Super Bowl Treats and Wine Pairing

I know what you’re thinking… how can I possibly pair super bowl snacks with delicious wines , well here are a few tips along with a couple recipes to help you out.

We all know chips and guacamole are a game day favorite, or at least they are here at Still Waters Vineyards, so why not try a slight variation on the tradition.  Instead of the trusty tortilla chips,  use a nice toasted baguette. Instead of the bowl of guacamole, step up the presentation and use homemade guac with lime and cilantro. Serve this as a Guacamole Bruschetta and your guests will be amazed!  Pair this appetizer with our Sauvignon Blanc. The crisp acidity of the Sauvignon Blanc will compliment the richness of the guacamole. (Guacamole Bruschetta  recipe below)

For those of you planning to host a chili cook-off for your super bowl party, wow your guests with this twist on the classic. White Lightning Chicken Chili – a  slightly lighter version then the original tomato based chili.  The base for this chili contains… WINE!   Serve this favorite in warm bread bowl and top with some pepper jack cheese for a zesty finish. Pair this with our Chardonnay or Merlot and enjoy! (White Lightning Chicken Chili recipe below)

Hope these ideas help change up the traditional game day treats and remember our tasting room is open 11-5pm for those of you who would like to skip the game all together and enjoy a taste of wine with us.

Guacamole Bruschetta

(original recipe www.justataste.com)

½ loaf French bread
1 Clove Garlic
2 Tbsp Olive Oil (Still Waters Of Course!)
2 tomatoes, medium chopped
2 avocados, medium chopped
1/3 cup finely chopped onion
¼ cup chopped cilantro
2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 F

Slice the French bread on a diagonal into ½” rounds and place on a baking sheet

Toast the sliced bread in the oven for 3 minutes then flip each piece and toast an additional 3 minutes

Remove the toasted bread from the oven and immediately rub with the clove of garlic

Brush the tops of the garlic rubbed toasts with olive oil and set aside

In a large bowl, combine the chopped tomatoes, avocado, onion, cilantro, lime juice, salt and pepper. Mix together gently making sure the avocado is well coated with the lime juice

Spoon a portion of the mixture onto each of the garlic toasts and enjoy!

WHITE LIGHTNING CHICKEN CHILI

(original recipe www.cooks.com)

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed
2 cans great northern beans, rinsed
1 whole white onion, diced
1 cup frozen white corn
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
1 ½ cups fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 bulb fresh garlic, minced
6 habanera peppers
½ cup white wine
1 can chicken broth
2 tsp. cumin powder
1 tsp. coriander powder
1 tbsp. ground white pepper
3 tbsp. olive oil
1 lime, squeezed for juice
½ cup sour cream
½ cup shredded pepper jack cheese

 

Heat olive oil in large sauté pan to medium-high heat, and add garlic, onions, and chicken. Sauté for 10-15 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink.

In a large Dutch oven add chicken broth, cumin, coriander, ground white pepper, lime juice, habanera peppers (if mild chili is preferred, use fewer hot peppers, as desired – the quantity given is very hot!), and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium, cover with lid, and let simmer for 10-15 minutes.  Add the chicken, garlic, and onion mixture, plus the corn, beans, yellow bell pepper, mushrooms, and white wine.

Cover and let simmer for approximately 30-35 minutes.  Garnish with sour cream and shredded jack cheese.  Serve with crusty french bread and a glass of Still Waters Chardonnay or Merlot!

Our Mad Scientist’s White Wine Approach

As many of you know, I’m passionate about both my red AND white wines.  Not many small Paso estate wineries have 4 varieties of white grapes.

I have searched around the last 10 years to perfect the style of white wines we make at Still Waters.

All stainless is just too acidic.  Barrel fermented is too much oak and  the wines go through malolactic fermentation. This changes the Malac acid to Lactic acid, but also can make the wines too buttery and flat. They also don’t age as well.

So in 2008, I found my favorite method.  With our own bottling line, we have total flexibility when we bottle our wines, and how long they stay in oak.  I decided to ferment the whites 100% in stainless to control the pure acidity of the wines.  Then we order 100% new French Oak barrels for that years’ white production.  We put all of our white wine in the new barrels in January ( As seen in the picture ).

We taste the wines weekly to get just the perfect amount of oak influence on the wine.  Pat & Kasey think this could also be why I like this method so much. Usually on Sunday afternoons I like to taste through the whites so if you’re around in January through March you may want to join me!  Most of the whites stay in the new French Oak for 70 to 120 days.

When we remove the whites from the new barrels, we then put the most recent years reds  in.  These reds had been stored  in stainless barrels for freshness while waiting for the new French oak barrels.  It’s a little too soon to know for sure but the 2008 & 2009 reds we have bottled so far (Malbec & Zinfandel)  are softer and more complex. They are also all sold out and received Gold Metals at San Francisco Chronicle, so maybe my search for the perfect white wine has spilled over into our red program.

Hope to see you soon in the barrel room!

Paul Hoover – Wine maker / Mad Scientist

 

 

Bride’s Choice Awards 2012

We have been awarded the Wedding Wire Bride’s Choice Award! This award recognizes us as being in the top 5% of wedding professionals nationwide.

Weddings are amazing to be a part of. From the engagement, the planning process, to the actual wedding day, weddings are a BLAST!

Here are a few great moments from 2011.

The Mariachi Band started playing at “I DO’ and lead the guests into the Barrel Room for cocktail hour.

Absolutely stunning photo of a bride and groom. January in the Olive Grove with the vineyard lit in the background.

A very unique twist on the typical ceremony set up. This bride and groom wanted to be surrounded by family and friends as they said I DO.

Two of the cutest kiddos ever!

Beautiful evening with the most perfect full moon!

We had such a great time in 2011 and met some amazing people at all the different weddings. We are looking forward to sharing in many memories with our 2012 Bride and Grooms.

Cheers and thanks for letting Still Waters Vineyards be a part of your Happily Ever After!

 

 

2nd Annual Roll Out the Barrels – February 12th, 2012

Join us in selecting the best tasting barrels for our Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. We are rolling out the barrels for our club members  to taste. Your opinion matters so let us know your favorite barrels and help us create the 2008 Barrel Select Cabernet and 2008 Merlot. This event was so much fun last year, we can’t wait to do it again. 3-5pm in the Barrel Room, come with a fresh palette! Club members only, please RSVP.

Still Waters Vineyards Wins Gold!

We are proud to announce Our Zinfandel 2009 and Malbec 2008 won Gold at the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition!

The 2012 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition is the largest wine competitions of American wines with over 55oo entries. Come out and barrel taste the future vintages. We think you’ll agree that the best is yet to come!

Thanks for all your support!

Holiday Party

Going to work at the beginning of the week doesn’t always have to be a drag. Sometimes it can be a good thing; when you are recovering from your work holiday party for instance. Paul and Pat hosted our annual holiday staff party Sunday evening , and as to be expected: it was a blast and Pat’s cooking was amazing! Even though there were five, possibly seven, unruly games of Bingo, we all managed to behave ourselves (well I can’t speak for Clancy and Piper).

We are all back to work this week and more excited than ever about what 2012 holds for Still Waters. We hope that your holiday parties are as fun (and safe) as ours. This time of year we are proud to recognize how lucky and blessed we are to have wonderful bosses, co-workers and of course friends like you! Wishing you and yours a merry (and responsible) holiday season!

P.S. Chuck the eggnog and drink wine!

 

Backroads Wineries Holiday Open House, Dec 10th 11am-5pm

Join Still Waters Vineyards Saturday Dec 10th for our holiday open house. We will have festive treats to snack on while wine tasting and a warm fire in the fireplace. We will be offering Holiday Gift Wine Bundles and other specials.

Happy Holidays!

Olive Harvest 2011

As the grape harvest comes to an end, the olive harvest is just beginning.  We are lucky at Still Waters to have amazing olive trees on our property not only for the beauty they add to the landscape but also for the Estate Olive Oil we produce each year. This year was a light producing year, but it looks like the flavors are going to be outstanding!

When harvesting olives you have to choose between machine harvesting using the shaker method or the traditional style of hand harvesting. Just like in the vineyard we choose to hand harvest our olive trees. Since our trees are over 100 years old and much larger than most commercial productions,  the process of harvesting the olives can be a little tricky. We comb the branches using plastic rakes on the end of long poles. Each branch gets raked to collect the olives onto the ground where we have tarps ready to receive them.

This year we decided to stay local when processing our olives and used Foxdale Farm Olive Mill. The following pictures will take you through the steps of making our wonderful olive oil.

The olives are in the hopper ready to become oil. They first go into the deleafer to remove leaves, twigs and any other debris.

The olives get washed and go into the hammer mill where they will be crushed.

The crushed olives move to the Malaxor which stirs the crushed olives to help in the separation of liquid.

In the next step, the oil starts taking form. The Decanter separates the solids from the liquid oil.

Cheers and Enjoy!

Wine Club Party Recipes and Wine Pairings

We held our Still Waters Vineyards Fall Pick-Up Party on Nov 5^th. We had such a great time and enjoyed visiting with so many of you.  I think that was our best turn-out ever and we loved hearing all of your positive comments – mainly about the wines, but a few for the food.  We had so many requests for the recipes from Saturday night, so here they are.  We love our Club Members and love being able to share all of this with you.  Cheers and Happy Thanksgiving ~ Love Patty

Mushroom Pockets

1 stick unsalted butter

4 cups chopped mushrooms

4 cloves minced garlic

½ cup dry white wine

Salt to taste

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 package puff pastry

Saute in pan over medium heat the  ½ stick of butter, mushrooms, garlic , wine and salt. Let cool.

Brush puff pastry with the other half of stick of butter (melted).  Place a spoonful of mushroom mixture onto a square of puff pastry.  Sprinkle a teaspoon of Parmesan cheese on the mushroom mixture.  Grab the pastry by four corners and twist into a bundle (sort of like a haystack). Bake at 375 for about 15 – 20 minutes.  Serve and eat immediately and ENJOY!

This recipe is from my favorite cooking website – Pioneer Woman Cooks!  The actual cookbook is full of fun recipes and stories and I use it constantly.  You can find the cookbook at Walmart, any bookstore or just order it on Amazon.  You will love it too.  The website and blog post new recipes daily!

Celia offered the Still Waters Reflections with these savory delights.  Oh so good!

 

Cranberry – Chili Cocktail Meatballs

1 pound lean ground beef

1 egg

2 tablespoons water

½ cup bread crumbs

3 tablespoons chopped onions

1 (8 ounce) can jellied cranberry sauce

¾ cup chili sauce

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 ½ teaspoon lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl, mix together the ground beef, egg, water, bread crumbs, and chopped onions.  Roll into small meatballs.  Bake in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes, turning once.  In a slow cooker or large saucepan over low heat, blend the cranberry sauce, chili sauce, brown sugar and lemon juice.  Add the meatballs and simmer for 1 hour before serving.

This recipe comes from the website allrecipes.com.  It is a perfect appetizer for your Thanksgiving meal.

Nancy poured the Still Waters Cabernet Sauvignon to complement these yummy bites!

 

Mozzarella, Tomato and Basil Picks

½ pound mozzarella (or use the marinated mozzarella balls at Trader Joes)

20 cherry tomatoes

20 small basil leaves

2 tablespoons Still Waters Estate Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Garlic Salt to taste

20 small skewers or cocktail picks

On a skewer – place one mozzarella ball, then one basil leaf, then one cherry tomato.  Arrange on platter, sprinkle with garlic salt and drizzle with Still Waters Olive Oil.  Super easy and pretty appetizer.

Ben paired this appetizer with the Still Waters Vineyards Chardonnay – Wonderful!!!

 

Tortilla Soup

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, sliced

1 chipolte in adobo sauce, chopped (Mexican food aisle – this is optional)

1 can diced green chiles

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 cup corn kernels, fresh or frozen and thawed (or you can use canned corn)

One can diced tomatoes

One can pinto beans

½ cup cilantro, chopped

¼ cup lime juice (about two limes)

6 cups chicken broth

1 can tomato paste

1 tablespoon corn starch (more or less) for thickening

½ cup sour cream

Heat the oil in a medium pot.  Add the onion, garlic, chipotle, chiles, chili powder and salt and cook about  5 minutes.  Add the chicken broth and tomato paste and  bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat slightly and simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes.  Add the corn, pinto beans,  tomatoes and corn starch (optional)  and cook for another five minutes.  Remove from heat.  Finally, add the cilantro, lime juice and sour cream and serve. You can always garnish with tortilla chips, sliced avocados, grated cheese, lime wedges or an additional dollop of sour cream.  Also, to make a complete meal you can add one cup of shredded cooked chicken.

 Molly and George paired this wine with the Still Waters Vineyards Merlot – Perfect Match!

 

News from the vineyard

Harvest is now over, the colors are beautiful in the vineyard. Carlos and Pedro are busy preparing every other row for our cover crop seeds. We plant cover crops and rotate the rows each year to add beneficial nutrients and protect the vineyard from heavy winter rains.