In Memoriam. . .

To Our Napa Valley Pioneers

By David And Monica Stevens

Most great chefs can tell you the “aha” meal that led them to the decision to learn to cook. Musicians can tell you which artists and songs moved them in ways that no others did. Ask any winemaker and they will likely talk your ear off about a specific person, wine or vintage that lifted the veil and sent them on their journey into the wonderful world of wine.

In any business there are pioneers, those who came before and laid the foundation upon which others built. In this issue we pay tribute to some of the pioneers of the winemaking world of the Napa Valley who are no longer with us. A couple of them are household names, and after reading about the many contributions of the others we know you will understand why they deserve to be, as well.

JIM BARRETT, vintner, Chateau Montelena | 1926–2013

Jim Barrett, a Los Angeles lawyer turned vintner, is certainly best known for his 1973 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay, which, along with the 1973 Stag’s Leap Cabernet Sauvignon, won the “1976 Judgment of Paris,” helping to propel the … Read More

Cherry On Top

Find one of the “little people” in this photograph by Matthew Carden (MatthewCarden.com) that has been hidden in another location within this issue and enter the page number of the hidden location on the Edible Marin & Wine Country homepage to win an 8 or 10oz coffee or espresso-based beverage of your choice at Equator Coffees & Teas new Equator Coffees at Proof Lab Surf Shop in Mill Valley’s Tam Junction—right off Hwy. 101. EquatorCoffees.com

Enter to win at EdibleMarinandWineCountry.com

Entries are due by midnight on June 30, 2013. Winners will be notified by email.

Edible Events Calendar

JUNE

Devil’s Gulch Ranch Summer Camps

June, July & August dates (Nicasio, DGES.org/summer)

Auction Napa Valley

June 1 (Napa Valley, NapaVintners.com)

Cooking from the Farmers’ Market: Hands-On Class with Dinner & Wine

June 1 (The Cooking School at Cavallo Point, Sausalito, 415.339.4799, CavalloPoint.com)

HOME CHEESEMAKING: SONOMA MFK FISHER COMPOTES

June 2 (The Epicurean Connection, Sonoma, 707.935.7960, SheanaDavis.com)

Art, Food & Wine Experience at Kenwood Vineyards

June 2 (Kenwood, 707.282.4228, KenwoodVineyards.com)

Unsung: Summer—Neglected Vegetables at 18 Reasons

June 2 & 9 (San Francisco, 415.252.9816, 18Reasons.org)

Women for WineSense: Meet Our WWS Wine Industry Experts

June 6 (Chimney Rock Winery, Napa, NapaSonoma.com/events)

World Cheese Tour with Janet Fletcher: Notable Newbies

June 11 (Fish Story, Napa, JanetFletcher.com)

The Food of Rancho Pescadero at

Alderbrook Winery with Chef Jeff Mall

June 9 (Healdsburg, 707.433.5987, RelishCulinary.com)

Huichica Music Festival

June 14–15 (Gundlach Bundschu Winery, Sonoma, HuichicaMusicFestival.com)

McEvoy Ranch: Orchard Walk and Mill Tour June 15 (Petaluma, McEvoyRanch.com/tours)

Marin Organic: What Can the Farmer Teach the Doctor?

June 15 (Toby’s Feed Barn, Point Reyes Station, MarinOrganic.org)

BEEKIND BEEKEEPING CLASSES

June 15 (Sebastopol, Beekind.com)

FARM DINNER AT THE FORK AT POINT REYES FARMSTEAD

June 19 (Point Reyes Station, 800.591.6878, PointReyesCheese.com/thefork)

Sonoma Marin Fair

June … Read More

Braised Artichokes With Preserved Meyer Lemon, Tarragon And Aioli

By Austin Perkins

Photo courtesy of Nick’s Cove

Recipe courtesy of Chef Austin Perkins, executive chef at Nick’s Cove Restaurant and Cottages in Marshall. NicksCove.com

Yield: 5 servings

INGREDIENTS FOR ARTICHOKES

5 cloves garlic

1 gallon water

3 lemons, halved

1 quart white wine

7 peppercorns

2 shallots, quartered

2 tablespoons kosher salt

5 medium artichokes, thorns removed

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 1/2 cup white wine

Rind of 1 preserved lemon (available at most specialty markets), all pith and meat removed, minced

1 tablespoon minced tarragon

Pinch kosher salt

1 tablespoon butter

5 medium artichokes, cleaned of thorns

TO PREPARE ARTICHOKES

Combine the first seven ingredients in a large pot and bring to a rolling boil.

Add the artichokes and cook until the stems are just fork tender (20–30 minutes depending on size). Remove and chill until cooled. Cut each artichoke in half and remove the choke.

Heat the olive oil in a skillet large enough to hold all 10 artichoke halves, or use 2 pans. Add the artichokes, heart side down, and quickly sear, about 30 seconds. Add the garlic and sweat, about 30 … Read More

Berries For Bikers

By Tracy Wu • Illustrations By Bambi Edlund

As the glorious days of summer arrive here in Marin County, flocks of bikers pedal through the landscape between idyllic towns and redwood-lined glades. They converge upon the rolling hills as the wild berries of the countryside burst into brilliant color—and flavor.

Bikers and berries can be found along many of the same trails in Marin, so here are some rules of the road to help transform your next biking adventure into a feast of delicious wild berries.

China Camp Shoreline Trail

If you get an early start and arrive at China Camp before your biking buddies have fully rubbed the sleep from their eyes, head over to the lower parking lot and pick a few blackberries to munch on while sipping that crucial coffee. Take advantage of the long blackberry patch stretching along the right side of the parking lot to fill up a Tupperware for a mid-morning treat after bagging a few peaks.

While the tardiest members of your biking crew slather on a few more ounces of sunscreen, direct the rest of the team to the massive blackberry patch on the right-hand side of the trail … Read More

Notable Edibles

Spindrift Blows Into California—Just in Time for Summer Sipping

Spindrift is the brainchild of Bill Creelman, who grew up on a farm in Western Massachusetts where eating organically and seasonally was a way of life. After graduating from Georgetown University, Creelman founded a company offering online sales of fresh seafood from the Northeast and then the country’s first producer of organic cocktail mixes.

In direct contrast to his devotion to all things local, seasonal and organic, however, Creelman says he found himself addicted to mass-produced diet soda. A new father, he realized he needed to re-examine that part of his otherwise very healthy life, and so he set out to “reinvent” soda as we knew it.

And that he has done. Spindrift sodas and seltzers are crafted using only fresh-squeezed, unpasteurized juices—never from syrups, concentrates or frozen fruit. All fruits other than mango are grown in California, then squeezed and rushed to a bottling plant in Sonoma County where they are mixed with triple-filtered sparkling water and, in the case of its sodas, a dash of pure cane sugar.

Currently the company produces lemonade, orange-mango and grapefruit sodas, as well as raspberry-lime, tangerine and lemon seltzers (no sugar … Read More

Headlands Center For The Arts: Nourishing Creativity

By Maria Finn • Photos By Andria Lo

Headlands Center for the Arts (HCA) inhabits former military buildings at historic Fort Barry in the Marin Headlands, deep in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Artists, many of whom hail from from other countries, spend up to three months there composing, choreographing, painting, photographing, sculpting, weaving or writing as westerly winds rage off the Pacific, foghorns bellow and coyotes howl.

In the midst of the natural beauty and military history, the presence of artists is not an enigma. They are creative spirits in this raw and magical place. Their work is a contemporary interpretation of a landscape where time has been etched into a rocky shoreline by crashing waves and the military fortifications built into hillsides are reminders of enemies who never arrived.

While the mission here might be art, the pleasure center of the HCA is its kitchen. The kitchen and dining hall, still bearing its military moniker, the Mess Hall, were initially designed to feed 120 soldiers. The original Mess Hall was a no-nonsense low-ceilinged, dark and dingy room. In 1989, the HCA commissioned artist Ann Hamilton to undertake a major … Read More

Achieving Slurpability

By Maria Finn • Photos By Courtney Michalik

Hog Island Oyster Co. at 30

John Finger, president and co-founder of Hog Island Oyster Co., has a classic California surfer look—his hair is blond and his face is tan; he has crow’s feet spreading from the corners of his eyes, telltale signs of many years spent squinting into the distance to spot the perfect wave. He is not a native son, however, but grew up on the North Fork of Long Island. A place similar to his adopted home of Northern California, a place where you can still fish for your supper and grow your own food.

John wears one pearl earring, a subtle symbol of the turn his life took, from marine biologist to oyster farmer, from oyster hater to oyster guru. It was while studying marine biology at Southampton College on Long Island that he became interested in aquaculture. He interned in La Jolla in Southern California during college, then returned to California after graduation, knocking on doors until he found a position with a shellfish farm in Moss Landing.

Oysters were not love at first bite. John says he never touched one as a youth, … Read More

Summer Berries

By Georgeanne Brennan

Save at Least a Few of Them For the Table

The hardest part about cooking with summer berries is stopping myself from eating them straight out of the basket or off the bush. Blackberries, boysenberries, raspberries, blueberries and strawberries all make spectacular pies, cobblers, tarts, muffins and puddings, but it takes a lot of them to fill a cobbler dish or pie.

So, I’ve found that I can satisfy my eating-out-of-hand snackings and still have some left for dinner or breakfast by using the berries for toppings on pancakes, waffles, yogurt, cakes and my favorite: old-fashioned meringues.

I grew up in Southern California when Knott’s Berry Farm was indeed a farm, not a theme park. My family would go there for Sunday dinners of roast turkey or chicken, always to be followed by pie, usually à la mode, which my father loved. We usually bought a jar of boysenberry jam, my favorite. After the meal, we would all visit the Knott’s pet store, where my brother and I begged our parents to buy us the “deodorized” skunk that always seemed to be there.

Boysenberries are still my first love, but all the berries are … Read More