With the shelter in place still in effect in California, Visit Calistoga is taking the opportunity to taste more wine, experiment with food pairings and fine tune culinary skills, all while working from home. Work from home and #winefromhome are the new buzzwords in our part of the world –likely yours too-so we thought it would be fun to share a few #SIP favorites from the team at Visit Calistoga.
Doug, a Welcome Center volunteer for more than 7 years, and his wife Barb have been cooking up a storm starting with a panko and parmesan crusted petrale sole that they paired with a 2017 Laura Michael Chardonnay. Doug reported that the Chardonnay was crisp and clean with notes of green apple and citrus. The recent gorgeous and warm weather has been begging us to fire up our grills so Doug dutifully obliged, grilling to medium rare perfection a thick cut ribeye from Cal Mart (Calistoga’s best butcher!) and enjoying the 2010 Joseph Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon, Cellar Select. This wine is a beautiful, approachable, and affordable wine from Joseph Cellars that the Hermann’s confirmed has great ageing potential with a velvety texture, dark fruit and cocoa on the palate. A perfect pairing.
Our Welcome Center manager, Christine, reached for one of her favorite wines, the rosé of Malbec from Boatique Winery in Lake County. This rosé is fermented in concrete eggs -a technique that allows the winemaker to retain the wine’s fruity characteristics without the reductive qualities of stainless steel-and with hints of strawberry on the palate, the wine screams summer in a bottle. Christine tasted the 2019 rosé just prior to its commercial release and paired it with “drunken noodles” from Calistoga Thai Kitchen.
Betsy, Visit Calistoga’s marketing and public relations manager, has been working on her mixology skills and muddled up (muddle, muddle, muddle!) one of Evangeline restaurant’s most popular cocktails, the Incognito. Gin based with loads of mint and lime (hence, the muddling) as well as passion fruit puree, the Incognito is a refreshing and bright cocktail that is easy to make and a pleasure to drink, warm weather or otherwise. Whip up a batch for your aperitif while you work on dinner. The recipe is here.
Be sure to check in next week for more pours and pairings. Stay safe and well.
