Coffee and the Winemaker Part 2

We've covered the fact that I like and drink a lot of coffee. Not all the coffee I drink has been high quality in 2015, because my coffee choices are often limited and based on expediency rather than quality. The idea of a "perfect pour-over" does not exist outside major metropolitan cities, ski resorts or wine country. 

A good example of the expediency choice is driving at night on Highway 99. I like stopping at well traveled, well lit rest stops with a wide variety of services, Jack Tone Road in Ripon and Winton Parkway in Livingston are the only two places I stop along Highway 99. They are easy on-and-off locations with plenty of choices for gas and food. Both stops have Starbucks and McDonalds, but not street tacos (downside).

Good examples of quality coffee options are Bean Affair and Flying Goat in Healdsburg. True, there is a Starbucks in Healdsburg, but I'm less likely to go there for coffee when I have higher quality choices in the area. The Peet's Coffee in Windsor is gone, of which I was a frequent visitor in 2014, so I've substituted Peet's on Nave Drive in Novato as an all-inclusive food, gas, and coffee stop on my travels up and down highway 101.

Because I'm a statistic driven guy, it's only fair that I highlight where I've been drinking coffee over the last year in a graph. Graphs are cool.

Frequent Coffee Stops in California

Pinot Noir and Food

I love Cabernet Sauvignon; which makes sense, I make a lot of it. But Cabernet doesn't pair well with everything. Call me traditional, but I'm NOT a huge fan of the philosophy of "drink what you like with whatever you like." Ian Fleming's James Bond taught us that you can often catch the villain at the table by just monitoring his wine choices.

While Cabernet doesn't pair with everything, Pinot Noir pairs with lots of different foods and lots of people are in LOVE with Pinot Noir.

I recently released a single-barrel of 2013 Pinot Noir and paired it with a wide variety of foods for an event I attended and served for in Visalia. I'll admit, my Pinot Noir paired well with mixed green salad and CAB sliders. Even the deep fried calamari paired up with Pinot, the salty, deep-fried breading and the acid of the Pinot balance themselves out. 

I managed to snap a few pictures of what I considered solid pairings of my Pinot Noir with some of the foods offered that night. However, Pinot Noir does NOT pair with bread pudding! Bread Pudding stands on its own! If someone is drinking Cabernet or Pinot with bread pudding, don't trust them, they may work for an evil global organization.

Pinot Noir pairs well with fried calamari

Pinot Noir pairs well with fried calamari

Pinot Noir pairs well with Mixed Green Salad

Pinot Noir pairs well with Mixed Green Salad

Pinot Noir pairs with CAB sliders and caramelized onions

Pinot Noir pairs with CAB sliders and caramelized onions

Pinot Noir does NOT pair with Bread Pudding

Pinot Noir does NOT pair with Bread Pudding

Christmas Feast Part 2

While I tend to believe that Christmas starts and ends with eating only ravioli and meatballs with a glass of Cabernet, there are others in the family that may not be as enthusiastic or set in their ways as I am.

So, several dishes for Christmas are made for the other 30 or so people that come over for dinner. A long-time favorite at Thanksgiving and Christmas is our grilled and sherry braised turkey. Now, don't get me wrong, I love our grilled turkey. I love using my cast iron Dutch oven to cook the whole 20 pound bird in, basically a version of Poulet en Cocotte. But turkey speaks Thanksgiving to me, not Christmas. 

Poulet en Cocotte

Anyway, cooking the turkey on Christmas is just a good excuse to burn a lot of oak staves, sit outside, drink Sangiovese (which pairs well with turkey, I do pick at the bird when I'm carving it) and utilize my Dutch oven. 

Mastro_Scheidt_BBQ_ Turkey

There is a vegan option (no one in my family is vegan, but my family does seem to like this gross blob of jelly): Canned Cranberry. I have no wine recommendations for canned cranberry and never will.

Vegan Option

There is a gluten-free option (no one in my family is gluten-free, we are more like Gluten Plus): Potatoes and Yams.

Dove Day and Dinner

Opening Day

12 gauge shotgun shell

12 gauge shotgun shell

It has been two full seasons since I've hunted dove on opening day with my family and friends. It's a tradition that spans nearly 30 years for me and longer for others. 

T.L. Opening Day

T.L. Opening Day

Dove hunting is an early morning affair, starting with a 4:30am wake-up call with the last shot fired at sundown. Sundown marks the end of shooting, but not the end of the day. After the drive home, cleaning the dove and getting dinner started for several hungry hunters is of primary importance.

Results of the hunt

Results of the hunt

My family has been cooking dove three different ways for as long as I can remember:

1. Doves in Red Tomato Sauce

2. Doves in a Stew Pot with carrots, celery and herbs

3. Doves wrapped in Bacon and grilled on the BBQ

Dove Stew...a.k.a Dove recipe #2

Dove Stew...a.k.a Dove recipe #2

This season, I took matters into my own hands and asked Chef Chris Shackelford to prepare dove recipe for me in a more refined, restaurant style. No rules. No guidelines. Just Chef following his desires. Oh, and I dropped the dove off earlier that morning and said I'd be back for dinner later. 

Chef Chris has prepared quail, antelope, elk, venison, and wild boar so dove was just one more 'exotic' to play with.

Please excuse the picture as it's overexposed, but what you see is the result of dove as prepared by Chris ... Roulade of Dove. Fun. Technical. Totally Different.

Trelio_dove

My first bites of dove instantly brought me back to southern Italy, to a One Star Michelin restaurant in Puglia, Al Fornello da Ricci.  (dish pictured below) Why? The infusion of flavor directly into the meat. Bay leaf and sage elements were present, but not overpowering. A sweetness was also present, rather than a gamey quality. Dove is a gamey meat. Dove eat seeds in all forms that translate into dense grassy, earthy flavors. Chef Shackelford crafted a dish that turned gamey into sweet herb infusion and I thank him for it.

Al Fornello da Ricci duo of rabbit and lamb

Al Fornello da Ricci duo of rabbit and lamb

I thank Chris not just for transporting me back to Italy, I thank Chef Shackelford for thinking out-of-the-box about game and fowl and presenting a dish with elegance and flavor befit for a Michelin starred restaurant.

THANKS AGAIN CHRIS!

Mastro Scheidt Cellars wine dinner with Chef Tommy Chavez

Chef Tommy Chavez is back in Visalia! 

A personal note from winemaker and proprietor David Scheidt

Chef Tommy Chavez and I have collaborated many times over the years, from casual, backyard events to intimate private dinners

A SOLD OUT dinner on August 7,  2014 was proof Tommy was ready for the big game. Always leading with his strengths, Chef prepared a four course menu of his signature items, Italian inspired duo of Salad and Pasta alla Gricia followed up by two American classics, Porcini rubbed Rib-Eye and Tommy's Bread Pudding. Click on Chef Tommy's left arm below for a brief re-cap of the night in pictures.

I personally paired each of the courses to match Chef Tommy's Italian-American inspired cuisine, including two allocated wines from my personal library, my 2013 white wine and my 2012 Sangiovese. I lead off with my proprietary white wine, a crisp match to Chef's salad, followed by a Dry Creek Valley Sangiovese, the perfect pair with Chef Tommy's pasta. Only full-bodied Cabernet Sauvignon was appropriate for Chef's porcini rib-eye, my 2010 single-vineyard Cabernet and my 2011 Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon dominate blend.

I would like to personally thank everyone who attended, with a personal thanks to Chef Tommy and Vanessa for their support and confidence in my wines for their first wine dinner.

A culinary star has returned to Visalia

...Chef Tommy Chavez.