Not way back the cheese and charcuterie board was thought-about the gold customary for a high-end wine tasting expertise. Right now, wineries in California’s Napa and Sonoma Counties are bringing wine and meals pairings to a brand new stage, providing multi-course tasting menus in personal settings embellished with superb linens, stemware and bespoke service to showcase premium cuvée wines at their greatest.
All 10 experiences beneficial right here characteristic meals and wine however no two are the identical, differing in all the pieces from the type to the setting. What they do have in frequent (except for being a marvellous technique to get pleasure from wine nation) is an emphasis on the wine, before everything, and utilizing rigorously ready meals to reinforce it.
‘You may get cheese and charcuterie wherever in wine nation,’ says Hamel Household Wines government chef Clinton Huntsman. ‘It’s not particular any extra. It’s far more significant to indicate visitors our wines with an expertise that has a real dinner-party really feel.’
View from the Library on the Hamel Household Wines Property Home, Sonoma. Credit score: John Bedell
15401 Sonoma Freeway, Sonoma, CA 95476
Reserve Expertise
Put aside two hours for this go to, which begins with a splash of Hamel’s Reserve Sauvignon Blanc and a garden-inspired amuse bouche (suppose herb and preserved lemon parmesan crisp with ricotta, topped with English pea purée) adopted by a personal tour of the winery, vineyard and cellar (together with barrel tastings). Vineyard chef Clinton Huntsman’s 4 programs play to the season’s strengths, with dishes corresponding to a poached egg with inexperienced garlic cream, porcini, sunflower and fried onion, or a decadent bacon-wrapped rabbit loin with lentil and watercress. The setting is an opulent, however not stuffy, personal vineyard library overlooking the grounds, so that you’ll really feel just like the lord and girl of the manor. Out there day by day, $150 (£123) per individual.
The terrace at Gloria Ferrer, close to Large Bend, Sonoma
23555 Arnold Drive, Sonoma, CA 95476
Style on the Terrace
Glowing wines dominate Ferrer’s extra informal five-course expertise, but additionally anticipate to see a Pinot Noir or two. You’ll be seated on the vineyard’s sunny terrace and sorted by a wine educator (who additionally tends to different personal teams having fun with the patio) for this 90-minute expertise. The 5 programs are damaged down right into a foremost starter (we had prawns stewed with ouzo, tomatoes, fennel and feta) paired with the Gloria Ferrer Blanc de Blancs, adopted by a plate that includes three distinctive bites to pair with three extra sparklings. The finale contains a demi-sec and dessert fizz. Govt chef Raymond Schafer tailors his altering menu to the seasonality of elements and encourages the blending and matching of bites and bubblies. If not on the pairings checklist, remember to hunt down a style of Ferrer’s scrumptious Carneros Cuvée bottlings. Out there Thursday-Sunday, $95 (£78) per individual (most six visitors).
Joseph Phelps tasting rooms, off the Silverado Path, Napa Valley. Credit score: Matt Morris
200 Taplin Highway, St Helena, CA 94574
Bountiful Desk
This communal expertise lasts nearly three hours and options seven programs paired with the wide-ranging choices in Phelps’ portfolio of wines with alternatives from the far Sonoma Coast to Napa Valley. Joseph Phelps was as a lot gourmand as winemaker, and this menu displays that. It’s an intimate expertise (not more than 12 visitors) hosted in a personal eating room that boasts sweeping winery views. You’ll kick issues off with canapés outdoors on the patio after which progress to the lavishly set desk to your first course (suppose Kaluga caviar with corn pudding, parsley emulsion and a glass of Sauvignon Blanc). A parade of dishes and superb wines follows – branzino, Thai curry, dry-aged strip loin – narrated by your tasting information who will elaborate on the wines, the pairing and the vineyard historical past. Out there Wednesday-Sunday, $300 (£247) per individual.
Ram’s Gate, southern Sonoma County. Credit score: Alan Campbell
28700 Arnold Drive, Sonoma, CA 95476
Seasonal Wine & Meals Expertise
Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are the celebs right here, however you’ll additionally see Syrah and Sauvignon Blanc throughout your two-hour, four-course culinary journey. It begins within the courtyard with a welcome glass of wine adopted by a personal tour that highlights the farming methods and winemaking philosophy of Ram’s Gate. Govt chef Ruby Oliveros dishes up artisanal pairings such because the Property Chardonnay with oyster and wakame in burnt miso consommé with smoked trout roe and crispy rice pearls. Out there Thursday-Monday, $160 (£132) per individual (max. six visitors per occasion).
Opus One. Credit score: John Bedell
7900 St Helena Freeway, Oakville, CA 94562
The Artwork of the Desk
Michelin-star sensibilities be a part of a gastronomically centered wine tasting right here. After having fun with canapés and 2010 classic fizz from sister firm Champagne Barons de Rothschild on the vineyard’s rooftop overlook, you’re taken on a tour that ends on the vineyard’s swanky new tasting areas overlooking the vineyards. Tables are artfully appointed with Frette linens, Baccarat crystal and Zalto stemware – even the ground, made out of Jurassic limestone, has panache. The meal is a four-course ballet that includes library wines from Opus One and a collection of French wines from the Baron Philippe de Rothschild portfolio. Count on dishes corresponding to a Dungeness crab salad over an avocado mousse with blood orange, or recreation fowl crépinette with black trumpet mushroom and Jerusalem artichoke puree. The service, just like the wine, is impeccable, and chef Sara Scott’s delicacies expresses the season with a pitch-perfect stability of acid and salt on the palate. Out there on request, $750 (£616) per individual.
Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars personal eating room. Credit score: Bob McClenahan / Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars
5766 Silverado Path, Napa, CA 94558
The Cellarius Kitchen Expertise
Wine, storytelling and delicacies come collectively on this extraordinary Cabernet Sauvignon-focused expertise. The setting is in a personal glass-walled eating room that appears out into the gardens, and the kitchen has a theatrical really feel, separated from the visitors by two outsized glass doorways that open into the eating room. Settle into your plushly padded seat for chef Travis Westrope’s dazzling two-and-a-half-hour tasting menu paired with Stag’s Leap wines. Westrope, who has an encyclopaedic information of the vineyard (ask in regards to the Foucault’s pendulum) invitations questions and dialogue from his visitors. Moving into the kitchen is inspired; take footage of the preparation and really enter into the culinary expertise. Pairings are impressed, corresponding to a rosehip tea-steamed Loch Duart salmon with ocean microgreens and shiso alongside a Fay Cabernet Sauvignon. Out there Saturdays and Sundays, $245 (£201) per individual.
Spherical Pond Property terrace eating. Credit score: Briana Marie Pictures
875 Rutherford Highway, Rutherford, CA 94573
Il Pranzo
Spherical Pond’s government chef Fernando Arias has entry to ample seasonal fodder for his four-course tasting menu by working nearly solely with the vineyard’s 1.2ha of gardens. The pairing journey begins within the vineyard backyard, the place you’ll be able to stand up shut and private with the very produce you’re about to get pleasure from. After the backyard tour, you’ll be able to go for a personal desk on the terrace (which boasts 360° winery views) or within the eating room. Count on the surprising, as Arias relishes the unorthodox, corresponding to his Lyonnaise salad that showcases farm eggs poached in a sauce of brown butter and farm olive oil, paired with Spherical Pond’s daring Proprietary Left Financial institution crimson. Says Arias: ‘With the gardens and the wines we have now, I really feel invincible!’ Out there Thursday- Sunday, $225 (£185) per individual (max. six visitors).
Hess-Persson: the artwork of chocolate and wine
4411 Redwood Highway, Napa, CA 94558
Wine & Chocolate Expertise
Chocolate and wine lovers ought to ebook this two-hour interactive expertise with Hess-Persson vineyard’s in-house chocolatier Jason Collins. You’ll discover flavours as you create your individual chocolate bar. Afterwards, sit down and uncover learn how to pair wine and chocolate with a tasting that includes truffles created by Collins. Out there Friday- Monday (not each month – verify web site), $160 (£132) per individual.
Pairing choices at Darioush. Credit score: Alexander Rubin Pictures
4240 Silverado Path, Napa, CA 94558
By Invitation Solely
The vineyard’s imposing column-lined entrance units a regal tone for this shared tasting expertise. It begins with a luxurious begin within the vineyard library (clad with a draped velvet ceiling), the place you’ll get pleasure from a glass of the Darioush Sauvignon Blanc. A brief tour, led by your vineyard host, leads the best way to proprietor Darioush Khaledi’s personal underground cellar the place the chef waits, presenting a desk bedecked with 4 dishes. The entire programs and wines are supplied directly to permit visitors to experiment with the pairings. Umami is central to this tasting, for the wines and delicacies alike. Native mushrooms with parmesan foam or a mesquite-grilled ribeye are paired with a collection of Darioush’s Cabernet-focused wines, together with its unique Darius II Cabernet Sauvignon, often solely obtainable on allocation. Out there Wednesday- Sunday, $150 (£123) per individual.
Lynmar Property. Credit score: Karen Schmautz
3909 Frei Highway, Sebastopol, CA 95472
Collectors Lunch Pairing
Quiet little Lynmar Property is a jewel-box setting nestled in one of the vital vibrant winery and vineyard gardens in Sonoma. Take your seat at a personal desk overlooking the buzzing botanical splendour and let a bunch information you thru an elevated four-course lunch ready by property chef David Frakes. Frakes does a marvellous job of bringing Lynmar’s dainty however highly effective Pinot Noir wines into focus with pairings corresponding to grilled lamb with Israeli couscous, rose harissa labneh and braised torpedo onions. Many of the menu options wine and meals grown on the property. Out there Thursday-Sunday, $200 (£164) per individual (max. six visitors).
