Materra WIne Review - Perfect Thanksgiving WIne and fun place to visit

Photo Credit: Materra/Cunat Family wines

This time of year, a lot of people ask me where to take their out of town relatives in Napa. With so many delicious, luxe fun places, I wanted to highlight a "smart" choice, where you can "drink for the kids"** during this holiday season.  I was hosted here during the summer.

Materra| Cunat Family Vineyards in the Oak Knoll District is a relatively new tasting room open by appointment where you can taste wines of quality.  Here, artistry in oenology is served in art filled setting.  

Brian Cunat and his wife Miki and their extended family invested in fifty acres in the Oak Knoll AVA in 2007. Today, they leverage relationships with mountain fruit growers as well as their own estate fruit to create lovely Napa wines.  

We get excited about Fancy sorter destemmers

Calling their wine club the "Dean's" list is a nod to Dean Cunat,  a Midwestern farmer who inspired a love of the land and farming in his son, Brian.  When Miki and Brian saw the lovely parcel in Oak Knoll with its distinctive soil, then experienced the flavor profile of local finished wines, they knew they had found their spot.  Partnering with Brian's brother, John to purchase the estate, today many members of the family participate.  We met Neena, the oldest daughter who leads the winery's efforts.  Neena walked us through the impressive production facility and did not laugh when we gushed over their pristine operation, which includes a very cool mechanical sorter destemmer.  We also quizzed her about a cool experimental cone shaped stainless vat.  Walking around it was easy to see the family's investment in action.  But what was more fun was to taste through those successful efforts:

2011 Cabernet Sauvignon,  Rutherford($65) Wine from this tough year is frequently sparse but delicious,  Materra is no exception.  Difficult harvest produced a wonderful wine with a long elegant vinous driven finish.  Flavors are a balance of vinous and fruit with a top note of black raspberry and gorgeous dusty notes, the hallmark of Rutherford dust.  They marked the bottles with silver foil to mark the achievement.

2011 Cabernet Sauvignon, Howell Mountain (wine Club only) Blending in a little Petit Verdot, Merlot  and Malbec creates a Bordeaux inspired wine. They only produce fifty cases of this Wine-Club-Only  wine.  A luscious perfectly integrated blend with lively aromas of anise and blueberry and a beautifully vinous finish will tempt  you to join.  

They also make white wines,  Both a lovely Viognier, which is a balanced wine with nice structure and hints of stone fruit as well as a rich, but elegant Chardonnay with "Golidlocks" oak #Just_Right. 

Tactile art in one shelf-drinkable art in the other

Their Merlot varietal is lush and balanced lots of dark fruits and touch of bittersweet chocolate in the aromas and flavors with dark, forest-y berry in the finish.  Until December 31 2016, Materra has a cool holiday special of  a three bottle Merlot vertical that includes one bottle each of 2009, 2010 and 2011 Right Bank Reserve which is a bargain at $100.  Merry Christmas to whomever receives that!

It's a great place to visit.  Care is taken to telegraph the family's artistic focus by their beautiful facility.  Artful touches like the beautiful, tactile art enhance your visit.

**For Christmas they are doing something awesome.  If  you bring a new and unwrapped toy with a value of at least $25, Materra will waive your tasting fee as well as organize toy delivery to Toys 4 Tots.  So you are as smart as a Dean's list member, drinking great wine to benefit the kids.
Even if you miss the holiday festivities, it's a great place to visit to experience artful wines in a friendly place.


For more information about tastings and tours, click here:
Visit Materra

• Materra | Cunat Family Vineyards
• 4326 Big Ranch Road Napa, CA
• 707.224.4900
• Many thanks to Neena for hosting me at this wonderful location!

Last minute Halloween Wine Pairings - #rieslingrules

Happy Halloween!  Finally in the mood to do my wine pairing, a special bottle jumped out at me.

Dr. Loosen, Wehlener Sonnenuhr, Riesling Auslese 2006, Mosel, Germany

Pale caramel and clear, aromas wafted up as soon as I lifted the cork.  In the glass, aromas of peach brulee with a soft underpinning of petrol.  a small twist of lemon, and a touch of cellared apple.  Satiny and medium bodied, the wine has flavors of honey, apples, peach, lemon and love.  While the sweetness is up there, the acid in the wine keeps the taste light and refreshing.

From a food paring perspective, Rieslings are a gift.  This wine in particular has a satiny, medium plus bodied texture.  Its elevated sweetness would pair well with spicy cuisines.  In this case, I paired it with tart-sweet, acidic Smarties.  I might be late for my Halloween newsflash, but I am starting early with the wine and candy! Note the crafty last minute touch of Witch's Broom Smarties Bouquet, which I hand crafted with bakers twine and a straw.

 Mosel Valley where some of my favorite Rieslings originate, has gorgeous scenery, a lambent river flowing through vine laden cliffs,that seem impossibly steep.  The slate based soil looks more like alien AstroTurf than something that would foster such delicious flavors.  Blue slate and red slate produce different flavor profiles, with blue slate contributing stone fruit, citrus and more delicate flavors.  Red slate is colored by volcanic deposits.    Expect drama, lychee fruit, honey and magic.  High sugar balanced against high acid creates an interplay as tight as a trip wire in a Tom Cruise summer blockbuster.  Even if you don't like sweet wine, try it and be dazzled. I stashed away a bottle I sourced from DeeVine Wine Imports.  The color after 11 years has deepened to pale caramel, while the flavors have intensified to honey and stone fruit.  Auslese wines are hand picked (not surprising in vineyards

Steep Mosel Hillside Vineyards

this steep.  The soil, climate and wine culture from the Roman appropriation through swaths of history both the peaceful and challenging, have carved out a space that has cradled these grapes and allowed wines of extraordinary character to blossom and grow.  Wines of Germany maintains a great site to learn more

Ready for their closeup: Mosel Riesling Grapes

Phot Credit: Dr,. Loosen: Wehlener Sonnenuhr Vineyard

Have a wonderful Halloween!  And if you have the time to try Riesling from the Mosel, find a way to do it

Possibilities! 

Day of the Dead Mexican Chocolate Cocktail, Mocktail or Craft Project

Day of the Dead Cocktail/mocktail recipe

Day of the Dead will start on October 31, 2017 and end on November 2nd.  It's a Mexican custom, but it really serves a need for me to remember those who have passed on.  Bonus: it's one more way to push food on people.

I create an altar and decorate it with a marigold garland, papel picado, and photos of loves ones who have passed.  Little dishes of favorite foods and beverages add to the display.  Thinking and remembering keeps memories alive.  And it's great to have an excuse to create themed treats and invite people of all cultures to share.

This year, I added a craft project where I made marshmallow pops decorated like sugar skulls . A Kraft Jet-Puffed Jumbo marshmallow, some Wilton Candy Melts in white, Wilton Candy markers, pop rocks and lollipop sticks made cute marshmallow pops.

Why?  To dip in Mexican Hot Chocolate of course.  It's actually pretty easy (especially if you give yourself permission to be more creative than perfect with your crafting).  With the recipe below you can customize silky, spicy hot chocolate that will fill your mouth with a dark as midnight, sweet as sin taste sensation perfect for a Halloween or Day of the Dead celebration

Here's the recipe:
Mexican Hot Chocolate: makes 2 servings
Place 2 cups whole milk in a medium saucepan on low heat.  Whisk in  2 Tablespoons white sugar (you could use honey, agave or brown sugar depending on your taste).  I under sweeten a little because the white chocolate, candy coated oversized marshmallows add a lot of sweetness.  5 tablespoons dark unsweetened Cocoa.  My favorite is Hershey's Special Dark because of the depth of flavor and color it gives.  Keep whisking in 1/4 tsp Chili Powder, 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon and 1/4 tsp grated Nutmeg and a 1/4 tsp of vanilla extract.    Finish with a generous pinch of salt. These are just guidelines.  If you like it hotter, add more chili powder or cloves or allspice or whatever you think tastes best.  Keeps whisking till the milk comes to just a simmer---you don't want to scald it.

Make it a cocktail with Captn Morgan Spiced Rum

Once it's hot and well mixed, it's ready to drink. Pour it into a mug.  Place the Marshmallow Pop in like you would a swizzle stick.  Advise your guests to dunk the  marshmallow pop into the hot chocolate.  If your Marshmallow Pop has been decorated with Pop Rocks candy, audible fizzling and popping will ensue, which makes it more fun..

And speaking of more fun, if you want to add an adult aspect to this, stir in about an ounce and a half of Captain Morgan' s 100 Spiced Rum to each mug.  It takes a family drink to the next level.  Yar!

Marshmallow Day Of the Dead Pops

The Marshmallow Pops were fun to create.  First,  I dipped the marshmallows in white chocolate melts that I had melted in the microwave.  For variation, I rolled the back of some of the marshmallows in Pop Rocks candy for color and flair.

I let them dry overnight.

Then I looked for Sugar Skull inspiration and drew the skulls on the marshmallow puff with edible markers.  They are not perfect but neither am I.  They are, however,  delicious.  When you dunk them in the hot, spicy chocolate, they melt, lose their white chocolate and become heaven on a stick. Ooey gooey over the top sweet and soft.  It's a great counterpoint to the hot spicy chocolate,   I didn't add whipped cream, but that and a dusting of the spices would be tasty too.

Marshmallow pops coordinate with my Day of the Dead decor

  I hope you try this easy fun project and enjoy Day of the Dead.