Monthly Archive for October, 2008

Pear and Goat Cheese Tart

Published on October 29, 2008 in Joanie Hudson and Wine and Food Pairing. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

I always have an eye out for new and interesting dessert recipes.  Recently I have noticed restaurant dessert lists mixing sweet and savory elements to create distinctively modern and headturning dishes.  A couple of months ago I had a delicious example of this at the Santa Barbara local restaurant, Square One.  The dessert was a cheesecake made from goat cheese, sprinkled with tiny pine nuts and topped with a raspberry.  I would normally shy away from cheesecake, but this just was such an interesting combination that I had never seen before.  Something that, when I thought about it, was such an obvious combination of tastes I was surprised I had never seen it before. 

I have been looking for similar recipes and found a great one to share from Wine Spectator’s website, a Goat Cheese and Pear Tart.  The caramelized sugars from the baked pear go nicely with the Santa Barbara Winery 7.3 Riesling.  With just the an exquisite degree of sweetness that does not overwhelm the dessert, this pair will be wonderful for any holiday entertaining or dinner party. 

Pear and Cheese Tart

Recipe adapted from The All American Cheese and Wine Book (Stewart, Tabori & Chang), by Laura Werlin

• 6 ounces fresh goat cheese, room temperature
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• 1 9-inch pre-baked tart shell
• 2 Comice or very ripe Bosc pears, cored, peeled and sliced 1/8 inch thick
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted 1 1/2 teaspoons decorative sugar or crushed sugar cubes

1. Preheat the oven to 375° F, with the rack in center position.

2. Whisk together the cheese, egg, sugar and vanilla in a mixing bowl until smooth. Stir in the pine nuts. Pour into the pre-baked tart shell, and spread evenly across the bottom.

3. Place the pear slices over the filling, slightly overlapping, in a circular pattern, starting at the edge of the tart shell and continuing toward the middle. Brush the pears with the melted butter, and sprinkle with the sugar.

4. Place the tart on a baking sheet, and bake until the edges are golden and the pears have softened and browned around the edges, 35 to 45 minutes. Remove from the oven, and place on a wire rack to cool before serving. Serves 8 to 10.

Joanie Hudson, Assistant Tasting Room Manager, Santa Barbara Winery

Wine from the Kitchen Sink?

Published on October 26, 2008 in Joanie Hudson and Other News. 0 Comments

What would you do if you went to your kitchen sink to fill of a flower vase with water and instead of water coming out, wine was in fact flowing through the pipes?  I would probably think I was dreaming, as I’m sure those who live in the tiny town of Marino, just south of Rome in Italy, did when it happened to them earlier this month. 

I came across the article on Decanter’s website, which tells the playful story that seems like something from a movie.  The town holds an annual harvest celebration, which they call the Sagra dell’ Uva, during which a crowd gathers to watch 3000 liters of the newly pressed vintage spray out of a 17th century fountain.  Well, instead of connecting the wine with the fountain, the local plumbers accidentally connected it with the local water supply.  So wine was literally flowing freely out of the kitchen sink.  As word spread, people filled up whatever they could find with wine.  What an amazing story…

Frascati is the straw-colored white wine produced in this area of Italy, and it is made from trebbiano and malvasia grapes. 

You can read the full article here:

http://www.decanter.com/news/269612.html

Joanie Hudson, Assistant Tasting Room Manager, Santa Barbara Winery

End of Harvest at Lafond Winery and Vineyards

Published on October 24, 2008 in Harvest, Lafond Winery, Syrah and Wine News. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Today, Friday 24, is the end of one of the shortest harvests I can remember at Lafond Winery and one of the smallest. All vineyards in the area were affected by the March/April frosts and yields were drastically down. Our neighbor, Hilltop Vineyards, whose 30 acres of Chardonnay we purchase, normally has over 100 tons, this year they picked 30.

The bright side is that the quality is high. Small yields generally are more concentrated and, of course, with less wine to worry about the winemaker can concentrate on what he has. “All is for the best in the best of all possible worlds”.

The first photo shows Winemaker Bruce McGuire on the line sorting the grapes on the conveyor belt. He is in the grey shirt on the left. The second photo is taken from inside the Tasting Room which gives a great view of the process all the while enjoying a glass of wine.

Click photos to enlarge:

Focusing on Value

Published on October 22, 2008 in Joanie Hudson. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

The wine industry does not leave the limelight in the middle of economic slowdowns, but instead the focus has changed to value based choices.  The media (ie. reputable wine publications) can highlight this shift by writing feature articles that introduce consumers to wines that fit the mold of the article.  Recently my email box has been bombarded with subject lines reading “Best Value,” “Best Wines Under $25,” and “Recession Proof Wines” from local wine stores and wineries.  So, now I will put my two cents in and highlight the very reasonable prices we have on our wines – from Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noirs to Santa Barbara County Chardonnays to one of our best sellers, the 13th vintage of the consistently delicious ZCS blend. 

Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir under $30

-Santa Barbara Winery Pinot Noir Sta. Rita Hills 2007, $25

-Lafond SRH Pinot Noir, $26

Central Coast Pinot Noir under $20

-Santa Barbara Winery Pinot Noir Central Coast 2007, $16.50

Santa Barbara County Chardonnay under $20

-Santa Barbara Winery Chardonnay 2007, $15

Blends under $25

-ZCS 2007, $13

-Grenache Syrah 2005, $22

Also, our flat $9.50 shipping rate allows you to spend more money on your wine and less on getting it to your front door within days of ordering.

Joanie Hudson, Assistant Tasting Room Manager, Santa Barbara Winery

From the Pacific Coast Business Times

Published on October 21, 2008 in Wine News. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Written by Stephen Nellis for Business Times:

At the Santa Barbara Winery, the winemakers’ beards are getting long.

It’s the middle of grape crush season, when picked fruit arrives by the ton to be turned into wine. From the first shipments they receive in mid-September to the last load in November, Ryan Ralston and Cameron Bendetsen swear off their razors until the last drop of juice is fermenting.

Although this year’s grape harvest in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties will likely be down as much as 30 to 40 percent because of a spring freeze and later heat waves, the perennial madness of crush season has the two vintners swamped…

To read the rest of the article:

New Release 2007 Santa Barbara Winery Pinot Noir

Published on October 21, 2008 in New Releases, Pinot Noir and Wine News. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

Santa Rita Hills 2007 Pinot Noir
Santa Barbara Winery

The 2007 Pinot Noir was grown in our Lafond Vineyard and the Arita Hills Vineyard located in the Sta. Rita Hills AVA. The cool climate in this area is the result of a geographical anomaly and proximity to the cold California Current that flows down the coast of northern and central California.

The Santa Rita Hills are at the western terminus of Southern California’s Transverse Ranges, the only major east-west mountain range in North America. During the growing season, hot inland temperatures draw in cold ocean air through our valley making the western part of the valley the coldest region.

Temperatures warm as one travels eastward through the Santa Ynez Valley. We often see bud break in our vines in the third week of February, a happenstance that is not as worrisome as in Northern climes because we rarely get a late frost.

This jump-start in vine growth sets up a long growing season with the harvest of Pinot Noir usually occurring in September. As we feared, a late frost affected much of the Pinot Noir to the tune of 1.6 ton/acre (about half of normal). Fortunately, the berries were small and the growing season was moderate leading to a wine of greater concentration than normal.

Vintage 2007 is from 10 vineyard sites up to 18 years old and from eight different Pinot Noir clones. The wine was aged in an assortment of French and Hungarian oak barrels and puncheons. Herbed meats, grilled salmon, truffle pecorino, and sautéed mushroom medley are all exciting companions for the succulent, red fruit flavors of this Pinot Noir.

We are thinking the concentration of fruit will lead to greater agability of this wine, with 2014 seeing complete flavor development and perhaps full aged character out to 2019. Caution is warrented however, because this is the sort of vintage that can get dicey in ten years.

Retail: 25.00/750ml
To order:

Expectations for the 2008 Vintage

Published on October 20, 2008 in Articles on Wine and Vineyards, Harvest and Joanie Hudson. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

What can we expect from the 2008 vintage?  An entire year of weather is reflected in the wine that is produced in a particular harvest.  Certain weather patterns produce specific varietal character and expression, and in most cases affect the amount of fruit that comes off of the vine and into the winery. 

2008 will be a low fruit yielding year, just like 2007 was.  Extremely low rainfall produced small berries.  What is lacking in quantity can be made up in quality.  Low yields mean less fruit, but vines put more effort into the hanging berries making for concentrated fruit (“more flavor per berry”).  According to Assistant Winemaker Ryan Ralston, “When you have a vine putting all of its power into less fruit it’s going to really concentrate those flavors.”

If you have had your radar on Santa Barbara County in 2008 you recall that we were hit hard with frost damage in April (temperatures dipped below freezing on April 20).  So what actually happens in the vineyard when there is frost damage?  A recent article in the Pacific Coast Business Times explains, “the freeze slowed vines’ bloom, which in turn meant that fruit hadn’t set when spring winds and May heat waves arrived.”  Some growers were hit harder than others.  This season’s weather also led to uneven ripening, requiring more hand sorting through grapes to weed out berries that were not fully ripened. 

Thicker skinned red grapes will continue to be harvested through November.

http://pacbiztimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=388&Itemid=1

Joanie Hudson, Assistant Tasting Room Manager, Santa Barbara Winery

Hilltop Ranch Vineyard Chardonnay

Published on October 16, 2008 in Chardonnay, Harvest and Joanie Hudson. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

Yesterday we got in our first load of Hilltop Ranch Vineyard Chardonnay, neighbor to Lafond Vineyard in the Sta Rita Hills. The 45 acre Hilltop Ranch Vineyard is planted to 32 acres of Chardonnay and is close to 30 years old. It is flanked to the north and south by Lafond on the northern side of Santa Rosa Road. The grapes went on an exciting journey from picking to pressing in just a few hours. They were trucked down to our urban winery facility where the white wines are processed (Santa Barbara Winery) immediately after being collected from the vines.

We received 4.4 tons of fruit yesterday and will be getting more all week. The winemakers are pulling double digit hours-long days monitoring the harvest around the clock. Days off are almost non-existent and sleep is precious. This is the life of a winemaker. He or she works all year round, but there is one incredibly intense part of the year where the most exciting decisions and processes take place.

Joanie Hudson, Assistant Tasting Room Manager, Santa Barbara Winery

A Day for Tasting

Published on October 12, 2008 in Harvest, Joanie Hudson and Special Events. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

The weather for yesterday’s Harvest Festival at Rancho Sisquoc Winery could not have been more perfect for a day of meandering through Santa Barbara County’s finest wine and food vendors.  An hour outside of downtown Santa Barbara it was crystal clear and the silhouetted mountains looked like a painting in the background of the event.  The cool breeze swept us into fall and transitioned us from the hot temperatures that we were experiencing just one week ago into brisk chills, chapped lips, and yellow leaves.

We poured a selection of wines that included the 2007 Pinot Gris, 2006 Reserve Chardonnay, 2007 7.3 Riesling, 2007 ZCS, 2005 Petite Sirah, and 2005 Primitivo.  Lafond was pouring their 2006 SRH Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, 2006 Syrah Grenache, and 2005 Arita Hills Pinot Noir.  There was an amazing selection of varietals being poured from Pinot to Riesling to Barbera.  There was also no paucity of grilled tri tip, crispy french fries, and freshly baked flat bread (which I waited in line for on three seperate occassions).

Joanie Hudson, Assistant Tasting Room Manager, Santa Barbara Winery