Greetings from the wine country of Northern California.
At home, the start of elementary school is just weeks away, but this hustle and bustle feels distant on the horizon. Right now, we’re enjoying the golden light shimmering from the Sonoma coastline. Mornings are for pool swimming, and evenings are reserved for epic games of tile rummy. Simple menus unfold at the tables: charcoal-grilled chicken wings with salt and pepper, grilled oysters from Tomales Bay, large pans of buttery, garlicky shrimp. We uncork local wines like Robert Sinskey’s copper-colored Orgia vintage 2016 or Donkey & Goat’s The Gadabout, a barely effervescent, modern nod to classic Californian Chardonnay.
Three hundred miles south of my location, winemakers Mireia Taribó and Tara Gomez are also redefining our notions of classic Californian wine. F&W accompanies them to a harvest dinner in the Sta. Rita Hills, where the Pacific breeze keeps the grapes cool and perfectly ripened, as seen in their exceptionally robust Camins 2 Dreams Zotovich Vineyard Syrah vintage 2018. This wine would pair just as well with some of the dishes in Margaret Eby’s exploration and celebration of a popular autumn ingredient in “Crazy for Mushrooms”. Every chef needs a favorite mushroom recipe, and our cover star sauté is one of them.
One of the few times I’ve ever foraged for mushrooms was along the Sonoma County coast, a paradise for mycologists that yielded a few pounds of delicate yellowfoots. This, alongside Napa Valley, is a place I continually return to, all the way back to the days when I cooked professionally. In 2007, I dreamed of cooking in France but found myself in Sebastopol, tending a charcoal grill at a restaurant. I became obsessed with the quality of Sonoma County’s local ingredients and its intricate landscape of valleys, mountains, forests, and farms. Each return here reveals new layers, and next week, I’ll use Executive Wine Editor Ray Isle’s fresh itinerary to view Healdsburg, the wine hub of Sonoma County, with new eyes. Isle also highlights 37 bargain wines that hit the sweet spot between high quality and affordable prices. This list will be your most used this year, whether you’re planning your next dinner party or just wishing you could open something excellent.
“Find good wine, and good food will follow,” writes Steve Hoffman in his ode to the French town of Autignac in “Falling For Faugères”. That could be the mantra for this fall issue of the wine magazine. Just as I return to California wine country whenever I can, Hoffman and his family rent a house in the Faugères wine region every autumn. They visit friend winemakers, cook, and drink with enthusiasm—mineral white wines that pair well with grilled fish from the Mediterranean and powerful red wines that “spectacularly tackle rustic stews like the Daube de Boeuf recipe.” “May you find your own Faugères,” he says, and to that, I concur: I hope you find your own happy place on the road and at the stove this fall.
If you’re planning a winter trip, go like I recently did along the coast of Georgia towards the sun. In Savannah, the obligatory stroll along the river leads to treasures like monstrous geodes and a 135-foot-long dinosaur skeleton dipped in chrome (both found in the fossil exhibit of the JW Marriott’s Generator Hall— the hotel is built in an old power plant). After a day of exploring squares and pocket parks, head to the Grey to taste Mashama Bailey’s food and experience the hospitality she and John O. Morisano have conjured in an old Greyhound bus terminal (one of our 2019 best restaurants in the world). And on the second evening, make an early visit to Pizzeria Vittoria, Kyle Jacovino’s next-level pizza joint in the Starland Yard, the open-air food court crafted from shipping containers. Jacovino uses freshly ground flour for his long-fermented dough; his blistered, wood-fired pizzas, like the Diavola with ‘Nduja, Soppressata, and pickled Calabrian chilis, are among the best in the country. (Really: they landed on our current F&W list of the best pizzas in every state.) Say yes to his wine recommendation of an unfiltered Angelo Negro Roero Arneis and save room for a nightcap, expertly prepared by the pros at the Lone Wolf Lounge, an excellent cocktail spot nearby.
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