Email This Post
Vanessa Robledo named president of Napa winery
Kathleen Hill | Sonoma Valley Sun
Good news: Starting next Tuesday, this column will appear twice a week in the Sonoma Valley Sun, so join me for all the hot food and wine news, right here.
Vanessa Robledo has just joined Black Coyote Chateau winery in Napa as president and partner. Founded by neurosurgeon Dr. Ernest Bates, Black Coyote makes 650 to 800 cases of fine cabernet sauvignon annually, “depending upon what Mother Earth gives us,” according to Robledo.
Other partners in the venture include Stanley Trotman, Jack Russle, and Dr. Owen Robison, with Marco di Giulio serving as winemaker.
Robledo is excited about her new challenge as a chance to grow a business and create a wine club, much as she did as president of Robledo Family Winery.
******
Wait a minute! 2009 ratings? Does that forecast which restaurants will be best next year or which have been good this year, so deemed by Michelin’s anonymous testers and tasters in their new “San Francisco Bay Area & Wine Country 2009”?
There is a semi-shocker in this Michelin guide’s third edition.
In the Bib Gourmand category, defined as “good value” where “for $40 or less, a person can enjoy two courses and a glass of wine or a dessert (not including tax or gratuity),” not one Sonoma Valley restaurant makes the cut. Maybe owners and managers of struggling eateries should pay attention, although even modest and inexpensive restaurants report lots of “slow” days during our uncertain economy.
In the 2007 edition, El Dorado Kitchen made the Bib Gourmand list. In 2008 EDK was dropped and Rin’s Thai was added. This year, Rin’s also was dropped, although it was the only Sonoma restaurant to make the “Where to eat for less than $25” list.
In 2009’s “Where to have brunch” category EDK, La Salette, the Girl & the Fig and the now-closed Wolf House make the cut. Wolf House serves food at the adjoining bar at the Jack London Lodge.
Michelin signals ratings by a crossed fork and spoon symbol and blesses restaurants with a place setting or more for achievement.
Here is how Michelin ranked local restaurants, alphabetically and according to how many place settings. Café La Haye (2), Della Santina’s (2), El Dorado Kitchen (2), Glen Ellen Inn (2), Harvest Moon Café (1), Kenwood Restaurant (2), La Salette (2), Rin’s Thai (1), Shiso (1), The Girl & the Fig (2) and Wolf House (1).
Who knows whether or when Michelin’s testers tried all of our better restaurants.
******
The Sonoma Valley Film Society gave the film festival a new life as the Sonoma International Film Festival at the interesting, attractive home of Mike and Therese Nugent. Society board member and evening chair Anya Crain announced the launch of the Blanche DuBois Fund, and film festival executive director Louisa Percudani explained the progressive change from the more provincial Sonoma Valley Film Festival to the international iteration. Congratulations!
Sonomans Elaine Bell and John Merritt of Elaine Bell Catering donated all of the perfectly runny cheeses and appetizers, while Gloria Ferrer contributed sparkling and still wines and Swan’s Neck Vodka provided abundant martinis.
******
A Fox News crew flew out from New York last week to film a Saturday-night, prime-time special featuring the Robledo family as part of a series on American families. Among those interviewed were yours truly, Lee Booker, Ned Hill and several Robledos. Of course the host and cameraman got to enjoy Maria Robledo’s fabulous cuisine.
******
Ron and Audrey Chapman celebrated their two-acre vineyard harvest by hosting a poolside dinner to benefit C.A.S.A. (Court Appointed Special Advocates for Children) a week ago. Honoring their late friend Jim Hildreth’s favorite charity, the Chapmans generously highlighted C.A.S.A. advocate and retired Petaluma DMV director Sharon Ryan of Sonoma, who beautifully articulated her passion for the cause.
Guests got to compete in bocce, horseshoes and croquet, and Wild Thyme catered the dinner, which featured a perfect Sonoma greens salad with goat cheese and succulent pork roast with gratin potatoes and roasted squash, followed by an elegant, low-sugar pear tart. Any money donated went directly to C.A.S.A.
******
Field of Greens seems to be one of the few places where kids and grown up kids can wander among pumpkin and gourd plants and actually pick one for decorating or eating. Adobe Pumpkins at Adobe Road and East Washington in Petaluma has trucked in thousands of pumpkins and laid them out on the ground.
Field of Greens will also have hay rides, a hay pyramid, farm animals to pet and crafts for kids, and it’s a whole lot closer than Petaluma. Incidentally, the Vadasz family is letting their pumpkin patch rest this year and will not have Vintage House selling pumpkins on their Grove Street property.
Field of Greens encourages school tours, and be sure to check out their vegetables as well. They currently sell to EDK, The Red Grape, Depot Hotel, Kenwood Inn and Ramekins. 10 a.m.-6 p.m. daily through Halloween. 1777 W. Watmaugh Road near Highway. 116, Sonoma. Call Gayleen Brown at 415.608.0480.
******
Sonoma Valley Vintners & Growers Alliance (SVVGA) will host a mixer tonight, Oct. 23 at The Lodge at Sonoma’s Palm Tree Room. Following a 3 to 5 p.m. grower forum, growers and associate members will indulge in a two-hour social and tasting of each others’ wines, Lodge foods and great conversation. Bring a bottle of wine to share. 5-7 p.m. 1325 Broadway, Sonoma. RSVP quickly to info@sonomavalleywine.com or 707.935.0803.
******
For famed Italian chef and cooking instructor Marcella Hazan’s luncheon appearance at Sonoma Meritâge last Saturday, hosted by Readers’ Books, chef/owner Carlo Cavallo and crew prepared a three-course meal from Hazan’s “Essentials of Italian Cooking.” Eighty admirers enjoyed gorgonzola salad; boneless and skinless chicken breasts with lemon sauce and thin lemon slices with zucchini and tomatoes; and chocolate mousse.
After a few big sips of her beloved bourbon on the rocks, Hazan tasted the chicken and asked for salt. (I didn’t have any bourbon and thought the chicken and lemon sauce were very good.) Hazan complimented Cavallo on his dessert: “The chocolate mousse, it is the best!”
******
Rocket Catering will prepare a smashingly good menu for the Sonoma Jazz Society’s annual member appreciation evening on Saturday, Oct. 25 featuring The Robert Stewart Experience. A young saxophonist, Stewart has been praised rapturously by Dizzy Gillespie and Wynton Marsalis.
Rocket will provide grilled sweet potatoes with scallion cream and Applewood smoked bacon, crostini with goat cheese and cherry ginger relish, salmon skewers with gremolata aioli, and beef and roasted onion brochettes with orange olive vinaigrette.
Free to Jazz Society members, $25 for guests, or you can join for $40 at the door. No-host wine and beer bar. 6-10 p.m. Limited seating reservations: call Janice at 707.373.0700.
******
Sommelier Chris Sawyer relays that the Charles Schwab Cup trophy for next weekend’s golf tournament will be on display at Carneros Bistro from Sunday, Oct. 26 to Wednesday, Oct. 29. Chef Janine Falvo will create special appetizers paired with Sawyer’s wine selections for a special celebration Oct. 29 honoring some of the tournament’s stars. No admission fee. 5-7 p.m. 1325 Broadway, Sonoma. 707.931.2042.
******
Don’t forget the Sonoma Community Center’s Ceramic Co-op chili bowl fundraiser Saturday, Oct. 25. Sonoma ceramicists will create chili bowls to be filled with chili made from recipes by chefs John McReynolds, John Toulze and writer Michele Anna Jordan. $20. 5-8 p.m. Room 110, 276 E. Napa St., Sonoma. For more information call 707.938.4626, ext. 7.
******
Pinot noir fans might take a ride out to Russian River Vineyards in Forestville for Greg Walter’s Pinot on the River expo Friday through Sunday, Oct. 24-26 for great food, tasting of pinot noirs from 100 wineries, loads of cheese from artisinal producers and informative seminars. $69 Grand Tasting on Sunday. Noon-4 p.m. 5700 Gravenstein Hwy., Forestville. For more information visit www.pinotontheriver.com.
******
Super Cal football fan André Tolpegin celebrated his “umptiumpth” birthday party with loads of family and lifetime friends and food from Catherine Driggers’ Olive & Vine that included Parmesan eggplant crisps with oven-dried tomatoes, mini tortas with roasted artichokes and spinach, grilled rosemary lamb skewers, divine smoked salmon, melt-in-your-mouth, twice-baked mini yukon gold potatoes and Diana Tolpegin’s ham. Obviously Cal’s football team was playing away for the Tolpegins to host a party on a Saturday afternoon.
******
Ann Willan, one of the world’s foremost authorities on French cooking and a respected cooking teacher and author, will speak and sign her new book, “The Country Cooking of France,” at COPIA next Sunday, Oct. 26. This book won two 2008 James Beard Foundation book awards, was nominated for an IACP International Cookbook Award, and Willan received the IACP’s prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award.
A native of Newcastle, England, Willan founded the famous École de Cuisine La Varenne and has written 25 books on food and food history. She hosted a 26-part series on PBS, appears often on The Martha Stewart Show and is working on a history of cookbooks for UC Press. Free. 1-2 p.m. 500 First St., Napa. 707.259.1600.
Bon appétit!
902 views