Dover Canyon Winery

Grilled Oysters, Sushi and Sashimi

 

In January, we had a sushi party at our house.  The weather was gorgeous and warm and we were joined by an interesting mix of friends--my son Colin and his friends Marin and Cullen prepared the sushi and sashimi.  We were joined by the rest of the winery crew from Four Vines, where Colin works as cellarmaster.  Colin's girlfriend Kelly (a waitress at Villa Creek) brought her family, and my friend Linda Baehr, assistant winemaker at Peachy Canyon also joined the chaos. 

The food theme was sushi, and the dress theme for some inexplicable reason was Western but Marin forgot to tell us that in advance ... so the attire was a weird mix of surfer gear and cowboy getups, very Paso.  I got a lesson in how to properly set a cowboy hat down from retired Paso Robles police chief Dennis Cassidy, who is also an auctioneer for the Paso Robles and ZAP wine auctions.

We started the afternoon with oysters warmed up on the grill and served with your choice of melted butter, roasted pepper pesto, and/or wasabi or hot pepper sauce.  This is a great time of the year for oysters, and Colin picked up 3 dozen huge, firm oysters from Giovanni's in Morro Bay. He also selected some gorgeous blocks of salmon and ahi for the sushi and sashimi.

 

The rice was perfect--Marin prepared three batches of rice before she felt she had the perfect balance of sweet and sour flavor.  Preparing sushi rice is quite a project--the rice must be carefully steamed and then stirred to release moisture from the grains so the rice is sticky but not wet or gummy.  Perfect sushi rice also has a delicate balance of added sugar or sweet mirin wine, and a dollop of rice vinegar.  The food was great, a refreshing break from winter soups and red meat, and the company fabulous. 

Next up ... a cracked crab party.  Maybe some crab from Pier 46 in Templeton, which has saltwater tanks filled with live oysters, prawns, crabs, lobsters and even sea urchins.  They will clean and cook your crabs for free, so all you have to do is melt the butter and pour the viognier. 

Abalone's Revenge, Revisited: Cayucos Abalone on FoodTV Monday Night!

Our avid readers may remember our article on the abalone farm in Cayucos, California:  Abalone's Revenge.

On Monday night, the Ocean Rose Abalone Farm will be featured in an episode of FoodTv's new series, Will Work for Food.

Brad Buckley, who has managed the ab farm for 20 years, will put series host Adam Gertler to work raising abalone, from harvesting kelp to sorting the mature abalone by size.

Monday February 16
 
Will Work for Food
 
Adam works alongside sustainable mollusk expert, Brad Buckley, as an abalone farmer. From harvesting kelp to sorting out abalone by size, Adam grills off and enjoys this costly seafood delicacy with a new appreciation.
 
Tune In:  Check your local schedule.  Viewing times vary between cable and satellite providers.
 

•       Feb 16, 2009     9:30 ET/6:30 PT
•       Feb 17, 2009     12:30 AM ET/PT
•       Feb 22, 2009     4:30 PM ET/PT

2009 Amgen Tour of California

For the first time, Paso Robles will be a featured city in the 2009 Amgen Tour of California.  Scheduled over nine consecutive days from February 14-22, 2009, the race will visit 16 host cities for official stage starts and finishes, with communities along the route getting the chance to see, firsthand, a lineup of some of the most elite, recognizable teams and athletes in the world.   The 2009 race will once again have a world-class field of competitors, including two-time defending champion Levi Leipheimer and seven-time Tour de France Champion Lance Armstrong. 

On Thursday, February 19, 2009 the fifth stage of the race will leave Visalia and follow a challenging route toward Paso Robles.  At more than 130 miles, Stage 5 is the longest stage of the race. A new course for the 2009 Amgen Tour of California, Stage 5 will begin in Visalia. Winding its way back to the coast, the route, which will include two sprints, will pass by vast cattle ranches and farms. The final 30-mile run into Paso Robles will be a fast sprint to the finish.

Justin Winery & Vineyard is sponsoring a coordinated ride, the Wellness Community Central Coast Inaugural Tour of Paso.  A maximum of 100 riders will be allowed to participate.  The course is a 15 mile ride from Justin Vineyards in northwest Paso to the Amgen finish line in downtown Paso Robles, ending slightly before the Amgen race.  Tour participants are invited to a wine and cheese reception after the race, with the possible attendance of Lance Armstrong.  For more details, contact Justin Winery at 805-238-6932 ext. 300.  Entry Form.   The Justin ride also has a Facebook page:  Inaugural JUSTIN Tour of Paso Robles Bike-a-Thon.

Wineries along the race route will be sponsoring Watch Parties, everything from private, invitation only deck affairs to grandstands made of hay bales.   Television, print, radio and internet media will be in attendance.

We hope you will join our entire community in welcoming these athletes to our wine-growing community!

Porsches and Picnics

Every year on the third weekend of October, the wineries of Paso Robles host a Harvest Wine Tour.  For us, it is a pleasant break from the routines of crush, a chance to get together with friends and customers.  As usual, we fired up the coals and grilled some lamb ribs and duck breasts as appetizers.

We were joined on this warm October weekend by the Porsche Club of Loma Prieta.  It was pretty amazing to watch 22 pretty Porsches all pull up to the winery at one time.  Their full adventure was published in their ezine at http://lpr.pca.org/post/post-next.pdf.  (The HWT weekend coverage starts on page 24.)  They arrived at Dover Canyon around 2 pm and spread their blankets on the lawn for a quick lunch, which made them extremely popular with Rebel Rose.

 

Also in late October, lovely Siobhan, waitress extraordinaire at Hoppe's Bistro, celebrated her birthday at the winery.  They brought a picnic spread of delectable salads, homemade hummus, stuffed figs and other delights.  Dan McCraw, our Friday tasting room host, grilled up the remaining duck breasts and basked in the glory of being the only man at the picnic.  And of course Rebel Rose, far right, employed all her most endearing tricks, but decided she really didn't like hummus or stuffed figs. 

 

A Great Affair: 10 Steps for Easy Entertaining

The key to entertaining is to plan ahead. I have organized wine affairs for almost twenty years—intimate dinners for six, winemaker dinners for fifty, and open house hors d’oeuvres for hundreds. I also love impromptu dinners with family and friends, so I’ve refined my entertaining preparations to the following ten steps, and the most important is number ten—have fun.

1. Do a walkthrough

The first step in pulling off a well-organized affaire, whether it’s a simple dinner with friends or an elaborate wedding, is to do an imaginary walkthrough. Imagine you are the guest. Tick off on your fingers everything you would or would not enjoy as a guest, and plan every detail with your guests’ comfort in mind, from the moment they enter the front door to bidding them good night.

If it’s a mingling affair, set up comfortable centers of interest, and place appetizers in separate areas.

2. Sit in the comfort zone

Once your guests have arrived, will they be comfortable? Warmth, attention, and comfort are guaranteed to make a good impression, whether your event is casual or elegant. If you're seating your guests at a table, actually sit at the table yourself. Wiggle your elbows. Will you have room to sit down or get up without climbing over your neighbor? Will you be able to eat without bumping elbows? Can you talk to other guests without having to dodge tall candles and flower arrangements?

3. Create special touches—quickly and easily

Indulge in a flower arrangement, candles, or pull out some old linens. Look around your own backyard or turn to your local market for inexpensive decorations.

One of my favorite centerpieces is a simple arrangement of 3" clay pots holding variegated ivy, with 2" high candles sprinkled throughout the vines, interspersed with Bosc pears, variegated apples, and walnuts from our orchard.

A few swipes of gold leaf paint across the belly of a Bosc pear transforms it from market produce to art. For a harvest theme, you can swipe gold leaf on apples, Bosc pears, or walnuts; for Christmas mantels, use pomegranates and pine cones.

If you have a garden, put potted herbs in clay pots at each table setting, with the guest’s name written on it in metallic ink. At the end of dinner, pass around the metallic pens and let everyone add their signatures, so your guests can take home a living souvenir of the evening.

Herbs are a beautiful and fragrant way to decorate. Tie napkins with raffia and sprigs of bay and thyme, or surround candles with small sprigs of herbs for a centerpiece, or place tiny sprigs of herbs in ice water or next to teacups.

Baby, you can light my fire!

With the approach of warm weather, blue skies, spring bulbs and lambs, our thoughts turn to grilling. It’s time to dust off the barbecue and uncover the patio furniture. Here are our top ten tips for enjoying hearty meals hot off the grill.

It all boils down to how do I get it started? and when is it done? Everything in between should be simple and fun. Dan and I prepare appetizers on the grill for hundreds of people on wine festival weekends. For the most part, we’ve had great success, except when I set fire to the barbecue itself (a feat Dan didn’t think possible), or the time our friends decided to use walnut firewood to start a twelve-hour barbecue fire, good for dinner and breakfast.

We use a Weber kettle-style barbecue, because we like the intense heat produced by coals, as well as even heating when the lid is closed. Our 26" Weber can get up to 600° very quickly with the lid closed. We don’t actually grill at that temperature, in our saner moments, but we can grill on cold, windy evenings while we’re working on the crush pad, without losing heat to wind and frigid outdoor temperatures. We also have a gas grill, which is a great backup for busy grill evenings, but we’ve found that in cold, windy conditions gas flames just cannot keep the grill hot enough, even with the lid closed. Gas emitters clog with grease and ash, and since we grill often, that’s extremely inconvenient. So we stick with our trusty Weber, piling coals in the middle for a nice hot center, and leaving the edges open for radiant heat, or piling them to one side if we’re going to rotisserie. We can also use moistened wood chips and herbs in a coal barbecue.

Here are our ten simple steps for successful and enjoyable grilling:

Romance on a Swing

In late October, sweethearts Josh Rosenstein and Carrie Mathewson pledged their love on our wooden swing.

There has been a swing on this 100-year-old black walnut for at least 80 years, according to our neighbor Joe Barloggio.   On a balmy fall afternoon, Josh proposed to Carrie against a backdrop of autumnal walnut leaves raining down like golden pennies. 

Josh and Carrie are looking for a winery or vineyard host for their wedding.  If you have any suggestions, please let us know.

Here are some sources for central coast wedding information:

• Central Coast Wedding
• Central Coast Bride
• Central Coast Wedding Professionals

Congratulations to Josh and Carrie!

Prospecting for Oil: Pasolivo

In the third installment from our private October fundraiser--a weekend food and wine tour featuring private tours at Tablas Creek, Cayucos Abalone Farm, Saxum, L'Aventure, and a finale dinner at Villa Creek, we visit Willow Creek Olive Ranch, home of Pasolivo olive oil. I am seriously addicted to their orange and tangerine oils, made with oils pressed from citrus rinds and blended with olive oil. They also offer an estate olive oil, a California blend, a low production kalamata oil, and lemon and lime olive oils. Pasolivo was featured in Gourmet magazine, and sells almost all their oils via their private club and tasting room.   

We met with owner Josh Yaguda (in the red shirt), who gave us a very entertaining tour and private tasting. The olives are picked by hand, and because they ripen late (generally late October or early November) as winter storms approach, the picking is done quickly. So rocks, leaves and other matter come in with the olives. The olives are poured into this chute and passed under the blue vacuum hood, which sucks up any light debris like drying leaves, twigs and fine dirt. Rocks and other matter are removed by hand or shaken out as the olives pass through the chute.

The olives are then placed in the “press,” which isn’t really a press but a complicated centrifuge. First, the olives and the pits are macerated into a chunky must. If I remember correctly, a little super-heated water is added to loosen the must. The centrifugal action of the press slowly (very, verrry slowly) pulls the oil from the must and deposits it in a long, low covered pan. Josh lifted the lid of the pan and showed us where this first pressing is deposited. The oil is still murky and unfiltered, almost like mud. At this point, it is called dirty oil. From there, the oil is moved to a vertical centrifuge where it is processed again to remove gross impurities. Josh is standing next to a dismantled secondary centrifuge. From there, the oil goes into a tank, and then, over the next few months, it is patiently racked and returned, just like wine.

Abalone's Revenge: The Cayucos Abalone Farm

In October, I arranged a fundraising dinner and tour of local food producers as a fundraiser for the eGullet Society of Culinary Arts & Letters.  We started the day at the Cayucos Abalone Farm with a personally guided tour conducted by Brad Buckley. Perched on small bluff overlooking the ocean, the farm produces almost 500,000 abalone a year. They culture only red abalone, under the brand name Ocean Rose.

Our first abalone epiphany was that abalone are not bi-valves like clams or oysters. They are snails. Gross, yet cool. Various strains of abalone also have their own particular flavor.

Conception begins in low-tech white tubs. Two tubs are filled with females, and one with males. Michelle saw the gonads up close and can describe the difference. Ab prefer to spawn during a full moon, and the staff plans accordingly. Justin inquired about ambience but was assured they didn’t need candlelight or music.

The water is changed daily, dumped out through fine membranes to catch the microscopic babies which are then laid back in clean water. When they are the size of a fingernail, they are placed in the nursery—four foot wide tubs with small hoses oxygenating the water. The hoses are also used to inoculate the tubs with algae—plugs of green stuff are allowed to form in the hoses and then blown into the tub to make ‘seaweed slushies.’

September Harvest Dinner at Villa Creek

Saturday, September 15th, 6 pm

I would like to invite you to join me for dinner at Villa Creek Restaurant in Paso Robles to celebrate the start of the 2007 harvest season.

We have reserved the entire back patio of Villa Creek for a  private dinner event, which is also a fundraiser for the eGullet culinary scholarships.  We can seat only 40 people, and half the patio seats have already been reserved.  Dinner will be a prix fixe menu specially prepared for us by chef Tom Fundaro, featuring abalone from the Cayucos abalone farm, in-season heirloom tomatoes from Windrose Farm, and the delicious olive/citrus oils of Pasolivo. 

For those of you interested in coming into town on Friday and staying until Sunday, we have also arranged some special tours and tastings. Some of the activities include:

• Visit to Pasolivo olive oil producers
• Tour of the abalone farm in Cayucos
• Private tastings at two or more of the following: Saxum , Linne Calodo, Villa Creek, Turley and/or Booker Vineyard
• Tour of the Tablas Creek vineyard, vine nursery and winery
• Tour of Windrose Farm
• Tour of Four Vines Winery

Some wineries may charge tasting fees.  Box lunches can be ordered from Out of the Box for delivery ahead of time to Tablas Creek, or you are welcome to bring your own picnic lunch.

Of course the highlight of the weekend is dinner together at Villa Creek.  We will meet at 6 pm to mingle on the patio and discuss our adventures before dinner at 7 pm.  Each table will split the dinner and beverage tab for their table.  Villa Creek welcomes BYOB, but each table should expect to order at least one wine from the list as well. Depending on the wines selected, expect to spend $60-$100 per person on dinner.  Seating arrangements will not be planned in advance.

During the final course, we will pass around a wine decanter for donations to the eGullet culinary scholarships, in support of young food talent.  We ask only that you donate an amount equal to what you would spend for a bottle of outstanding Paso Robles wine. 

Our tentative schedule for this exciting weekend is . . .