Category: Cabernet Sauvignon

Sips & Bites: News from the Phoenix restaurant community

Quick sips & bites of news about what’s going on around the Phoenix restaurant community, breweries and wineries.

1/2 off bottles of wine at Kasai for National Red Wine Day

Sunday August 28th the Japanese steakhouse in Scottsdale celebrates all day with $2 off all glasses and 1/2 all bottles of wine. Red wines make great pairings for several entrees including Caymus Cabernet pairs well with Mongolian Lamb Chops, Angeline goes well with Wagyu Sliders and Yolo with the NY Strip.

Schmooze welcomes back students & teachers this weekend

All students and teachers can get 15% off their order today through Sunday at the downtown Scottsdale coffee shop & cafe. Mention “Back to Schmooze” and present a valid ID when ordering to get your discount. Looking to buy gift cards? If so, their also offering a free $20 gift card when purchasing a $100 gift card. Both offers are only available in store when ordering from a team member.

Pork on a Fork gives police and fire personnel 50% off

The new Chandler location is saying “thanks” to all members on Tuesday & Wednesday August 30th & 31st. The first responders will need to show ID to get the discount.

Cult favorite peach topped pizza back at Myke’s Pizza

The popular downtown Mesa eatery brings back it’s uncommon fruit topped pizza. While supplies (peaches) last, usually into October, guests can get a pizza topped with aged Gouda and mozzarella cheeses, crispy sage, pistachios, and golden Utah peaches for $18.50. Owner Myke Olson was inspired by his mother’s peach pies she made when he was growing up in Utah. The pizza shop has gained national attention for his use of peaches and other fruits on his pizzas.

Koibito Poke offers student discounts at all locations

All Phoenix area locations offer students with ID 15% off your entire purchase daily from 2 – 5 p.m.

Don’t forget to check out my podcast Pulling Corks & Forks: The Podcast with Sandy Wasserman to hear from those in our community. Please subscribe, like & comment.

Sips & Bites: News from the Phoenix restaurant community

Quick sips & bites of news about what’s going on around the Phoenix restaurant community, breweries and wineries.

Miracle Mile Deli celebrates National Sandwich Month

Starting Monday August 1st the central Phoenix deli is serving up a weekly sandwich special for only $12. 8/1-8/6 – Corned Beef Sandwich 8/8-8/13 – Brisket Sandwich 8/15-8/20 – Combo (Pastrami & Corned Beef) 8/22-8/27 – The Straw. Each sandwich comes with a choice of sides and a dill pickle spear.

Phoenix City Grille offers exclusive Caymus Vineyards tasting event

Wednesday August 3rd join the vineyard’s Arizona Market Manager Stephanie Martindale for a tasting of five wines. Enjoy sipping on Emmolo Sparkling, Mer Soleil Reserve Chardonnay, Sea Sun Pinot Noir, The Walking Fool Red Blend and Bonanza Cabernet Sauvignon. Wines tasted during the event will be available for purchase with limited seating costing $25 ++ per person. Reservations can be made by contacting Britinee Reed at 602-510-7170 or privatedining@phoenixcitygrille.com

Hearth ’61 welcomes Chef Eugenia Theodosopoulos

The Chef and owner of Essence Bakery Cafe in Arcadia will be the guest chef at the restaurant’s Sunday Supper Club in August. The four-course dinner is set for August 14th at 6 p.m. and is paired with wine. Seats are $189++ per person and can be reserved here.

Sardinia’s food featured at Queen Creek Olive Mill’s dinner

The Italian region’s flavors and foods will be on prepared for August’s Tavalo dinner. Thursday August 18th from 6:30 -9:30 p.m. guests will dine on a 6-course’s with optional wine pairings. Much of the ingredients are locally sourced including from Golden Rule Dairy in Elfrida. Dinner is $124.99 per person and wine pairings are an additional $39.99. Reservations can be made here.

Caffe Vita opens tomorrow with FREE oat milk lattes.

The Seattle based coffee roaster opens its first Arizona location in the former Easley’s Fun Shop at 5th Ave. & McDowell Rd. Lattes will be available from 7 a.m. – 6p.m. Read more about the opening and more here.

Don’t forget to check out my podcast Pulling Corks & Forks: The Podcast with Sandy Wasserman to hear from those in our community. Please subscribe, like & comment.

Sips & Bites: News you can use from the Phoenix restaurant community

Quick sips & bites of news about what’s going on around the Phoenix restaurant community, breweries and wineries.

Jungle Vino available at Pita Jungle for National Drink Wine Day

The new private label wines from California’s Dunnigan Hills will be available at all locations on Thursday February 18th. The Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon are produced by Matchbook Wines and is $18 a bottle and $5 a glass at happy hour.

Bashas donates Paczki sales to St. VdP on February 16th

On Fat Tuesday the local grocer will donate 10% of sales of the Polish fruit filled pastry to St. Vincent de Paul. Customers who snap a selfie with the Paczki can tag @bashasmarkets on Facebook and Instagram and #PaczkiSelfie for a chance to win a$100 gift card. $.75 per or $2.99 for 6.

Bottomless fries at Hopdoddy Burger Bar for Fat Tuesday

The Camelback and Scottsdale burger joint kick off Mardi Gras with more fries than you can eat. All day you can choose from Parmesan Truffle, Green Chile Queso, BBQ Ranch and more. Available for dine-in or take-out.

Sazerac Cocktails & Craft buys new motor scooter for disabled vet

The downtown Phoenix bar raised money and donated their own to buy customer and disabled veteran Dave Little Eagle a new ride. Injured in a 2015 parachuting accident in Afghanistan old scooter broke down and couldn’t get in touch with the VA. Too watch the moment when Dave’s new scooter presented to him you can watch the video here.

Still time to make plans for Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day is this Sunday and if you and your sweetheart don’t have plans yet this post will give you plenty of dining out or take-out options from local restaurants.

 

 

Tommy V’s Urban Kitchen pairs food with Orin Swift wines

Downtown Scottsdale’s Tommy V’s Urban Kitchen will be hosting a wine pairing dinner on Thursday, December 19th with wines from Orin Swift.

The popular California winery was founded by Dave Phinney in 1998 with a couple of tons of Zinfandel after studying in Italy and working harvest at Robert Mondavi Winery. Today the winery makes 15 wines with four of them being poured during this 5-course dinner.

Dinner starts at 6:30 p.m and is $90 per person plus tax & gratuity. To make a reservation call 480-427-2264. The locally owned Tommy V’s Urban Kitchen is at 7303 E. Indian School Rd. Scottsdale 85251. For more information visit their website.

Served that night will be……

1st Course-Seafood Salad
Octopus, Calamari & Scallops
Orin Swift ‘Blank Stare’ Sauvignon Blanc, Russian River
2nd Course-Tortellacci
With Butternut Squash in Butter Sage Sauce
Orin Swift ‘Mannequin’ Chardonnay, California
3rd Course Eggplant Involtini
Eggplant stuffed with ricotta topped with a light tomato sauce
Orin Swift ‘8 Years in the Desert’ Zinfandel Blend, California
Entrée-Surf & Turf
Small Filet with Shrimp, Mashed Potatoes & Roasted Tomatoes
Orin Swift ‘Palermo’ Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa
Dessert-Chocolate Temptation
Chocolate and hazelnut cream with hazelnut crunch, finished with chocolate glaze
Pacific Rim Sweet Riesling, Columbia Valley

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brie and Nikki Bella pair their wines at Hearth ’61 cuisine

Since their not body slamming their opponents in the wrestling ring anymore, twin sisters Brie and Nikki Bella are stomping grapes at their Napa Valley winery, Belle Radici. They launched the winery with partner Ryan Hill in 2017 and is Italian for “beautiful roots”. Belle Radici wines along with wines from Hill’s Hill Family Estate Winery will be poured on Sunday September 15th at Hearth ’61.

The dinner is part of the Mountain Shadows Resort’s Sunday Supper Club with food prepared by Chef Charles Wiley. Chef Wiley will be joined in the kitchen by Elements at Sanctuary executive chef Beau MacMillan. The pair worked together at Element’s when Wiley was executive chef and mentored MacMillan.

They’re collaborating on a four-course menu that includes Black Garlic Braised Beef Cheek and Honey Crisp Apple and Daikon Radish Salad.

The monthly Sunday Supper Club pairs wines or spirits with Chef Wiley’s modern cuisine. Upcoming dinners include Rombauer Vineyards on October 20th and Champagne Henriot on December 8th.

Dinner starts at 6 p.m. and each seat is 474 plus tax and gratuity. Reservations are required and can be made by calling 480-624-5400.

Mountain Shadows Resort is at 5445 E. Lincoln Dr. Paradise Valley 85253.

The 9th annual Los Angeles Food & Wine Festival set for Aug. 22 -25

The culinary stars shine bright on southern California when the 9th Annual Los Angeles Food & Wine festival launches for four days in August. Celebrity chefs and local food icons show off the coastal cuisine of southern California cooking. Jerimiah Tower and Nancy Silverton are two of the chefs cooking for guests at diners, cooking demonstrations and more.

The four days start with a series of dinners Thursday evening at restaurants around the city before shifting to the Barker Hangar at the Santa Monica airport for the weekend.

Los Angeles Food & Wine festival events

14 culinary events will span the weekend including…..

The Legends Dinner at Chi SPACCA: The widely credited father of California cuisine Jeremiah Tower joins queen of the Mozza-Plex Nancy Silverton at her white-hot Chi SPACCA. This epic, one-night-only pairing promises a lifetime of bragging rights to the 40 festival-goers fortunate enough to snag a ticket.

Dinner at Otium: Fans of Netflix’s “The Final Table” can pull up a chair to watch 2018 season winner Tim Hollingsworth share the spotlight with rising star chef Travis Swikard at Hollingsworth’s downtown masterpiece, The Broad museum-adjacent Otium. 

The Epic Burger Throwdown with Alvin Cailan: In a city known for great burgers, the best are going bun to bun to win the coveted LAFW Golden Burger Show Trophy. Host Alvin Cailan, of YouTube’s “The Burger Show,” joins celebrity judges Seth Rogen, Tiffani Thiessen and Adam Richman in this juicy battle of the beef.

LA’s Faves & Craves: In one short stroll, festival-goers can take in the breathtaking diversity of L.A.’s culinary landscape as the city’s own Jet Tila hosts a showcase of the most crave-worthy dishes of 25 local chefs. L.A’s finest tacos, pizza, hot dogs, donuts, fried chicken and Asian-inspired specialties will share one location for one afternoon.

Meat Me at LAFW’s Great Steak-out & BBQ: Meat master Curtis Stone of Gwen Butcher Shop & Restaurant and 25 other great tamers of the flame are bringing their A+ game to LAFW. Surf, sides, caviar and Big Cabs will complement the slabs at this event evoking the nation’s greatest steakhouses and BBQ joints.

Sunday Brunch So Hard: Those lucky enough to score one of the very limited VIP tickets to LAFW’s grand finale enjoy rare pre-event access to Jeremiah Tower, the illustrious self-taught chef dubbed “The Last Magnificent” by Anthony Bourdain. Standard tickets are anything but shabby, too, at the culinary legend’s brunch-to-end-all-brunches.

To see a full list of events, more information and to purchase tickets visit their website.

A Taste of Mount Veeder coming to Scottsdale in March

We all remember our first love, first car and first winery we visited right. I remember the first two but the wine geek in me remembers visiting Hess Collection Winery on Mount Veeder in 1997. It was the first winery I had ever visited early in my wine career. Hess Collection will be one of 11 wineries pouring their wines at “A Taste of Mount Veeder” on Saturday March 2nd. The tasting will be at Troon Country Club from 1:00 – 2:30 p.m.

About Mount Veeder

The Mount Veeder appellation is part of the Mayacamas range on the western side of Napa Valley. It borders Sonoma County to the west and the Carneros appellation to the south. From vineyards a top the mountain on a clear day you can see San Francisco to the south as I did from Rubisow-Sargent’s vineyards on another visit to Napa Valley.

Grapes at Paratus Vineyards. All photos courtesy of Mount Veeder Appellation

In 1993 it was designated an American Viticultural Area(AVA) and covers 16,000 acres with only 1,000 acres under vine. Cabernet Sauvignon makes up 64% of grapes grown. Mount Veeder represents 1.3% of wine production in Napa Valley.

It was the first AVA to grow Petit Verdot, have all 5 Bordeaux varietals planted at one vineyard and produce a wine with all 5 Bordeaux varietals.

Wineries participating

This will be a unique opportunity to taste these wines in one place as some of the wineries are not open to the public. Participating wineries will be…..

Boich Family Cellar
Brandlin
The Hess Collection Winery
Lagier Meredith
Marketta Winery
O’Shaughnessy Estate Winery
Progeny
Random Ridge
Robert Craig Winery
Rudd Estate Winery
Sky Vineyards
Yates Family Vineyards

Find wines that you like and you’ll be able to order them for your collection. Tickets are $75 in advance and include gourmet hor d’oeuvres. Tickets will be $100 at the door. To purchase tickets visit their website or call 707-266-1296 before they sell out.

Troon Country Club is at 25000 N. Windy Walk Dr. Scottsdale 85255.

Lunch with Russ Weis, President of Silverado Vineyards

I recently sat down for lunch at Hearth ’61 with the President of Silverado Vineyards, Russ Weis, when he was in Phoenix. We tasted 3 wines while Russ told us the Silverado story, about life in Napa Valley surviving recent wildfires and about the wines.

Russ was practically born into the wine business as the son of grape growers in Madera, California. Russ started his career in Napa Valley in 1987 at Christian Brothers Winery then went on to Robert Mondavi Winery in 1993. He joined Silverado Vineyards in 2004.

The Silverado Vineyards story

Silverado Vineyards was started in 1981 by Diane Disney and her husband, former football player and movie producer Ron Miller. The 6 historic vineyards owned by the winery date back to the 1800s and are located throughout Napa Valley. The winery is currently owned by Ron and his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, with plans to keep it in the family for several more generations.

The wines are made by winemaker Jon Emmerich and associate winemaker Elena Franceschi. All wines are “Grown, Produced and Bottled by” the winery, one of a few Napa Valley wineries that can say that. A small portion of grapes are sold to other wineries.

With over 300 acres of vineyards the wines express the differing terroirs, giving each wine its unique complexity and character. The winery and home vineyard are in the Stags Leap District along the Silverado Trail.

Tasting the wines

During our lunch we tasted the 2016 Carneros Chardonnay and proprietary Cabernet Sauvignons GEO and SOLO from the 2014 vintage.

The chardonnay comes from the Vineburg and Firetree vineyards in the cooler southern part of Napa Valley. The wine is aged in French oak barrels with some in new oak. The wine is clean and well-balanced with oak and acidity. Bright fruit that the Carneros region is known for makes this a great wine to drink by itself or paired with food. It made a nice complement to our shrimp cocktail. The chardonnay is the winery’s second largest produced wine, at just under 10,000 cases.

The GEO Cabernet Sauvignon uses grapes grown on the Mt. George vineyard in Coombsville. The Millers bought the vineyard in 1987 and was the first vineyard planted to grapes in the Coombsville AVA. A splash of Petit Verdot is blended before the wine was aged for almost 2 years in mostly French oak. The wine was soft and enjoyable with good tannins giving you the typical Cabernet mouthfeel taste of blackberries and cocoa and drinks well. Only 2,200 cases are made.

The SOLO Cabernet Sauvignon was the last of the 3 wines we tasted. Made with 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, the wine is named for the fact it’s made from a single clone. The Silverado- Disney Heritage clone was given “Heritage” status by UC Davis because the new clone was carefully observed and had adapted to the unique soil of the Stags Leap District. It’s one of only 3 Cabernets with this status and the only one from Stags Leap District.

The bold fruit comes from the Silverado Vineyard and offers currants, cassis and plum nuances. It’s aged in 100% French oak with 38% new oak. The wine pairs well with grilled red meats and roasts. 2,400 cases were produced.

Visiting the winery

Silverado Vineyards is open daily by appointment. The winery is at 6121 Silverado Trail, Napa CA. 94458. For reservations call 707-257-1770 or visit their website.

SUMMER SUNDAYS” PRIME RIB DINNER AT FLEMING’S 3-Courses for $29.95, B.R. Cohen Cabernet for $40

Here is some info. on Fleming’s Sunday night’s Prime Rib dinner & wine feature. Summer is the time to bring back the tradition of Sunday night dinner with family and friends at Fleming’s. Guests can enjoy a three-course Prime Rib Dinner at a special price every Sunday evening beginning July 1st through Labor Day Weekend.

New this season is the perfect pairing of wine to complement prime rib of beef– B. R. Cohn North Coast Silver Label Cabernet Sauvignon 2008/2009–enticingly priced.
WHEN: Sundays through Labor Day Weekend
(July 1, 8, 15, 22, 29, August 5, 12, 19, 26, 30, September 2)

COST: $29.95* per guest
B.R. Cohn Cabernet Sauvignon $40* a bottle

WHERE: Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Baro Scottsdale at Lincoln Road: 6333 N. Scottsdale Rd. / 480-596-8265o North Scottsdale at DC Ranch: 20753 N. Pima Rd. / 480-538-8000o Chandler: 905 N. 54th St. / 480-940-1900o Peoria: 9712 W. Northern Ave. / 623-772-9463

Please visit www.FlemingsSteakhouse.com to find your nearest restaurant and hours.
MENU:
The Sunday Prime Rib Dinner is a three-course meal featuring:

  • 12 ounces of succulent Prime Rib, served with a trio of sauces
  • Choice of The Wedge, Fleming’s or Caesar salad
  • Choice of one side dish (ten selections)
  • Choice of housemade dessert (seven selections)



*excluding tax and gratuity. Our Prime Rib Dinner is available every Sunday, but at the special summer price of $29.95 per guest through September 2nd only. Fleming’s abides by all local and state liquor laws.

Hawk and Horse Vineyards 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon from the Red Hills of Lake County

North of the Napa Valley is Lake County where farms, fields and vineyards roll through the rural countryside. This is where in 1999 Mitch and Tracey Hawkins and David Boises started growing grapes & started producing wine in 2004. 18 acres planted to mostly Cabernet Sauvignon, Hawk and Horse Vineyards is certified organic(CCOF) and serves as a ranch in addition to vineyards and  is located in the Red Hills AVA of lake County.

Making 2 wines under the guidance of well respected winemakers Dick Peterson and Scott Harvey, Hawk and Horse show off how good Lake County Cabernet Sauvignon can be.

The 2007 Cabernet is the 3rd release and is a burst of dried currants and cocoa. Aged for 18 months in French oak this wine is medium bodied and offers nice tannins with a long, lingering finish. With only 430 cases produced this wine is a great example of what a well balanced wine should be and should sell out at $65 so get yours soon.

As much as we loved the CS with our rib eyes, we almost went bonkers over their 2006 Latigo dessert wine. This delicious, amber wine is made with CS grapes and then fortified with brandy. The wine is aged for 26 months and when ready to drink is a mouthful of cherries, raisins and cranberries that is medium in body and consistency. Only 200 cases were made and is perfect for the upcoming fall and holiday season. Approx. $45 http://hawkandhorsevineyards.com/