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Blending a Grand Reserve Cabernet with Kendall Jackson

Randy Ullom of Kendall Jackson Wines

 

“Being big can sometimes hamstring you in the wine industry with buyers and consumers” Randy Ullom, winemaker at Kendall Jackson (yes, of the huge supermarket brand label), began his presentation to a few invited guests.

 

One of the groups KJ has chosen not to be hamstrung by is stockholders. The company has been family owned for over 3 decades, continuing to reinvent the wine business, and choosing to gain more control of their own destiny. He continued with a brief overview of what makes a great wine, and what goes into the creation of KJ wines.

 

KJ owns 40,000 acres in California, and has recently purchased land in the Willamette Valley in Oregon. Also, in further pursuit of controlling their destiny, they even source their own trees and logs for the barrels used for aging their wines. 

 

Okay, before I go any further, I know there may be some of you out there who are wondering why I would spend time going to my second tasting of Kendall Jackson - of the super market label - wines (I visited their tasting room in Sonoma County a few months back where, by the way, they included some of their Grand and Vintner Reserve wines.) They also happened to have sent some of their wines to serve at a luncheon of Southern food I hosted back in January which made me realize I definitely had to rethink that big supermarket profile. So I was delighted to receive an invite to a wine blending seminar they held here in So Cal, where I would get a chance to try my hand at blending one of those Grand Reserve wines.

 

Have you ever wondered why a certain varietal- say a Cabernet- can vary so much from  label to label, from year to year? I was about to get hands on insight into why that’s so.  

 

Randy told us that for their Grand Reserve wines, they may begin with 600 lots and work down to 50 to select the finest for blending, each with their own distinctive characteristics (expressions of the geography, geology and climate of the region the grapes are grown in -aka terroir) to bring to the finished product. My favorite little meme re: terroir - “a wonderful vineyard will have a great view- a vista, a hill, a ridge-, and if it has a great view, it’ll produce a great wine,” Randy explained. "Vineyard sites found on hillsides and mountain ridges are planted in soil that tends to be rockier and more sparse than soils on the valley floor. This challenges the grapes to ripen, and it’s that threshold of ripeness that produces the best wines. Higher elevation vineyards will result in less vigor in the vines due to higher stress placed on them through meager soils. These vines naturally produce lower yields, which means fewer grape clusters and smaller berries, resulting in greater concentration of flavors and firm structure.”

 

 

Fortunately they had worked down to only 5 wines which they placed before us, so that we could attempt to match the Grand Reserve waiting at the finish line. There were 3 varying Cabernets, 2 from the Alexander Valley (the largest and most fully planted wine region in Sonoma County) and 1 from Knights Valley (the easternmost and warmest of viticultural regions of the county). We also had a Bennett Valley Merlot, and a Knights Valley Petit Verdot to play with, along with pipettes, which he instructed us were for drawing up a bit of the wine by sipping - like we would on a straw, then releasing it into our blending glass.

Pipettes

 

 

 

Randy continued to throw out to us factors to consider when blending, as we worked. “What are you making this wine for- 10 years down the line, 20 years?  Is it for you, your family, America?”

 

Phew! It’s much more work than I'm guessing you're imagining. I have to admit that my blend was not even close to the Grand Reserve we were working on matching. It was a little frustrating, and after a while, I discovered that it began to grow difficult even tasting those subtle variations we were pursuing. “That’s why Randy gets paid the big bucks,” Larry O’Brien, Master Sommelier and acting MC for the event, piped in. 

 

Ah well, it sure was fun trying. 

 

Oh- and thanks to Sadie L.A. for hosting us, and feeding us this wonderful lunch afterwards. All that tasting works up quite an appetite!

 

 

I know shrimp isn't usually what comes to mind when drinking Cabernet, but hey - your LA2LA Chef is always down with shrimp.

 

These Baby Lamb Chops were so inviting, I had to grab a bite before I remembered the pic!

 

Braised Short Ribs of Beef- a classic pairing with Cabernet Sauvignon.

The Second Line

 

  Second line at a Mardi Gras ball in L.A.- photo courtesy of Reiss DuPlessis

 

A couple of years a back - at the LA Helps LA event, my friend and fellow food blogger, Erika Kerekes, turned to me quizzically and asked “what are they doing?”, as a line of guests broke out their handkerchiefs and napkins and started marching around the room to the distinctively New Orleans beat of When the Saints Go Marching In?

 

They’re "secondlining", I responded. She still looked stumped. I just smiled.

 

Whenever a group of New Orleanians is gathered, either in Los Angeles or the Crescent City, they rise to their feet and start waving their handkerchiefs, and often umbrellas, when the funky beat of their hometown wafts over them. 

 

Second lining has its origins (at least in New Orleans) in funeral processions. Brass bands would often march behind funeral processions from the church to the graveyard, playing the solemn strains of a hymn like Just a Closer Walk. Once the burial ceremony had ended, the band would break into much more celebratory music as they turned around and marched back through the streets of the city. Along the way they would pick up people who joined the parade, dancing, waving their handkerchiefs and lifting their umbrellas to the funky beat-hence "the second line". The beat - and the second line itself - has its roots in Africa (as you can see in the video below of Louis Armstrong’s visit there in 1956), and is heard throughout the New World diaspora, wherever slaves were allowed to play their musical beat- Cuba, Brazil, and New Orleans. 

 

BTW, as for the handkerchiefs and umbrellas, I am sometimes asked how they came to be part of the parade. I can only guess that they are an outgrowth of NOLA’s propensity for a thunderstorm to break out at any time, and to the humid and sweat inducing climate, although there is some evidence that may have begun in Africa, too. I have seen pictures of Louis Armstrong’s visit, where African chiefs broke out their large umbrellas to welcome him in procession. The sequins, fringe and tassels that now decorate the umbrellas are pure New Orleans.

 

 

The second line is not really a part of my Creole tradition. My Uncle Reiss wrote a story he shared with me a few years back, when as a child he spied the wondrous sight of a black Baptist funeral procession turning to dancing, as he  peered out the doorway of his Aunt Ruth’s uptown grocery store.  And I remember on a visit as a child, when my fun-loving Aunt Gloria, demonstrated the second line to her young Los Angeles nieces and nephews. “This is how they be doing it” she called out to us, as she shook her booty and lifted her napkin with all the family egging her on. My youngest brother, Eric, many years later, told her “I’ll always remember you, Aunt Gloria, for teaching me to second line.”

 

As is true with so much of New Orleans, secondlining has become an integral part of the city’s larger culture now. Second line parades are planned events to which the public is invited, as was yesterday’s, and they are also still spontaneous events that break out as they pass through neighborhoods, as happened last year outside our window while I was staying with my cousin, Linda, in her Gentilly neighborhood, and we ran to the window to see a small parade pass by when we heard the music.

 

It is a great tragedy that shootings would break out at such joyously emblematic symbols of New Orleans culture. I, along with many others I’m sure, offer prayers for the victims of the shooting*, which include my friend and journalist, Deborah Cotton. Deb fulfilled her longtime dream of moving to New Orleans from Los Angeles just a few months before Katrina. Many of her friends thought she was crazy to return after the storm, but she, as she likes to say, was “New Orleans called”,  and did return, going on to become the most prominent chronicler of second line culture. Deb was in surgery yesterday, and has lost a lot of blood, but is reportedly in stable, but guarded, condition now. A fundraiser is now brewing on FB for her. In spite of her injury, I am sure that Deb would agree with the loud and clear statement issued by the Original Big Seven- the Mother’s Day parade  band, that the parades must continue, although much more must be done to protect the marchers and onlookers, and to address the violence in this city at large.

 

Original Big Seven statement: 

"Today’s violence is an outrage to what the Original Big 7 and all of New Orleans secondlining culture represents... We are a cross-generational organization, ages 5-70. Our young people grow up in this culture, are fed by it, and feel loved, supported and connected in ways that build real security. That’s crime prevention."

 

* As it happens, Eric, along with several of my cousins were also at the parade, but they are all fine.

 

 

 

Unless otherwise stated, the images are courtesy of WikiCommons

Shrimp with Tequila and Orange for Cinco de Mayo

Shrimp with Tequila and Orange

 

I recently attended a session at this year’s International Association of Culinary Professionals conference, on two views of Mexican food today.

 

The prominent food world personality who was moderating the discussion stated that she was trying to educate the American public that Mexican food wasn’t, as she put it, “endless chips and salsa, or beans covered with gloppy cheese.”

 

She needn’t have been spoken in the slightly patronizing (IMO) manner that she did. First of all, I kind of like endless chips and salsa, and every once in a while, I have a yen for gloppy cheese covering my beans, too. But more to the point, those of us who have lived for years in So Cal do understand that Mexican cuisine is one of the world’s greatest and most complex, and varies greatly from region to region, across this vast and diverse country.

 

This weekend on the Cinco de Mayo (and yes, I know that it's a relatively minor holiday in Mexico, but we love any excuse to drink Margaritas and eat great Mexican food), I intend to celebrate that cuisine with a south of our border luncheon.

 

I’ll be serving this delectable Shrimp with Tequila and Orange, which is rooted in the coastal region of the state of Jalisco, from which tequila hails. 

 

 

California Avocados-and a Recipe for Avocado Hummus

 

There aren't many things I like better than avocados. It's safe to say they are a constant staple item in my house. And I especially love California avocados. Some of you may know that I got a big lesson in the superiority of California avocados during the years I lived in New York. East Coast avocados, grown in Florida and Puerto Rico, are just not the same. In fact, nowadays, 80 percent of all avocados consumed worldwide are the Haas variety- a variety developed right here in So Cal, and which accounts for 95 percent of the total California crop volume.

 

Luckily for me, the California Avocado Commision invited me, along with several other food bloggers, to a tour of a working avocado farm, followed by a factory packing tour a few weeks back, to welcome the opening of the California avocado season.

We were treated to a lovely brunch on the patio of the home of longtime avocado farmers, Dan and Susan Pinkerton. The menu featured - what else, avocados- in many forms, from ceviche to dessert. Here are a couple of pics of the lovely valley their farm overlooks. 

 

Then we were off to a grove, where I developed a new appreciation for those who pick my avocados. While we neophytes were able to pick a few, it took some doing on our parts.

 

And then to the factory- again, much gratitude to those who work sorting and packing avocados so that I can easily pick them up at my local grocers.

 

 

And if you know that I truly favor California avocados, you probably know that there's many a night, when I just cozy up to a big bowl of guacamole and chips for dinner. But every once in a while, one has to try something different, right? And it happens that in the last year, I've become acquainted with the Avocado Hummus at a wonderful local Eastern Mediterranean restaurant, Momed. In toodling around the Internet, I noticed that almost all of the recipes I saw for Avocado Hummus, contained garbanzo beans. Not so at Momed- they use only avocado, tahini, lemon juice and seasonings in theirs. And theirs is mighty tasty, so in my first try at making it at home, I decided to stick with what works for them. Hope you'll enjoy it as much as I do.

Grilled Tomato Salsa

 

Last December, I was invited to a holiday party at Melissa’s Fresh Produce, where they debuted their new cookbook 50 Best Plants on the Planet: The Most Nutrient-Dense Fruits and Vegetables, in 150 Delicious Recipes, which showcases the most nutrient dense fruits and vegetables. Now, I think I eat a fairly healthy diet, but I was excited to see just how nutritious some of my favorite veggies and fruits are. BTW, I’ve been featuring a few of those most nutrient packed plants in my last few posts. You can find links to them at the bottom of this post.

 

Was I ever glad to find out that chiles and cilantro made the list because here in So Cal, we eat a lot of salsa. And wouldn’t you know it, the cookbook offers a delicious salsa recipe which was served at the party. Definitely one worth adding to the repertoire!

 

Here's a pic of me with Sharon, co-owner of Melissa's, their in house chef, Ida, Cathy Thomas, who wrote recipes for the book, and Louise of Geez Louise at the party, and if you click through to the next page, you’ll find the recipe for that scrumptious Grilled Tomato Salsa.

 

Braised Baby Bok Choy and Onion with Ginger

Baby Bok Choy at the Santa Monica Farmers' Market

 

In spite of its tastiness (Melissa's Fresh Produce's new cookbook 50 Best Plants on the Planet: The Most Nutrient-Dense Fruits and Vegetables, in 150 Delicious Recipes  describes it as having a sweet vegetal taste, sometimes edged with peppery spice), I have found bok choy to be somewhat of a tough sell to my clients. When I read further in the book, what a nutrition powerhouse it is- high in fiber, chock full of vitamins (A, C, K, B6 and folate), and very low in calories- I was re-encouraged in my efforts to present it on menus.

And what do you know, I recently had the opportunity to serve it at a spring engagement party for a client who told me "I like being different."  

Kudos to her! Turns out her guests loved it, too, as it was the hit of the party.

 

And luckily for you, I've decided to share the recipe with you, so that you, too, can take a leap and consider serving something a little different.

Braised Baby Bok Choy and Onions with Ginger

Roasted Asparagus with Lemon Caper Mayonnaise

  

 

Melissa's Fresh Produce' s wonderful new cookbook, 50 Best Plants on the Planet: The Most Nutrient-Dense Fruits and Vegetables, in 150 Delicious Recipes states that asparagus "is one of the most nutrient dense foods on the planet", calling it an excellent source of vitamins A, C and K, as well as a good source of dietary fiber and potassium, and an impressive source of minerals and the B complex vitamins, and flavonoids. Gosh- who knew? 

 

I mean, I knew I loved them - as, btw, does a majority of the American public according to recent Bon Appetit polls, but it sure is good to know they're so good for me, too.

 

I've come a long way from my 1950 and 60's childhood, where asparagus were of the canned gray green variety whose spears turned to mush in the mouth.

 

When I was in college in the eary 70's I learned to lightly steam them. I remember one particular Easter Sunday afternoon when some classmates and I took some, along with a creamy local Montery Jack cheese, and freshly baked whole wheat bread, on an afternoon hike through a forest in Santa Cruz. One of my best Easter meals ever. I still enjoy them steamed on occasion, with a excellent quality blue cheese dressing.

 

A decade or so down the line, I learned to grill them, and then (even better), oven roast them, which is now a regular favorite side dish. Lightly tossed in some extra virgin olive oil, with a sprinkling of coarse salt and freshy ground black pepper, they don't really need anything more, but this luscious Lemon Caper Mayonnaise is the perfect sauce to accompany them on a special occasion- like say a Sunday afternoon hike through the forest.

 

Double Kale Caesar

 

Double Kale Caesar

 

For years, I used kale only as a garnish, until one day one of my brothers asked with astonishment, as he watched me about to dump my garnish, "What are you doing?"

 

"It's just garnish", I said.

 

"Well, I'm going to eat your garnish."

 

Since that day, several years back, kale has become a much consumed food, and was, no doubt, the "it" food of this past year. Many varieties of kale are now available, showing up everywhere, in all sorts of applications. One of the most popular of those applications is a Kale Caesar (I like the punny word play aspect of it, myself). So when Iloveorganicgirl sent me a selection of their beautiful greens, including I heart baby kale (a mixture of baby kale, tango and baby spinach, chard, romaine and oakleaf lettuce), my thoughts went there first. 

 

For a little textural contrast, I've mixed their baby greens with a chiffonade of larger black kale aka cavolo nero or Tuscan kale (one of the most "it" of the "it" ingredients) leaves- a nice combination, as sometimes the larger kale leaves on their own can be a bit too toothsome, if you know what I mean.

Iloveorganicgirl will be running an "All Mixed Up" Trivia  contest beginning tomorrow (April1st) on its Facebook page.

By the way, back in January, I was invited to a holiday party at Melissa's Fresh Produce, where they were unveiling their new cookbook, 50 Best Plants on the Planet. And, yes, kale-a powerhouse source of vitamins- is definitely one of the 50. The cookbook is filled with encyclopedic information on the nutritional value of the top fruits and vegetables. Want to know what to eat to loweryour triglycerides, up your level of potasium consumption, protect and repair cells, or improve arthritis symptoms. You'll learn that and so much more from this book, with 150 quick and easy recipes developed by Cathy Thomas, along with less formal suggestions for adding these nutritional powerhouse foods to your diet. I'll be sharing more of the 50 best plants over the next few posts, so stay tuned.

 

Oh- and the hardcover book is available for purchase directly from Melisss'a website, or get a paperback version of 50 Best Plants on the Planet: The Most Nutrient-Dense Fruits and Vegetables, in 150 Delicious Recipes from Amazon. And the simple recipe for the Double Kale Caesar follows on the next page...

St. Joseph's Day- and Old Fashioned Spaghetti and Meatballs

St.Joseph's Day Altar

 

The many Sicilian immigrants to New Orleans brought with them the celebration of the Feast Day of St. Joseph (the patron saint of Sicily) observed on March 19th. The feast was readily embraced by the predominantly Catholic city that loves a good party. My mother said it gave New Orleanians an excuse to party right in the middle of Lent, and indeed, many who vow to fast during Lent, break their fast on St. Joseph’s Day. 

 

Early on, there were three tiered altars, set up in people’s homes, elaborately decorated with statues of St. Joseph, and with a huge array of fancy breads, cucidatti, biscotti, amaretti and other Italian pastries, as well as fruits and vegetables which were distributed to the poor after the feasting was over. My uncle tells me he would peek into his Italian neighbors' homes, when he was a child, to get a look at the altars, and was rewarded with a “lucky bean”- a dried fava bean, in the Sicilian tradition. Now the altars are mostly set up in churches, where a feast of stuffed artichokes, olive salads, and pasta with tomato sauce, and all those delectable pastries, is served after Mass. 

 

The Mardi Gras Indians break out their costumes, and gather in an uptown park on what has become their second most important day of the year. after Mardi Gras Day.

 

John Besh, in his book My New Orleans: The Cookbook , tells a story of his son, who loves the 3 day run of St. Patrick’s Day, St. Joseph’s Day and his birthday, all of which allow him and his brothers to break their fast, and eat as many cookies as they like.

 

And even our expat community here in Los Angeles set up an altar and celebration, for many years, in a nearby church where freshly fried calás and spaghetti with “tomato gravy”, as the old timers called it, were served. 

 

So on a dreary and cool day in Los Angeles, I decided to break out one of those old comfort food dishes from a pre-“California cuisine” childhood, spaghetti and meatballs- just in case you want to celebrate.

Visiting Kendall Jackson- and a Recipe for Caramel Corn

I arrived at the large open space- sun streaming through the many windows and French doors. My guests have called and said they’re running very late. Aargh! Not to worry, though- Jessica graciously greets me, and when I very apologetically let her know they will be late, she brings over a glass of Pinot Gris to relax me as I wait.

 

There’s a spacious kitchen beckoning me with gleaming stainless steel behind a glass wall. I peek in, wondering if I can enter. Matt Lowe, the chef on duty today, comes out to meet me. The smell of popping corn wafts over me. And yes, he invites me in for a tour of the brand new, state of the art kitchen at Kendall Jackson Winery, and yes, he’s popping corn to make Caramel Corn which he plans to serve us, paired with KJ’s Late Harvest Chardonnay- a delightfully wonderful match. BTW, Matt showed me the kitchen space this new kitchen has replaced- a enclosed space about the size of a home dining room. “We’d have 5 chefs working in there,” he told me. Boy, they must have really liked each other, I thought.

 

When my friends arrive, they have in tow their foreign exchange student from Saudi Arabia- and, no, he doesn’t drink wine. Matt and Jessica graciously offer him an iced glass of sweet tart verjus, the unfermented juice of unripened grapes, to enjoy while we make our way through the luscious wines they pour us, starting with the mostly stainless steel fermented Avant Chardonnay I enjoyed so much a few weeks back when Nancy Fishgold brought it to our So Fab luncheon, paired with cheeses, and other small bites. I especially love the beet mustard they’ve paired with the Cabernet. Ah- but then we reach the Late Harvest Chardonnay, the ingenious dessert wine made rich and sweet by botrytis, or the noble rot, which intensifies the flavor of grapes left on the vine late into the season, paired with caramelized walnuts, a geleé of Pinot Noir verjus, and a brand new cheese- Bay Blue- from the Point Reyes blue cheese makers. Did they know that Point Reyes Blue is a favorite of mine? And of course, that Caramel Corn- I’m in heaven.

 

Ah- and one last treat- a taste of their very special small lot Stature, a Bordeaux blend (Cabernet, Malbec, Petit Verdot and Merlot- mostly) that’s so intense it’s almost raisiny.

 

 

Then it was on to a tour of their culinary gardens.

 

The chefs and gardeners of Kendall Jackson collaborated on the design of this interactive food pairing and sensory garden. The chefs-as all chefs do- wanted plant items which they could step right out their door and harvest to use in their kitchen. The garden was also designed to guide wine pairing decisions by senses other than just taste, like color and scent.

 

The white wine pairing garden areas are surrounded with lemon, apple and pear trees, and planted with lavender and tarragon, as well as lighter vegetables like fennel and lighter (like yellow) chards. The red wine pairing garden areas are surrounded with cherry and plum trees, and planted with darker vegetables like eggplant, beets and red peppers. Certain garden areas are also grouped according to geographical areas, for example, the Latin American garden area is planted with cacti, and the Mediterranean area with herbs like oregano.

 

And to help consumers even more, Kendall Jackson has created an app, based on their sensory garden pairing ideas, available for both I-Phones and Androids.

 

As we said our goodbyes, Matt said, you'll have to come back for our Heirloom Tomato Weekend. Well, I'll drink to that!

 

Oh, and be sure to click through to the next page for a Caramel Corn recipe for to pair with the Late Harvest Chardonnay.