Easter just wakes us up doesn’t it? The weather is starting to get warmer, colors get brighter and we start thinking about barbecues and picnics.
As a child, my Easters were largely spent at my grandparents’ house in Wall, Texas. It wasn’t Easter without my Grandma’s strawberry cake and deviled eggs, served on her crystal egg platter.
In the spirit of good memories, I decided to pair our Lightning Grenache Rose’with a tray of deviled eggs for our Easter celebration this year. The Rose’ has the earth and spice of Grenache, but perfectly ripe strawberry is the main attraction from start to finish.
And the deviled eggs – seen at almost every type of Texas gathering – are just timeless.
Ingredients:
6 large hard-cooked eggs, peeled and cut in half lengthwise
2 tablespoons yellow mustard
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1 tablespoon grated white onion
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
Salt
Paprika
Instructions:
Scoop the yolks out from the eggs into a bowl and mash until smooth. Stir in the mustard, mayonnaise, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, onion, and cayenne. Adjust seasonings and add salt to taste.
Scoop or pipe mixture into halved eggs and sprinkle with paprika and/or cayenne, if you like.
Serve: On Grandma’s platter. (If you don’t have one, you can find similar ones here.)
You may have noticed that my home and my wardrobe are a little eclectic. From Kinky Friedman framed posters to paintings from local Northern California artists to my deer antlers on the wall, I love keeping it interesting. My must-haves are glitter and bright colors and there’s not much I wear that doesn’t look even better when I throw my cowboy boots on.
I was trying to explain our style recently and Randy used the perfect word – “Texafornia” – a blend of where we were born and raised and where we now live and work. We are intermingling our Texas roots with Napa Valley.
To help show our Texafornia Style, I put together a Pinterest page where I could compile images and share with our friends and customers. Feel free to tag us if you have a photo that fits in – we’d especially love to see photos of how and where you enjoy Lightning Wines.
As Randy says – Serious wines, fun people. We hope you enjoy seeing our fun side!
The Rutherford Road tulips are in bloom, the vineyards are covered in yellow and the buds are starting to break on the vines that were pruned earlier this year. Growing up on a farm, this time of year always evokes possibilities for me, as a new growing season begins to unfold. Speaking of possibilities and unfolding, we have a lot to share with you throughout this coming year!
Early next week we’re doing a launch of a different sort. We’re launching our new Pinterest page which focuses around our #Texafornia lifestyle. We’re keeping true to our Texas roots but also sharing our new finds and goodies from Napa Valley as well. I can’t wait to get your feedback.
We’ll also be launching the first of our video series. You might have seen some of the “behind the scenes” images that we shared onFacebook andTwitter while we were filming. Wait until you see the finished product!
In April, the TedxNapaValley conferencetakes a look at how we define success. The topic of Redefining Success hit home for us so we’re going to be offering a contest for 2 tickets, plus a private Lightning tasting. Keep a lookout for this offering……
Like I said, lots of possibilities blooming here in Napa Valley… so stay tuned and drink more Grenache!
This farm girl left the cotton fields many years ago, but I found myself immersed in agriculture again when Randy and I moved to Napa in 2006. One of my favorite parts of being in the wine industry is meeting the grape growers and touring the vineyards with them. I don’t get to do it often enough, so it was a treat when Randy set up a visit to El Dorado County to see Ron Mansfield at GoldBud Farms and invited me along.
Randy and I purchased fruit from Ron for the first time last harvest and are excitedly awaiting more fruit this year. Ron is a thoughtful, smart, hard-working grower and it shows in his grapes. With our focus on single-vineyard Grenache, we aim to make wines that show the individuality of the vineyards. Starting with fantastic fruit is a sure way to make a killer wine……
Our visit started off at GoldBud Farms World Headquarters, a large fruit stand/packing building where Ron sells and packs his tree fruits. I love peaches and Ron’s did not disappoint. Randy even purchased a crate to send home to his mother to share the love! Most of what Ron farms are grapes but he is known around the country for peaches, nectarines, plums, apricots and and apples too.
Ron took us around to the vineyards we source from, Fenaughty and Swansborough, and a third vineyard where we ran into an inquisitive neighbor on a bulldozer. He wanted to make sure we were not trespassers and said he was just ‘looking out’. We all need a good nosy neighbor making sure things are kosher!
Ron’s vines are pruned to a “vertical cordon” or what Randy called “the Mansfield head-trained”. The look of the vineyards is much wilder than I’ve seen with the vines curving over the rows protecting the grapes.
The Grenache grapes are still green with a few spots of purple here and there. We did spot a wonderful cluster showing a perfect example of the beginning of veraison.
The drive to Swansborough Vineyard was a winding road over a one-lane swinging bridge hanging over the South fork of the American River. Randy and Ron talked shop over the grapes and Ron pointed out the family cemetery up the hill from the vineyard, a small area with a white picket fence. I couldn’t get a photo but it was fun pretending the old souls watch over the vineyard.
Randy and I get wrapped up in our day-to-day tasks and concerns but we try every week to do something that reminds us of the fun of what we do. That is as exciting to us as the feeling on that first day we pulled into Napa.
Visiting Ron did that for me. Seeing Randy so excited about Ron’s fruit. Hearing Ron’s stories about bears scaring his workers out of the apple trees. Feeling the hot sun and smelling the dirt and riding in the back of the 4Runner as we drove over that swinging bridge. It was a great day.
We bottle more than just wine here at Lightning – we hope we give you a good story and memory with it.
The 2013 LIGHTNING Swansborough Grenache will be in bottle in a little over a month.
Lightning Wines is entering new territory – our first ever blog post!
Besides kicking back and drinking Lightning CdP Blanc this summer, I’ve also been reading about my handsome husband…..check this mention out….
Edible Marin & Wine Country SUMMER 2014
My personal brand, Lightning Wines, is my occupation and my life. I make Rhone varietals, focusing predominantly on single-vineyard Grenache, showcasing different growing regions around California. So far that includes El Dorado, Mendocino, San Luis Obispo and Sonoma counties.
When I was a kid in Texas, my mom drank Jack [Daniel’s] and Coke and Schlitz beer ponies, so I didn’t grow up with wine. If wine coolers count, we could say my first wine experience was in 1985. I started experimenting with wines resembling what I might drink today in about 1990, when I was in college.
Without a doubt I am influenced by my Texas upbringing. My goal is to enhance the times being had by friends and family, whether on the front porch telling lies or sitting down to a nice meal made with loving hands. I think folks in the South are typically raised with a certain foundation, and a big part of that happens around the dinner table. The way that I want people to embrace my wines and use them in their lives is very Southern in nature when you think in terms of hospitality, friendliness and community.
My favorite Southern food? That’s an easy one. It’s chicken fried steak. As I started learning how to cook, I made the foods that I grew up with—a combination of Texas comfort and Louisiana spice. In turn, I have always gravitated towards wines that pair with the foods that I like to cook, which tend to be Rhones and Burgundies. So I have to say that my Lightning Sonoma County Grenache would pair very well with chicken fried steak. If you throw in a little bayou spice, the meal will pair better with my Grenache Blanc blend from Paso, Lightning CdP Blanc. It has the fruit and the weight to meld perfectly with that meal.
Southern trait that has stayed with me? Well, in this format, with no way for anyone to dispute or prove otherwise, I’ll say I’m still a gentleman.
Forget about Randy though! Let’s focus on the wine……
Overall favorite wineries at this small tasting included Kale and Petrichor, two producers that have impressed me in the past and did so once again with their latest wines. I thought that the Two Shepherds wines took a step up with their new releases. Of producers whose wines I’d never tasted before, Kieran Robinson, Lightning, and MacLaren stood out. All three are fairly new wineries, and I thought that the wines from Lightning were especially noteworthy. I will make an effort to taste more wines from this trio of new and “under the radar” producers.
Time Out With Phillip Silverstone [Phillip posted this online and in 14 newspapers!]
I was recently asked to host a wine tasting in an exotic car showroom. So the question I asked myself was this: Do I stick to my under $10 a bottle wines or do I pour wines with a price tag more appropriate for the type of consumer who will buy one of these cars (average price $200,000). Well, you know the decision I have made — the under $10 bottles of course. I’m not out to impress anybody with a price tag, I am out to pour them stunning wines, and $10 is more than adequate to accomplish my objective.
While at the pre-event I was chatting with a woman about these very sexy cars, and then the conversation changed to wine (I think I may have been responsible for that) and she told me that she has stomach cramps every time she drinks a glass of wine. My initial response was going to be the one the doctor used when his patient said: “Hey, doc, it hurts when I lift my arm this high.” The doc responded: “My diagnosis is simple…don’t lift it that high.”
Obviously, she can eliminate her cramps simply by abstaining from wine. But that’s an easy way out. An alternative medicine doctor I visited several times in London, Alla Svirinskaya (www.allasvirinskaya.com) provided the answer to this very issue during one of my sessions. I learned that people with digestive disorders that are irritated by wine, often causing cramps, can be eased, and in many cases eliminated, by dipping a piece of bread in olive oil prior to quaffing the nectar. I can tell you from experience, the remedy works. Not sure I understand why, but it does. Wish I could help the man with the arm problem, but that’s way out of my reach!
Many people find white wine, especially dry young whites from Germany, gives them heartburn. Me too! I recently discovered that a Prilosec OTC pill about 1 hour prior to drinking, will seriously improve the digestive system’s intolerance of these acidic wines.
I also have a word of advice for anybody who suffers allergic reactions to wine, getting ruddy faced, coughing, and generally sounding wretched. This malady, which generally affects people after red wine, is probably caused by the histamines produced from the skins of the red wine grapes. If you pour a glass of wine and let it sit for about 30 minutes, you’ll find the histamines dissipate into thin air and you can quaff away to your heart’s — and nose’s — content. Just imagine how much information I could have shared with you if I’d have gone to med school. Though I’d never have been a doctor — I just don’t have enough patients!
OK enough already with the jokes. Here are two wines for your summer quaffing from the exciting Lightning Wines collection.
Lightning Wines Sonoma County Grenache “Kick Ranch” grapes were grown in California’s Sonoma County. The wines are aged in oak barrels, which adds a bold structure and a more complex character than I can remember tasting in recent Grenaches that have come my way. There are so many distinct flavors which include dark berries, a touch of spice, a drizzle of pepper with a hint of licorice. Just 138 cases were made, so it’s not surprising that this very unique wine is selling for approximately $38 a bottle. Lightning CdP Blanc gets its fruit from Starr Ranch in Paso Robles, owned by vigneron Judy Starr. The wine is a blend of three grapes: Grenache Blanc, Piquepoul Blanc and Roussanne. CdP stands for Chateauneuf Du Pape a region of France celebrated for its red grapes and these three whites are the same varieties found in France’s CdP’s. The white versions are rarely seen or heard. So Lightning’s very own version is a welcome surprise. There is a trace of honeysuckle and floral notes. An easy summer sipper and a nice change from Chardonnay. It’s approximately $25 a bottle, but only 110 cases were made. Visit www.lightningwines.com to read more about the wines and place orders. If they are sold out place an order for their next vintage. Cheers!
Phillip Silverstone’s column appears each week in Ticket. “Time Out With Phillip Silverstone” is heard worldwide anywhere and anytime on Tunein Radio. On their app search: Phillip Silverstone or on the web at http://bit.ly/1kqcRmk. New podcasts are available every Saturday. For more information about Phillip: http://www.thesilverstonecollection.com
