vjb-cellars
2015 Peter Michael ‘La Carrière’ Chardonnay – A Great Pairing With Blackened Salmon
Photo ©Michael Kelly
From their website: ‘La Carrière’, French for “The Quarry”, reflects the vineyard’s spoon shape and tremendously rocky soils. Situated between 1,200 and 1,700 feet (366 and 518 meters) above sea level on steep mountain slopes exceeding 40 percent in grade, the vineyard has ideal southern and southeastern exposures. The shallow, rocky soils provide excellent drainage with restricted fertility, resulting in lower fruit yields with profound richness and character. As stated by their marketing ‘La Carrière’ provides a signature complexity and liquid minerality from its mountainous origin”.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
The winery produces other top-rated wines such as Cabernet Sauvignon blends, Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc. Their winery is located in Knights Valley in Somona County.
The history of Sir Michael David is a great read on their website listed below.
The Wine – “Wine is bottled poetry” – Robert Louis Stevenson
Photo ©Michael Kelly
The 2015 Peter Michael La Carrière Chardonnay is a wine that can be aged like many top-shelf French Chardonnays. The deep and rich golden color was striking along with its minerality, almond, jasmine, lemon and pear notes. The intense creaminess was the hallmark of this wine coupled with a heavy viscosity. The finish provided jasmine and pear with a touch of butterscotch. Wine Advocate gave this wine 95-97 points. Currently online it is running around $170/bottle. It should be noted that this is one of the few American Chardonnay’s that is age worthy. I generally drink them 8-11 years after the vintage date.
The Food and Wine Pairing – “Food without wine is a corpse; wine without food is a ghost. United and well matched, they are as body and soul: living partners” – Andre Simon
Photo ©Michael Kelly
The Friday Night Wine & Dine Group met last evening (Saturday) to enjoy some good food, wine, getting caught up and laughter! Ordered the blackened Salmon with lemon-butter sauce on the side, served over herb risotto, accompanied with sautéed fresh vegetables. Besides the fish being excellent, the risotto and vegetables were extremely tasty.
The Chardonnay provided a cooling down effect on the slight spiciness of the blackened Salmon. A beautiful and delicious food and wine pairing for the evening. Peter Michael consistently makes my Best Wines tasted during every year.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
We also enjoyed some other delicious wines this evening from Sonoma and Calaveras Counties with various dishes.
Sláinte,
Michael
https://californiawinesandwineries.com
2018 VJB Cellars Montepulciano and Tuscan Beef Pairing
Photo from VJB Cellars website
The Wine – “Wine is bottled Poetry” – Robert Louis Stevenson
Photo ©Michael Kelly
Montepulciano typically is known for its deep color, powerful and sharp tannins with high acidity. Key traits of Montepulciano are oregano, pepper, tobacco, black fruits, plums and sour cherries. On the finish a smoky tobacco is common as well as a rustic countryside quality. Montepulciano’s taste is like Aglianico, Sangiovese and Primitivo. Only 164.9 acres of Montepulciano grapes were harvested per the 2024 USDA National Agricultural Statistics for California representing only .00018% of all red wine grapes harvested in California.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
The 2018 VJB Cellars Montepulciano also has many of these characteristics and traits. It is bright in color and on the nose and palate, red berries, blackberries and dark stone fruit. It is bold and robust and best to be enjoyed with food. The finish provided firm tannins and is long yet with a modicum of vanilla and cocoa was very enjoyable. The finish was a tad “heavy and meatier”, but it fit my wine profile perfectly. The wine pairs with many foods especially with meats and cheeses found in Italy. This wine is 100% Montepulciano grapes from Sonoma Valley.
The Food and Wine Pairing – “Food without wine is a corpse; wine without food is a ghost. United and well matched, they are as body and soul: living partners” – Andre Simon
Photo ©Michael Kelly
Pulled this bottle out last evening to pair with a Tuscan slow cooked braised beef in wine recipe. The recipe called for three pounds of Chuck Roast cut into small cubes, all-purpose flour, salt, black pepper, olive oil, chopped yellow onion, chopped celery stalk, minced garlic, chopped parsley, red wine, dried whole bay leaves, bone broth, tomato sauce and whole wheat noodles. After browning all the meat on the stove and preparing the sauce, then placed in the slow cooker for eight hours. When the meat was served it was so tender it fell apart with just a fork. Served over the whole wheat pasta and drizzled with fresh parsley. Accompanied by steamed broccoli. The food and wine pairing hit the target with the tannins from the wine standing up to the meat and the flavorful meat enjoying the dark fruit from the wine.
The Winery
Have visited them once for a private tasting and enjoyed all their wines. Today they make an assortment of primarily Italian style wines. They include Prosecco, Tocai Friulano, Aleatico Rose, Barbera, Primitivo, Dante, Sagrantino, Nebbiolo, Sangiovese, Nero d’ Avola, Negro Amaro, Aglianico, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, a Barbera Port, a Chardonnay Port and various blends.
Besides so many delicious wines to choose from, they offer a food store called La Cucina. They offer all kinds of imported cheeses and meats and provide spectacular food choices. Also their Red Rooster Pizza makes some of the best pizza in all of Sonoma County. Even if you can’t make a wine tasting, these two features are a major bonus!
Slainte,
Michael Kelly
A Weekend Smorgasbord of Foods and Wines -Napa Valley, Lodi, Sonoma, Paso Robles, France and Calaveras foothills
A few of the Friday Night Wine & Dine Group was able to get together, not once but twice over the weekend. First at the local restaurant and then at one of the houses. The first included two nice specials at Verona18, Mahi Mahi with Mango Chutney and a Pasta Beef Ragu and of course their normal menu.
The second was for an impromptu crab feed including bibs! Two great dishes of fresh crab with clarified butter & lemon and a Fijian crab style dish (coconut milk, prawns, jalapeño peppers, etc.). Everyone brought various side dishes including salads, French bread, garlic French bread, chicken ramen with vegetables and a few other dishes.
Some excellent wine from Napa Valley, Lodi, Sonoma, Paso Robles, France and Calaveras foothills.
Some pictures were taken by me and a few from others.
Looking forward to a few days to recover!
Slainte,
Michael
https://californiawinesandwineries.com
https://www.shadybrookestate.com/wines/rapp-ranch