bamboo plates emblazoned with the Kendall Jackson logo, and the obligatory wineglass. (We also received 6 tickets each for wine tasting.) I particularly enjoyed three of KJ's wines: their Riesling, their Cabernet Sauvignon, and the steel-aged Chardonnay. 

As for the food, I got down on everything! From the tomato tartlet with tomato ice cream to rosemary french fries with heirloom tomato ketchup to gazpacho to sausages to cheeses and on and on and on... My favorite ended being a pulled pork taco, but almost everything was incredibly delicious. And then there was the tomato tasting tent!!! Four tables making a rectangle with a different type of tomato every foot or so!!! For myself, I restricting my tastings to only tomatoes that were yellow or deep red/purple. I wasn't disappointed. Asking which one was best is like asking which one of your guns you like best: its unanswerable, as you love them all!!!


Once I had sampled all I cared to, I grabbed a glass of Riesling and went over to the competitive cooking stage, where former Top Chef contestants Jenn (Jen?) and Kevin were getting down on a thirty-minute competition featuring tomatoes. The winner? The freakin' judges. And me, because I got to see it all, right there in living color. It was sooooooooooooooooo cool seeing two professionals putting together a three-course meal in thirty minutes, featuring tomatoes and pairing it all with one of the wines KJ was serving that day! And telling jokes and talking techniques and ingredients. Truly impressive.

I ended up getting to meet both chefs by the end of the day, and capped it all off with meeting Guy Fieri at Johnny Garlic's booth (where they were serving a smoked tri tip wrap).

It was a great time, and I'll be back next year.

Wine Tasting in Coastal Sonoma County

This past weekend was important to me, as it really marked not only my last weekend of the summer (school at SFSU started this week), but it was my last time to spend with my lovely lovie, Kristi, for at least a few weeks, as she is headed of Boston University for graduate school. So the week was filled with all the fun things we love, among which is wine tasting!

I love the coastal wine country! I feel that the small-town wineries that we have available to us here away from Sonoma and Napa are really hidden gems, as they often only charge $5 for a tasting fee (if they charge at all!), and you can get much more than three or four small pours in a flight. Plus a certain charm exists in these places--the feeling is casual, the emphasis is on the wine and nothing else, and the employees of the wineries are often retired, there simply because they love it there! This all translates to a much more enriching experience than what I've found in the Sonoma Valley or Napa Valley.

Our plan was to hit three or four wineries, but we only made it to two because the second was so great that we had to end on that note!

Winery 1: Russian River Vineyards

5700 Gravenstein Highway North

Forestville, CA 95436

Friday's Flight (in the order tasted):

1. 2009 Rose of Pinot Noir
1. 10/10 in my opinion! I've always like Rose, but this one is special, notably the subtle flavors that reveal themselves on the palette. That is what really stood out: the number of subtle flavors that play out.
2. 2008 Syrah: Anthony Austin
1. According to our server, this Syrah was done in the more traditional French style, and the result is a Syrah with an extremely refined, almost elegant taste. The sweetness of blackberries is strong while the more smokey elements were less present, which is how I prefer it. Overall,  10/10.
3. 2009 Charbono (Mendocino County)
1. Now this gets a 10/10 because it was a totally new grape for me! Considered rare (only 97 acres of Charbono grapes exist in the U.S), this wine (a red for those who are new to it like me) is dry, very dry, but tasty. Could be drunk in quantity, were it a little more affordable.
4. 2009 "Chester" Zinfandel
1. My second go-round with "the Chester," as the winery calls it, was great again. I really like Zinfandel, but what stands out about this one is how mild the flavor is by comparison to the bouquet. It has a HUGE bouquet so the mild flavors are enjoyable AND surprising. 9/10.
5. 2008 Syrah
1. Labeled as having "Big bold tannins" by the winery, the flavor was not that bold. But it did have lots of cassis/leather/smokiness in the flavor, which I'm not a fan of. A well done wine, just not for me. 6/10.
6. 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon
1. While also advertised as having intense cassis throughout, I felt this Cab was tart, very tart--it physically made me pucker--but that mellowed what I thought would be too much smokiness in it. This would be great with a rich meal, as I believe the tartness of it would aid in cutting through fattiness in a rich meal. 8/10.

Synopsis: As a winery, this place is great. As a restaurant/winery experience, it is amazing! Cork's, the on-site restaurant, has incredible food, brunch every day of the week, and an affordable menu for brunch, lunch or dinner. Today we just ordered truffle fries, and I had the Russian River Vineyards' Sauvignon Blanc, a fairly dry wine that was nice and light to start the day with.

Truffle fries with ketchup and a garlic aoili; RRV's Sauvignon Blanc.
(KP's Blue Moon in the back.)

Winery 2: Cahill Winery

What I really need to talk about here is how wonderful Cahill was overall. Warm welcome, smiling faces, and a long tasting menu! All the wines were good, all the ports were great, but what really needs to be mentioned is their spirit called 24 Degrees, and it has a pretty cool story behind it.

As told to us by the winery's owner (in the warehouse, as we were doing a comparison test of chardonnay in a steel tank against the same grapes in oak barrels) this spirit, oddly similar to tequila in taste and smell, is distilled from a number of cases of over-fermented kosher wine that he inherited with the property. Mixed with lemonade, it makes an incredible margarita!!!
In addition to the number of wines we tasted, the impromptu tour of the warehouse and the tasting there and all the dessert wines, the tasting room also served walnut cookies and chocolate truffles (made with their own grape-balsamic vinegar), pairing them well with the wines. The walnut cookies were so good, in fact, that I had them email me the recipe. You know I'll post pics as soon as I get to bake 'em.

Here are the strawberry margaritas we made with 24 Degrees, or "Tequila-Wine," as KP calls it.
Not to say that all the wines weren't memorable and delicious, but I will say that 24 Degrees stole the show on this visit. But I'll be back.

P.S. I heard an interesting story while at Cahill from a serious aficionado(I have yet to authenticate it, but it is still fun):
               In the 1800s there was a Cabernet vineyard next to a Sauvignon Blanc vineyard. The plants
               somehow became cross-pollinated, and voila: Cabernet Sauvignon.