What to Drink Now: Grenache Blanc from Sonoma

By Sarah Stierch

For me, summertime wine should be refreshing, easy to drink, and just a little funky – meaning something that stands out beyond the standard sauvignon blanc or rosé all day. 

Lately, my go-to wines have been fresh, acid-centric vinos that taste great on their own or make for a perfect pairing with snackable cheese and summer salads. So what am I drinking these days? My current obsession is grenache blanc, the white light-skinned sister of grenache. And trust me, it will be yours, too.

Grenache blanc is originally from northern Spain. It traveled across the border to France to become a Rhône varietal. It’s commonly used as a blending grape in the famous Châteauneuf-du-Pape and other red and white wines.

Eventually, it made its way to California where, in the 1990s, Paso Robles Rhône-producing icons Tablas Creek began growing grenache blanc, paving the way for other producers.

Today, it’s grown throughout California, including in Sonoma County. Despite being a hearty grape that thrives in Sonoma County’s diverse soil and regions, it’s still a ‘rare grape’ compared to other white wine varietals. It’s still used in blends, but is gaining popularity as a single varietal wine.

Grenache blanc is a fun and funky wine, often with a vibrant nose full of what can range from green notes (i.e. kefir lime, green apple) to  the kind of floral citrus notes that one might find in a viognier (i.e. honeysuckle, lemon flower). Let’s put it this way: the nose of grenache blanc will knock your socks off.

Taste wise it is often rich, sometimes viscous, making it a nice, lighter alternative for chardonnay fans. It has a moderate, nice acid and tastes mineraly and a bit spicy, sometimes with hints of cinnamon, nutmeg, again with the green apple. Yum.

Passaggio Wines is one of few Sonoma County wineries to produce a single varietal grenache blanc. This year marks the winery’s first grenache blanc vintage, which uses grapes from Matthes Vineyards, a small Rhône-focused vineyard just outside of downtown Sonoma.

“I wanted a local single vineyard varietal that went well in my portfolio,” shares Passaggio Wines winemaker and owner, Cynthia Cosco, “something unusual.” Cosco acknowledges the special nature of grenache blanc and appreciates how food friendly and distinct it is. It pairs well with briney, salty cheese like feta and halloumi, tomato or citrus salads, pork chops with apples, and spice-rubbed grilled chicken.

Lloyd Davis, owner of Corner 103 winery in Sonoma, decided to offer a grenache blanc to customers to complement his grenache, both new releases this year that he’s offered first to his wine club members. “Our club members want more diversity in their wines,” he shares, “they’re moving beyond commonplace sauvignon blancs and chardonnay, and grenache blanc provides the perfect alternative to their craving.”

So what grenache blanc should you be sipping on this summer? Here are my picks for the best wines to grab for your cooler.

Passaggio Wines 2016 Grenache Blanc ($33)
One of Sonoma County’s finest white wine producers, Passaggio Wines has taken grapes from nearby Matthes Vineyard to create a grenache blanc-based field blend with a hint (25%) of marsanne, which helps to boost the orange flower and green apple flavors of grenache blanc. Keeping with winemaker Cynthia Cosco’s style, it’s got great acidity and accessibility with its screw cap opener.

Corner 103 2016 Grenache Blanc ($30)
The most vibrant nose of all grenache blancs I tasted, Corner 103’s vino uses grapes from Alexander Valley. Its nose is lush like a viognier, full of tart grapefruit, kefir lime, gardenia, and honeysuckle. Partially unfiltered, the wine has a hazy shade. This technique helps bring out the spiced flavors of the grape, including dill, cloves and cinnamon. Only 89 cases were made of this wine and, according to the winery, only 30 are left.

Matthes Vineyards 2015 Grenache Blanc Rhône Blend ($42)
A field blend, Matthes’ estate wine comprises 68% grenache blanc and 32% marsanne. Another quality representative of grenache blanc, its nose hints at clementine, anise and green apple. Eleven months in neutral French oak adds a viscosity to the wine that lends to a lovely, silky texture in the mouth, with flavors of ripe stone fruit, wet stone and more green apple.

Rock For a Cause at The Petaluma Music Festival

By Sarah Stierch
The 2017 Petaluma Music Festival takes place August 5 (Photo courtesy of Petaluma Music Festival)
The 2017 Petaluma Music Festival takes place August 5 (Photo courtesy of Petaluma Music Festival)

Live music and cold beer on a sunny Saturday in Petaluma? All proceeds benefit local music education in public schools? Sounds like music to our ears. 

This year’s 10th annual Petaluma Music Festival, on Saturday, August 5, will bring 4,000 music lovers together for a great cause. All proceeds benefit the music education programs of all Petaluma area public schools.

The Petaluma Music Festival is bound to satisfy lovers of Americana, rock, twang, and psychedelic music. Fourteen bands will rock on four stages, with the Chris Robinson Brotherhood headlining the festival. The psychedelic rock band is led by Chris Robinson, frontman of the rock ‘n’ roll band the Black Crowes.

Other acts performing include Scott Law & Ross James’ Cosmic Twang w/special guest Lebo (who are tight with the Grateful Dead‘s Phil Lesh), Poor Man’s Whiskey, Stu Allen & Friends, Moonalice, T Sisters, Midnight North, Royal Jelly Jive, Grateful Bluegrass Boys, The Incubators, Colonel & the Mermaids featuring Alex Koford, The Pulsators, The Bootleg Honeys, and Miss Moonshine.

Beer will be served by Lagunitas Brewing Company. A silent auction and a raffle for a signed celebrity guitar will take place.

Meet and greets with artists will take place all day and plenty of local food and wine vendors will be on hand. VIP tickets offer shaded reserved seating and complimentary food and wine and beer tastings.

It’s a family friendly event, with kids under 12 getting in for free. A designated kids area includes bouncey houses, a giant slide, face painting, arts and crafts, a petting zoo, and more.

The Petaluma Music Festival is Saturday, August 5 at the Sonoma-Marin Fairgrounds in Petaluma. Tickets start at $45. petalumamusicfestival.org

Back-to-School Trends and Savings in Sonoma County

By Karen Kizer

It’s time for one of America’s most beloved (and, for some, dreaded) traditions: Back-to-School shopping. This year’s Back-to-School spending is predicted to be the second highest on record and, according to a yearly poll by National Retail Foundation, 57% of this year’s shoppers will be headed to department stores to outfit their children. If you’re one of the Back-to-School shoppers, click through the gallery above to see local fashion finds and trends, and read below for more shopping tips. 

Sonoma County Back-to-School shoppers can find many major retailers at the Santa Rosa Plaza, Petaluma Village Premium Outlets, and Coddingtown. 

“It’s an exciting time of year,” says Jessica Burnett, general manager of Petaluma Village Premium Factory Outlets, calling the Back-to-School ritual the “kick-off” of the fall season, with new lines and trends being revealed. 

Retro is back in many ways, according Burnett and Kate Hudson, representing Santa Rosa Plaza mall. From “Bohemian” (floral and flowing festival-type wear) to acid wash jeans, tropical prints, gingham and plaid, even paisley, this year’s styles bring a parade of past looks back into circulation. It’s as if the last half-dozen decades called and said they want to meet you at the mall.

The dressed up tennis shoe, known as “sneaker glam,” will also make an appearance this year, according to Hudson. And the dressed down “Athleisure” look is also back for more time in the trending sun.

Many families in the county also shop for school uniforms, and a number of retailers have changed their offerings to accommodate that need, says Burnett.

But Back-to-School shopping isn’t all frilly, fancy fun and games. With the average family spending a predicted $688, budgets are a big piece of the puzzle. 

Burnett cites a VIP shopper club as an option for saving money, available at the Petaluma Outlets’ website, and also mentions sidewalk sales happening the first two weekends in August.

In addition to checking the Santa Rosa Plaza’s website for sales, Hudson suggests shoppers make a list before coming to the mall. That way, she says,  “You don’t get distracted by bright, shiny things – making a game plan saves times and money and helps you set boundaries with your children.”

From Bean to Bar: Artisan Sonoma Chocolate a Sweet Treat

By Linda Murphy

Taking their sustainable ethics in a different direction, the Malls embark on a sweet new adventure.

Jeff and Susan Mall were ahead of the Sonoma farm-to-table movement when they opened Zin Restaurant & Wine Bar in Healdsburg in 1999, basing their menu on what they grew and raised on their Eastside Road farm, and what they could procure from nearby ranchers and fishermen.

Such farm-to-fork service is now de rigueur, and the couple, lifelong culinary adventurers, are off on another journey. During a stint cooking at a Baja California Sur resort, they developed a taste for Mexican chocolate, appreciating its intense flavor, distinctive salt and spice notes, and compatibility with savory ingredients. While their year-old VOLO Chocolate business in Windsor keeps the Malls rooted in Sonoma, their ingredients are decidedly not local. And that’s the point.

Cacao pods for VOLO are harvested in the tropical Chiapas region of southern Mexico, where they are wrapped in banana leaves and allowed to ferment naturally. The beans are removed from the pods and shipped, raw, to the Malls’ tiny facility off Shiloh Road, behind Home Depot. Zulka Morena pure-cane sugar, Baja sea salt from Guerrero Negro and Mexican cinnamon complete the south-of-the-border list of base ingredients for their confections.

“The Mexican ingredients, and the way we treat them as chefs rather than bulk producers, make us different as chocolate makers,’ Jeff Mall said, as he operated a Rube Goldberg-like contraption (nicknamed Rubean) that cracks the cacao beans and separates them from their husks. He modified a used Champion juicer purchased on eBay to work with a ShopVac, creating a winnower that would cost $2,000 and up from a candy-making equipment supplier. It helps to be handy when starting a new business.

“Salt is as important to chocolate as it is to baking,” Jeff continued. “If you make cookies, cocoa and sugar alone are one-dimensional. Salt adds dimension. And we add less sugar than many chocolate producers. We think of ours as a chef’s chocolate.”

“We treat it like a food and not a candy,” added Susan, as she picked through raw beans prior to toasting them in a convection oven. “We’re now about products, not restaurants.”

The Malls sold Zin in late 2014, when their business partner wanted out. They had traveled often to Baja and had consulted for and taught cooking classes at Rancho Pescadero, a resort in Todos Santos, 45 miles north of Cabo San Lucas. After selling Zin to Dustin Valette, Jeff and Susan moved to Todos Santos for 18 months, where they managed the resort’s breakfast, lunch, dinner and room services, plus weddings and catering.

“It’s the hardest we’ve ever worked,” Jeff said. “But while we were there, we fell in love with Mexican chocolate and began making it on an experimental basis. When we returned to Healdsburg in 2016, we knew chocolate was our next venture.”

Valette, who left Healdsburg’s Dry Creek Kitchen to buy Zin from the Malls and turned it into what is now Valette, is a fan of VOLO.

“This is the next evolution in artisan chocolates, in my opinion,” he says. “VOLO chocolates are produced by chefs and designed for many uses. I love them for their intensity, lower sugar levels and increased salinity.

“We showcase VOLO by microplaning it on the side of our ItsNota ‘Snickers Bar’ dessert. It makes it fluffy and adds great contrast to the peanut nougatine.”

Not all VOLO products have solely Mexican ingredients, though the base bars always have salt, pure-cane sugar and cacao from Mexico. The 73% Chocolate Orange bar includes can- died orange peel; the 62% Dark Milk Chocolate features brown butter and roasted almonds grown on a ranch in Newman, California, where Jeff grew up; the 65% Creamy Dark Mocha bar is made with local Flying Goat Coffee and cream.

There are currently six chocolates available, at $8 per 2.5-ounce bar. VOLO also produces bonbons (the Malls’ version of a peanut butter cup is killer) for pop-up and special events, and solid-chocolate bunnies for Easter, which this year sold faster than the Malls could make them. The couple is playing with olive oil chocolate and the addition of Meyer lemon and other dried fruits to their bars, intent on balancing sweet with savory in each bite.

For now, it’s a two-person operation, carried out by the Malls in a 500-square-foot room. They can produce approximately 1,000 bars a week, though family and friends often help with packaging. Jeff’s aunt, Healdsburg artist Cathy Shanahan, paints and dyes on fabric in bold swaths of color; reproductions of her work wrap around each bar.

Growing their business is not foremost on the Malls’ minds. “We’re taking it one step at a time, testing the waters,” Jeff explained. “You can spend a lot of money really fast in this business, so we’re taking it slow.”

The brand began life as El Jefe — “boss” in Spanish and the closest approximation of “Jeff” in the Spanish language. Yet the world is awash in El Jefe brands, so the Malls settled on VOLO. It’s Latin for “to want, to wish.”

And who doesn’t want more — and more interesting — chocolate?

WHERE TO FIND VOLO

VOLO Chocolate’s Windsor production site is not open to the public, though proprietors Jeff and Susan Mall sell their confections at volochocolate.com and to a handful of winery tasting rooms and retailers, including these:

Bella Vineyards and Wine Caves
9711 W. Dry Creek Road, Healdsburg,
866-572-3552, bellawinery.com

Ferrari-Carano Vineyards and Winery
8761 Dry Creek Road, Healdsburg,
800-831-0381, ferrari-carano.com

Jimtown Store
6706 Highway 128, Healdsburg,
707-433-1212, jimtown.com

Relish Culinary Adventures
14 Matheson St., Healdsburg,
707-431-9999, relishculinary.com

Rodney Strong Vineyards
11455 Old Redwood Highway, Healdsburg,
707-431-1533, rodneystrong.com

Wilson Winery
1960 Dry Creek Road, Healdsburg,
707-433-4355, wilsonwinery.com

 

Liza Hinman: Santa Rosa Chef, Mom, Entrepreneurial Leader

By biteclub
Spinster Sisters chef Liza Hinman, second from right, and her kitchen staff, from left, sous-chef David McDowell, and line cooks Kelli Bailey and Grant Mitchel prepare dishes from chef Joyce Goldstein’s new cookbook The New Mediterranean Jewish Table, during a Book Passage Cooks with Books event at Spinster Sisters in Santa Rosa, California on Wednesday, June 1, 2016. (Alvin Jornada / The Press Democrat)

Spinsters Sisters chef Liza Hinman has been named to the James Beard Foundation’s Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership Program. As one of the first class of 21 recipients, the program aims to help female chefs and owners grow their businesses by cultivating women’s leadership in the culinary industry.

The Santa Rosa chef and her businesses partners from Spinster Sisters recently purchased Santa Rosa’s Astro Motel, which is going through a $10 million renovation to restore it to it’s mid-century modern glory. She’ll head to Babson College Sept. 10-15 with the rest of the class, which also includes Tanya Holland of Oakland’s Brown Sugar Kitchen.

That women chefs rarely get their due is one of the dirty secrets of the restaurant industry. Well, let’s face it, of a lot of industries. 

“Even years of hard work in the culinary industry didn’t necessarily mean the women got their due,” said Dr. Deborah Harris, who analyzed 2,200 pieces of food media, and conducted in-depth interviews with 33 women chefs for “Taking the Heat: Women Chefs and Gender Inequality in the Professional Kitchen,’’ co-authored with Patti Giuffre. For more on the topic, read Harris’ op-ed on the James Beard Foundation blog: jamesbeard.org/blog/opinion-can-we-finally-address-the-woman-problem-in-the-culinary-industry?

We’re glad to see Liza get tapped, and look forward to her bringing back plenty of wisdom for her sisters in the kitchen.

But what’s with being from Healdsburg, JBF (see below)? Santa Rosa proud!

The first class of 21 WEL recipients from across the country are:

·         Bleu Adams (Black Sheep Cafe, Black Sheep @ Epic Brewing, Provo, UT)
·         Kathleen Blake (The Rusty Spoon, Orlando, FL); Women Chefs and Restaurateur Fellow
·         Amy Brandwein (Centrolina/Chef Amy B, LLC, Washington, DC)
·         Christine Cikowski (Honey Butter Fried Chicken and Sunday Dinner Club, Chicago, IL)
·         Meredith Corey-Disch (Community Loaves, Jacksonville, FL)
·         Kimi Eklund (Kimi’s Chop & Oyster House, Salt Lake City, UT)
·         Gina Gruenewald (Wolf Peach/ Supper, Milwaukee, WI)
·         Liza Hinman (The Spinster Sisters, Healdsburg, CA)
·         Alicia Hinze (The Buttered Tin, St. Paul, MN)
·         Tanya Holland (Brown Sugar Kitchen, Oakland, CA)
·         Sarah Huck (Kos Kaffe, Brooklyn, NY)
·         Carolyn Johnson (80 Thoreau, Cambridge, MA)
·         Vivian Joiner (Sweet Potatoes-a restaurant, Winston-Salem, NC)
·         Guisell Osorio (Sabores Del Sur, Walnut Creek, CA)
·         Nicole Pederson (Found and The Barn, Evanston, IL); Women Chefs and Restaurateur Fellow
·         Marian Romano (Nonna’s Osteria, catering & Potato Palace, booth State Fair, Wasilla, AK)
·         Suzanne Simon (Chaia – Farm to Taco, Washington, DC)
·         Lien Ta (Here’s Looking At You, Los Angeles, CA)
·         Shannan Troncoso (Brookland’s Finest Bar & Kitchen, Washington, DC)
·         Jan Wichayanuparp (Sweet Republic, Phoenix, AZ)
·         Elizabeth Wiley (Meadowlark Restaurant, Wheat Penny Oven and Bar, Dayton, OH)

Mentors for the women chefs include

  • Elizabeth Blau, Founder and CEO, Blau and AssociatesJames Beard Award-Winning Chef Traci Des Jardins
  • Rohini Dey, JBF Trustee and founder/owner of Vermilion Restaurants
  • Ahmass Fakahany, Chief Executive Officer/Owner, Altamarea Group
  • Ruth Gresser, Chef/owner, Pizzeria Paradiso; Women Chefs and Restaurateurs, Past President
  • Carla Hall, Chef and television personality
  • Dr. Deborah Harris, Associate Professor of Sociology, Texas State University
  • Pamela Hinckley, Chief Executive Officer, Tom Douglas Restaurants
  • Josh Kulp, Co-owner, Honey Butter Fried Chicken
  • James Beard Award-Winning Chef Tony Mantuano
  • Jodie W. McLean, Chief Executive Officer, EDENS
  • Cindy McLoughlin, JBF Trustee and Partner with CohnReznick
  • Melissa Musiker, Director, APCO Worldwide
  • Richard Perlman, Chairman, Compass Partners LLC
  • James Beard Award-Winning Chef and JBF Trustee Anne Quatrano
  • Jessamyn Rodriguez, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Hot Bread Kitchen
  • Juliana Stone, Vice President at The Elliot Group

10 Best Cheap Eats in Sonoma

By Sonoma Magazine Staff

July 2017

You don’t have to be wealthy to eat well in Sonoma County. Sure, there are high-end restaurants with deep wine lists, $15 cocktails and menu items that include exotic and expensive ingredients. But beyond the gustatory glitz is a smorgasbord of good, honest and affordable eateries and dishes across the region. There are myriad options for delicious indulgence, but only if you know where to go. And we do. Click through the gallery above for cheap eats, Sonoma style.

Sonoma’s “Soil My Undies Challenge” Going Viral

By biteclub
Soil My Undies Challenge from the Farmers Guild of California with Evan Wiig and Singing Frog Farms.
Soil My Undies Challenge from the Farmers Guild of California with Evan Wiig and Singing Frog Farms.

Dirty boxers aren’t usually a good thing, but if you’re a farmer or gardener, they might just say a lot about your soil.

Evan Wiig, executive director of the California Farmers Guild, is challenging green thumb of all stripes to test the quality of their dirt with a simple pair of cotton underwear. If you’re soil is alive and healthy, according to Wiig, you’ll be left with not much more than an elastic waistband within a couple months. If you can wash and still wear the undies? You’ve got some work to do.

“In healthy, natural soil, you’ve got all these millions of tiny creatures—earthworms, fungi, bacteria—all busy eating, decomposing organic matter, transferring nutrients from the soil to the plant. But industrial agriculture decided it doesn’t need the help of these creatures,” said Wiig.

“Cotton is an organic material and breaks down naturally just like anything else you’d put in your compost pile. So if you bury cotton in soil teeming with life, all those creatures will begin to feast. Whereas in lifeless soil, nothing happens,” he said.
How does soil become lifeless? Wiig says that synthetic fertilizers and chemical inputs can make dirt “dead”.

“To those who rely solely on synthetic fertilizers and chemical inputs, the deader the dirt the better,” he says. “But the farmers we work with consider themselves stewards of that underground ecosystem, as farm partners with those tiny creatures. They take pride in active soil biology—and benefit from water retention, protection against pests and even the ability to sequester carbon.”

So far more than a dozen farmers, ranchers and gardeners have taken the #soilmyundies challenge, and the results will be judged and showcased at the September Agrarian Games and Farmer’s Market on September 16 at the Petaluma Fairground.
More details here.