Food & Wine April 2020

what ray’s pouring now

2018 VALETTE ROSÉ OF PINOT NOIR ($37) When I’m in Healdsburg, I try to stop by chef Dustin Valette’s restaurant, for his excellent housemade charcuterie and because now he’s making his own wines—like this strawberry-scented, brightly fresh rosé. (Find them at valettehealdsburg.com.) 2018 CLIFF LEDE NAPA VALLEY SAUVIGNON BLANC ($28) I recently opened a five-year-old vintage of this wine and loved how its zippy, lemon-zesty youth shaded into softer melon and honey notes over time. The 2018 is excellent, and I have no question it will age just as gracefully. 2017 CHAPPELLET HIDEAWAY VINEYARD NAPA VALLEY CABERNET SAUVIGNON ($125) If you visit Chappellet, perched atop Pritchard Hill in Napa Valley, don’t miss picking up this plush, boysenberry-scented, tasting-room-only red (or ask your wine store for the winery’s cassis-rich 2017 Signature Cabernet).…

editor’s letter

A Golden State of Mind IT WAS A SIMPLE PLAN. Take the kids to California. Show them Santa Barbara, drive up the coast to Big Sur and the Bay Area, and wrap up with friends in Napa and family in Lake Tahoe. They would fall in love with the state by the time we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge, just as I did at age 10. Then we’d return every summer thereafter. I need not have planned so much—at least where their hearts were concerned. On the first night of vacation at The Alisal Guest Ranch, with a happy belly full of Santa Maria–style beef ribs and ice cream sandwiches, my 8-year-old daughter, Frances, looked up from under the brim of a straw cowgirl hat. “Dad,” she said. “I love California.” Me, too,…

whither napa?

LAST NOVEMBER, F&W convened an industry panel in Napa Valley. The topic: What is the future of Napa Valley Cabernet? I moderated the discussion; in attendance were 45 winemakers, winery owners, marketers, and journalists. The quotes below give a glimpse of the far-ranging discussion. For a more in-depth version, visit foodandwine.com/napa-future. ON PRICES “When Hess went into Pope Valley in the late 1990s, people thought, ‘Pope Valley? There’s a tire shop. You can’t even get a cup of coffee.’ But it’s technically part of Napa Valley, and now Hess is producing 80,000 cases of a $35 Napa Cabernet from there.”—NICOLE CARTER, MERRY EDWARDS WINERY “In 2007, Cabernet pricing was half of what it is now.” [In 2007, grapes were $4,299 per ton.]—JOSH PHELPS, GROUNDED WINE CO. ON TOURISM “The thing that excites me most about…

most valuable pastries

WITH ITS CORNUCOPIA OF FRESH, local ingredients year-round and the ability to attract talented chefs from Malaysia to Japan to Paris, it’s more than just kismet that California has become home to some of the most head-turning, palate-provoking pastries around. “I think we can attribute the diversity we have experienced in the pastry scene to the rise of a multicultural generation of American cooks into restaurant ownership,” says Clement Hsu, co-owner of San Francisco’s Breadbelly bakery, who makes a milk bun stuffed with kaya jam, a bright green and floral filling popular in Southeast Asia. “The food being made now reflects who we are—ethnically diverse and unabashedly willing to combine cultural heritage with traditional European-American training,” Hsu says. Below, our favorite baked goods across the state. CONCHA At All Day Baby in…

sun-drenched style

INTERIOR DESIGNER, WRITER, and avid home cook Nathan Turner is a fourth-generation Californian—no wonder the state is the inspiration behind his entire career. “My California has a lot of components,” he says. “There’s my family’s ranch in Northern California, where I spent a lot of time growing up. Now, I live in Los Angeles. I love collecting things [from all over the state]. It’s how I decorate.” At The Alisal Guest Ranch and Resort in Santa Barbara County, for example, Turner channeled his home state’s rustic sensibility while refurbishing and curating art, linens, and decoration for Turner House, a set of three cottage suites on the property. He also drew inspiration from his recent book, I Love California ($40, abramsbooks.com), a recipe-filled homage to the local artisans, makers, and entrepreneurs…

liquid gold

THE VAST MAJORITY OF OLIVE OIL in the U.S. is imported from Europe, but California-grown varieties are revolutionizing the industry in both taste and style. Since California’s soil is so versatile, nearly any kind of olive can grow there; this makes the blending options nearly boundless and the finished products diverse and unique. Golden State olive oils now make up 5% of American olive oil consumption, and that number is expected to keep growing. We turned to Nicholas Coleman, cofounder of the premium olive oil subscription service Grove and Vine and previously the chief oleologist at Eataly, to help us evaluate 11 new California olive oils. At right, we share our top five. THE DISRUPTER Brightland’s Awake, an olive oil made with handpicked heirloom Coratina olives, has a peppery kick—great drizzled into…