Paradise Picks

It's been fun meeting and hanging out a bit with Marty Paradise, who's a wine geek/foodie/chef... and author of the book Paradise Picks. Marty has gone around to Sonoma and Napa county wineries and picked his favorites. The book also contains great recipes from the winemakers for food pairings with each selected wine.

And it gets better: Each winery mentioned in the book will give a book owner a complimentary wine tasting for two. The book retails for $25, yet the tasting savings easily run several hundred dollars. In other words, SCORE!

To contact Marty for a copy of his book, or to set up a private wine tasting with him as a guide, send him an email at: paradisewines4me@yahoo.com.

Ciao!

Living Large

Talked to my friend Todd Anderson yesterday, who's the winemarker extraordinaire at Ghost Horse Vineyards, and every time I talk to Todd, I think of James Bond (cause Todd's a HUGE James Bond fan), and every time I think of James Bond, I think of one of the coolest web sites I've ever seen: JamesBondLifestyle.com. It's a lot of fun (I think) and captures perfectly the whole James Bond way of "living large."

And there's even a food and wine (!) connection. Here's the recipe for the "Vesper" martini Bond ordered in the last Bond film, Casino Royale:

Vesper Martini

Mix: three measure's of Gordon's, one of vodka, and half a measure of Kina Lillet

Shake: Over ice

Finish: Strain into a chilled cocktail glass

Garnish: Thin slice of lemon peel

Note--Kina Lillet, now called Lillet, is hard to find, so you may need to replace with another dry Vermouth

Anyway, enjoy the site, and this pic below, one of the Bond lifestyle photo contest honorees!

Friends in Sweet Places

Garth Brooks may have friends in low places, but I have at least one friend (hey, no comments on that!) in a sweet place.

Here's the scoop: During my time at Pizzio's, I've gotten to know L., who turns out is the pastry chef at the famed Dry Creek Kitchen in Healdsburg. L. has invited me several times to come over while he's working. So this past Friday night, G. and I went. But we didn't want to do the whole Dry Creek Kitchen experience (of celebrity chef Charlie Palmer fame). I mean, what if we got TOO FILLED UP for dessert?!?! The horror!

So we went restaurant hopping. We stopped first at Restaurant Charcuterie, which is a few doors down from the Dry Creek Kitchen. (They don't have a web site that I can find--how strange!) It's a great French bistro-type place, with crowded tables and a big old bar that seats a good four people. We had wine and their delicious appetizer place, the Chacuterie Plate. HMMMMMMM! Two kinds of salami (Rosette de Lyon and garlic), some duck rillette, pork pepper pate, plus a selection of olives and grapes. Wonderful! Throw in some bread, and that's a great meal for me.

Properly fortified, we strolled around downtown Healdsburg a bit, then went to our 9:30 p.m. reservation at the Dry Creek Kitchen.

The desert menu made my head spin! Here's how my thinking went:

Amaretto Creme Brulee, oooo, sounds good.

Toasted Lemon-Olive Oil cake, wow, sounds different.

Chocolate Croissant Bread Pudding...with Organic Cherry Puree...and Guinness Ice Cream?!?!
GUINNESS ICE CREAM???

GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's a drive to deep right field. Way back, way back.... Gone! HomerunBarryBonds.

Gretzky skates over the timeline, deeks the defender! Only the goalie to beat. Gretzky shoots, scores!!!!!

The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!

Needless to say, I had that, and it was wonderful--rich and dense yet balanced with the fruit and the ice cream. G. had creme brulee. Then, L. came out (we had told the waiter we were his friends) and presented us with two freebie desserts--which we happily devoured. Then, as a take home gift, L. had the waiter present us with two small boxes, each of which contained a selection of three homemade chocolates.

So we were living in style. Just hanging out at the Dry Creek Kitchen, sampling great desserts, I'm having Port, and having the pastry chef come out and treat us like Rock Stars. Hey, as I've said before, You only go around once in life, but if you do it right, once is enough.

L., thanks for making a special night very special. And the next time I see you around, L., I'm buying the drinks till I get that Guinness ice cream recipe from you!!

How do you taste a $500 per bottle wine?

Very carefully!

Or at least I did the other day during one of the highlights of my food and wine experiences to date. Not only did I get to taste a wine that's $500 a bottle, I got to hang out with the winemaker. I mean, come on: It doesn't get much better than that!

Here's the story. Todd Anderson has been making fabulous Bordeaux-style wines at Conn Valley Vineyards in the heart of the Napa Valley for more than 20 years. Around 2000, he started a second, ultra- ultra-premium winery: Ghost Horse Vineyards. Ghost Horse wines are made only with 100% Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon fruit from Todd's personal vineyard. As well, he painstakingly handcrafts each release, making extremely small---and extremely exceptional---batches of each vintage. The results? What he calls "head-cracking" wines. Yes, they have the big price tag, but once you figure in the private grape source and the extremely small lots, the wine prices make sense. So, what'd I think? Beyond belief. I'm never had a wine bouquet hit my nostrils with the glass still seven or eight inches from my nose! Not only are the Ghost Horse wines real "fruit bombs", they taste as what I can only describe as "heady"---your head starts to spin, they're so good. Full-flavored, perfectly balanced acid, no heavy tannins--to me the Ghost Horse Cab tasted of deep fruit/cherry/black cherry, with a hint of chocolate. As well, the wines have incredible "weight"--a great mouth feel, fat and full yet with no negative after-tastes.

Todd's also a fun person to hang out with. He readily shares his extensive knowledge about winemaking collected over 20+ years in the business. Hanging out in the cave drinking a $500/bottle of wine... while chatting up the winemaker... in the heart of Napa Valley.... Yes. Yes, yes, and yes.

Tours are extremely limited, but you can get a "taste" of Todd's world at his ultra-cool Ghost Horse web site: http://www.ghosthorseworld.com/