January 27, 2016 Bistro 315’s Ridge Winery Winemaker Dinner

January 27, 2016 Bistro 315’s Ridge Winery Winemaker Dinner

We ate light lunches and breakfasts today because we had reservations for dinner at Bistro 315’s winemaker dinner in Santa Fe at 7:00.

Billy, Rebecca, and Elaine left around 1:20 to pick up Micky at the airport and then drove to Santa Fe and dropped Rebecca and Micky off at the St. Francis Hotel.  We left Albuquerque at 2:30 and drove first to Matteucci Gallery where we found the image that Billy and Elaine liked and took a picture of it.  

We then met them at the Cheese Monger’s on Marcy St., where we bought an Italian cheese named chippolini de truffeor something like that that was a round of goat cheese with a slice of black truffle on it.

We then viewed the Kloss prints at Owings  Gallery and got some helpful advice as to value from Mark.  We then decided to go to Zaplin Lambert Gallery on Canyon Rd., where Jeff and Richard showed us a wall filled with Kloss prints.  The reason for this is is because Peter Eller offered us two Kloss prints at what appears to be a very attractive price.

When we finished looking at Zaplin I drove us back to downtown Santa Fe and we walked to the La Fonda Hotel, but found its temporary bar to be filled.  The hotel is renovating its bar to its original  appearance in the 1920’s.  So we walked the short two blocks to the St. Francis and had drinks in the lobby.  

Amy and Vahl joined us and soon Rebecca and Micky came down to join us. At 6:45 we went to Bistro 315 and were seated at a table for eight.

Billy and I informed the group that we were paying for dinner with money from mother’s trust she set up for us, because we were all shared a close connection to Florence.

We were offered wine and Vahl ordered a bottle of Schug Pinot Noir.

Then the chef owner Louis Moscow came by with a ramekin filled with fresh black truffles from Perigord and said he would add an ounce of truffles for an additional $20.00 per ounce to the entrée course.  Suzette ordered an ounce for the entire table to share.

Soon the first glass of wine was served, a 2012 Estate Chardonnay produced at the famous Monte Belo Vineyard in the Santa Cruz Mountains.  The wine was very interesting; a complex conglomeration of fruit, oak, and tannins that was surprisingly tasty.  The first course was soon served: a small mound of strips of fresh Marinated strips of Palm heart from Hawaii mixed with fresh crab lump meat.  Around the pile of crab and palm hearts was a circle of a thick Meyer lemon and saffron mayonnaise sauce with three small mounds of black garlic emulsion interspersed at three point on the circle.  We asked the Chef about the black garlic and he said he was usually garlic averse, buy enjoyed this form of garlic that was made by slow cooking garlic for a week at around 120 degrees of ambient heat in an adjoining oven to the one being used or wrapped in foil and placed on a hot water heater.  A new cooking method discovery. The slow cooking completely eliminated that sharp pungent taste of fresh garlic,while leaving a mild garlic flavor, sort of a preserved flavor.  We all loved the first course’s excellent fresh ingredients and the sauce’s flavor.  The Meyer lemon/saffron mayo with the crab and wine was a superb combination.  Suzette even liked and drank the Chardonnay, which is a rare compliment.

Soon the second glass of wine was poured, 2013 Pagani Ranch Zinfandel with grapes grown by the family in the Sonoma Valley.  This wine was also a huge fruity wine but thankfully lacking that spicy, peppery flavor of so many Zins.  I call this type of zin a new California zin because it emphasizes the fruity almost sweet characteristics of the zin grape, a very full bodied and jammy wine with dark berry overtones that I really enjoyed.  The second course was the fish course, a chunk of salmon roasted whole in a wood fired oven.  I loved the melt in your mouth tenderness of the barely cooked salmon infused with all of its juices. The salmon was garnished with porcini mushroom dusted fried onion rings and was resting on a small mound of blanched Brussels sprouts and roasted winter squash (probably butternut) that had been caramelized in a brown sugar and butter sauce flavored with sage.  I realize. That sage is a strong but wonderful accompaniment to winter vegetables.  The dish also contained thin slices of pickled caper berries.  I liked the hugely flavorful, almost syrupy zin and I loved the melt in your mouth salmon.  I just did think one complemented the other particularly well. I would have served the Chardonnay with the salmon.  I spoke to the winemaker about this mis-match at the Reserve Tasting in Taos the next night and he said Ridge simply does not produce enough wines to have complimentary wines for every course, so they pour the closest they have.  I liked the tossing of the squash and Brussels sprouts in a sage flavored caramelized butter sauce.  I don’t think I have ever had that combination before.

The third course was slices of beef tenderloin laid on a pile of creamed parsnips and potatoes purée flavored with black truffles and accompanied by a slice of wild mushroom strudel.  The meat was garnished with shallots cooked in a light cream sauce flavored with Rosemary and on the side of the dish was a Demi-glacé flavored with red wine.  In my opinion there were too many things going on with this dish.  I especially thought the red wine Demi-glacé over powered the subtle aroma and flavor of the truffled puréed vegetables’ flavor.  But these and criticism of small import in the overall breathtaking excellence of the combination of food and wine flavors of this dish.  The dish was served with Ridge’s 2012 Monte Belo Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, newly famous since the New York Times Wine Editor included the 1976 Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon among the ten best wines he drank last year.  This now a $180.00 bottle of wine and the reason we chose to attend this wine dinner. At the end of this article I will share with you my secret for how to choose a great wine dinner, like tonight’s.

We passed the ramekin of fresh black truffles around the table and each person took one or two thinly shaved slices of truffle.  I put mine with the meat and puréed vegetables and enjoyed the subtle flavor and aroma of the truffle as much as I could in the flurry of sauces and flavors.  This was a completely successful dish with a fabulous wine.  

The Cabernet Sauvignon was full bodied, but an elegant smoothness and noticeable tannins which made Suzette and me realize that it was still quite young, although its complexity made it a very drinkable wine.  I would have liked to have tasted the 1976, leached of all tannin overtones.

The fourth and final course was a combination of a cheese course and a dessert course, a pastry turnover (think calzone) filled with bits of fresh pear and Raclette cheese baked Ito the pastry.  Unfortunately it was not served warm, which detracted from its flavor, because Raclette is best when it is warm and runny.  The turnover was garnished with poached huckleberries, which were delicious and laid on a slice of grilled Belgian Endive, which had an awfully bitter taste and tough texture that made it inedible for most of us.  The course was served with Ridge’s Petit Sirah produced at its Lytton Spring in the Dry Creek valley, which is the west side of the Russian River Valley as it flows from the north, north of Healsburg. The slightly drier region produces lighter fine bodied wines and this was a perfect example of such a fruity, light wine, light, smooth wine.  I liked it a lot.  

In fact I liked all the wines. The complex Monte Belo Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon met or exceeded my expectations, the heavy jammy, slightly sweet zin was a revelation, and the Petite Sirah was perhaps the best I have ever tasted, light, clean, yet fruity.

My method for selecting wine dinners is to compare the food menu and wines being served to the price.  What you want is beautifully prepared dishes with the highest quality ingredients, such as tonight’s dishes at a price that reflects only the cost of the food.  That means that the vineyard is contributing the wine at or below cost.  That had to be the case tonight.  The Monte Belo Cab is a $180.00 bottle, the Monte Belo chardonnay is at least $50 and the zin and Petit Sirah are not far behind.  Therefore, for the price of a good dinner one is receiving the wine for almost free.  Tonight’s wines would cost about the same $95.00 price tag as the food, so you are getting either the food or the wine for free.  This type of a meal is the best example of a great wine dinner, usually associated with major wine events, like the Taos Winter Wine Festival.  I tend to avoid more expensive wine dinners because at those the cost of the wine has to be accounted for as part of the cost of the dinner and often one or the other or both the quality of the food ingredients or wine quality is compromised.  Also, I have a good idea of what the food at a great restaurant, such as Bistro 315, should cost, once I see the menu, so I can tell whether the wine producer is supporting the meal with free or nearly free wine.  $95.00 is a good rule of thumb for an ideal price for the best ingredients prepared in stunning combinations at a great restaurant, such as Bistro 315’s Winemaker Dinner tonight.

Bon Appetit