Wine and dine

One of my favorite nights out is a winemaker dinner—a five- or six-course gourmet meal with a different wine expertly paired with each course.

CCM’S CHEF: : Chef Nolan, at work in the kitchen at Central City Market during a winemaker dinner in April. He checks on the quail for his second course; quail Waldorf salad, which was paired with a Cambria Chardonnay. “Here at CCM, I am trying hard to buy local—from the wine, to all my food.” Nolan said. “Santa Maria has a great selection of great produce.” Credit: PHOTOS BY WENDY THIES SELL

WHAT A PEARL: : At a recent winemaker dinner, Chef Nick Nolan from Central City Market paired Oysters Rockefeller with Cambria Winery Rae’s Chardonnay. “The wine had clean, crisp flavor and it needed to be cut with some sort of meatiness. From the oyster you get a clean, crisp bite and when you add baked bacon and cream to it, you get a match made in heaven,” Nolan said. Credit: PHOTOS BY WENDY THIES SELL

The chefs and the wineries pull out all the stops, creating special gourmet dishes and serving their best new releases or library wines.

It is always great fun sitting family-style at a long table, rubbing elbows with other wine and food enthusiasts, who are usually excellent dinner company.

Chef Nick Nolan at Central City Market in Santa Maria is one talented local chef who plans and prepares a different winemaker dinner almost every month.

His Cambria Winery dinner menu earlier this year included Oysters Rockefeller paired with Chardonnay; quail Waldorf salad with Chardonnay; crispy duck confit à l’orange with Pinot Noir; filet mignon Steak Diane with Syrah; and French-style apple pie with late harvest Viognier.

FOOD AND WINE: Upcoming winemaker dinners at Central City Market: Sept. 18, Qupé; and Oct. 30, Kenneth Volk Vineyards. Contact CCM at 925-7766 or visit centralcitymarketsm.com. Watch for Full of Life Foods winemaker or beer dinner information on their website; fulloflifefoods.com. Local winemaker dinners are often posted on these local wine association websites: sbcountywines.com/events, staritahills.com, and santamariavalleywinecountry.com.

I asked Nolan how he goes about deciding what to create for his multi-course winery feasts: “We pick dishes after smelling and tasting the wine,” he told me.

“We like to taste and smell for those deep flavors, for example; apricots, blueberries, earthy notes, tropical notes. When we taste and we get blackberry or orange, we think, ‘What goes best with those fruits?’ Duck? Rabbit? So, after we decide on a protein, we think of a clever, creative way to make it a brand-new dish that we have never repeated. This creates an experience like no one has ever tried, especially showcasing the winery itself,” Nolan explained.

The winemaker also plays a role in planning the dinner and in suggesting which wines to feature.

Dynamic Santa Maria wine producer Gavin Chanin of Chanin Wine Company meets with a restaurant’s chef, sous chef, and sommelier to taste his boutique wines well in advance of any winemaker dinner.

WINEMAKER DINNER: : Central City Market, located at the Santa Maria Town Center mall, hosts a multi-course winemaker dinner usually every month with a different Central Coast winery. With each course, the chef addresses the group, describing every entrée, and the winemaker who produced the wines shares details on the winemaking and grape-growing process. Credit: PHOTOS BY WENDY THIES SELL

CLASSIC PAIRING: : Full of Life Foods paired this wood oven-roasted Ojai Valley squab with a Chanin Le Bon Climat Pinot Noir. “Squab, like duck, is a classic Pinot Noir pairing. The way they did it in the oven with the mushrooms and lentils was a great compliment to the spicy style of my Pinot Noir,” Chanin said. “I thought that was the dish of the night, and the pairing of the night, too! Credit: PHOTOS BY WENDY THIES SELL

“We discuss the flavors, textures, amount of acidity/structure in each wine, and just throw some ideas out there,” Chanin said.

His winemaker dinner at Full of Life Foods in Los Alamos featured confit suckling pig with fennel kraut paired with Riesling; poached local halibut with English pea puree paired with Chardonnay; crispy sweetbreads with Pinot Noir; roasted squab with Pinot Noir; and Cowgirl Creamery cheese, dates, and marmalade paired with Chardonnay.

“For me, winemaker dinners are a great way to introduce the wines to people,” Chanin said, “because I have dedicated myself to a style of wine that pairs with food and that is their ideal setting.”

Sun wine and food writer Wendy Thies Sell invites you to send story suggestions. Contact her at wthies@santamariasun.com.

This article appears in Sep 6-13, 2012.