(upbeat music) >>Travel with me to Crozet, Virginia today as we speak with Robbie at Grace Estate Winery.

Back in the kitchen, Camembert, leek, and spinach fondue, some sourdough pappardelle with a seafood sauce, and lamb chops with fig and herb compote.

So go grab your glass.

It's time to "Un-Wine'd."

>>Production funding for "Un-Wine'd" was made possible in part by: (gentle music) >>The Virginia Wine Board.

Promoting the interests of vineyards and wineries in the Commonwealth through research, education, and marketing.

There's a movement growing in Virginia's vineyards.

Discover more at virginiawine.org.

(light jazz music) >>And by: (light jazz music continues) >>I've been making cheese fondue for years, and this is one of my favorite cheese fondues.

It's made with Camembert.

It's highlighted with some onion or with leeks in this case, a little sun-dried tomato, and just some major deliciousness.

So I hope you're going to enjoy this.

I'm pairing it up with a Cabernet Franc, which goes so beautifully with Camembert.

So in my pan, I'm gonna start with four tablespoons of butter.

(light jazz music) We're just gonna get that to melt down.

And I have two medium-sized leeks here chopped up, and I only used the white and the light green parts.

You don't wanna use that really dark, coarse green part.

For that, wash them up really, really well, stick them in your freezer, and you can put them in your stock pot.

It gives great, great flavor.

All right, now as that butter melts, let's go ahead and put our leeks in.

And what we want to do is to cook these leeks until they're just tender.

So while those leeks are just in the pan simmering, getting a nice, soft texture, we want to take two eight-ounce rounds of Camembert.

You can see what I did.

I just cut the rind off of the top and bottom, and then I came back through and cut on the sides to get the rind off.

It doesn't have to be perfect.

A little rind is fine, but it just doesn't melt and it will make your fondue kind of lumpy.

Don't worry about a little.

Worry about a lot.

So what we wanna do now is just cut this in cubes.

And I'm gonna go about 3/4 to an inch, just in some strips there.

There we go.

So we've got all these cubes.

Now, this is interchangeable with Brie.

And sometimes, I just do the Brie and onion fondue without the addition of the spinach and the sun-dried tomatoes.

So let's go back, stir those leeks just a little bit, make sure they're soft.

(leeks sizzling) Oh and they're softening up beautifully.

You can see that they're getting a nice, bright color.

Yet at the same time, they're starting to turn a little translucent.

Oh yeah.

And they're getting soft, nice and soft.

Now what we wanna do is add a little thickening agent.

So we're going to add about three tablespoons of flour.

(pan clinking) Now, let's really get in there and stir.

And you can see that fond developing on the bottom from the flour and the butter.

That's perfect.

You want that to happen.

(leeks continue sizzling) Mm, now, make sure that all of your flour is completely cooked through.

If you see any white flour on your spatula, on your leeks, in your pot, you want to make sure you continue to cook that until all of that white flour is gone.

If not, you're going to taste raw flour in your finished product.

(leeks continue sizzling) There we go.

Now that fond is starting to get a nice little golden, buttery color.

It will also turn brown in about 30 seconds.

So what we want to do here is put in some chicken stock.

This is a cup of chicken stock.

(stock sizzling) Now, I've got that going and it's going to start to thicken just a little bit.

So let's let it simmer just until it thickens.

That's gonna take about a minute.

There we go.

You can see that start to thicken now.

As it starts to thicken, the edges of the pan get thicker and then it moves its way to the center.

Oh, it looks beautiful.

All right, now let's add a little bit of heavy cream, 1/2 cup.

(metal clinking) And now our cheese.

Now, you want your cheese to be at room temperature.

It will melt much better that way.

That's okay if you forgot to pull the cheese outta the fridge.

It's not gonna break the bank.

It won't ruin your recipe.

But it'll just take a little bit longer.

All right, let's add all of those cheese cubes.

And I like to drop these in a couple at a time so I know they're not all stuck together.

Oh, perfect.

That is beautiful.

Now let's just simmer that for a couple minutes until all of this melts.

And then we'll add in our spinach and our sun-dried tomatoes.

And then we're done.

Super fast appetizer and it's so good with this Cabernet Franc.

And you can see here that our cheese is pretty much melted.

There are a couple little clumps in there that are just easy to squish out, because they're all melted around and they really want to just melt through.

So give 'em a little help.

Then let's add four ounces of frozen spinach that you thaw and squeeze out.

Make sure you squeeze out all the water, because if you don't, that will really make this watery.

And it's gonna be cold.

So when you drop that in, it will reduce your temperature in your fondue just a little bit.

And you can see that.

It's not bubbling as much.

And then we're gonna take about six sun-dried tomato halves that I've just chopped up here.

(glass clinking) And stir those through.

Now let's turn off that heat.

(light jazz music) And put it in our fondue pot.

And there we have it, this beautiful fondue that we're serving up with a Cabernet Franc.

It's a delicious pairing that really, really works well for an appetizer, or if you love to have a fondue party, make sure you add this to your list.

And I hope you'll enjoy this recipe the next time you grab a glass of Cabernet Franc.

(light jazz music continues) (bright music) Well, Robbie, thanks so much for having us here at Grace Estates.

I've been so excited to come here.

So tell us about this property.

>>Well, the property is about a 450-acre property.

That's all of the pieces of land that are put together here to make the Mount Juliet Farms and Grace Estate.

We have about 35 acres of vines.

We've got, I think, seven varieties.

Most of those varieties are vinifera varieties with one hybrid Vidal blanc out there.

And I think it's a really beautiful estate.

>>Oh yeah.

>>Pretty spectacular location.

The underlying geology is kind of a significant portion of the Monticello area, which is super interesting.

And we've got a really good elevation with the vineyard starting down around 700 feet and going all the way up a little bit above 800 feet.

>>That's great.

Well, I know you've spent most of your life in the Monticello AVA, and you've been in the wine industry.

How do you see the Monticello AVA changing now with all of this notoriety that we've had with being named the Region of the World?

>>Well, certainly, the notoriety is exciting.

The change, it's, you know, it can go both ways.

We've seen almost a mini explosion over the last few years, and we're still small enough, nobody's really a competitor.

But with this much different businesses coming along, what the future may bring for us is hard to say.

But growing up in the Afton area, you know, the speed limit was 55 on 151.

There was no traffic lights.

(Tassie laughing) And when you think about the changes just to the highway and that section now with the traffic circle on the way in and the road has been widened, the speed limit reduced, and all with good reason, 'cause everybody's trying to pull off at this winery or that brewery.

And you know, growing up here for a long time, you miss the way it looked a long time ago, but you are definitely very excited about the success that the wine industry has brought to the region.

>>So do you see any new varietals that you think will be on the horizon for us?

>>In terms of what I think does the best here, and I'm always most proud to show is Cabernet Franc.

>>Yes.

>>I know that many of the businesses are looking always for the next grape, and I kind of think there's time to put a lot of focus on Cabernet Franc.

There's a lot of different possibility of wines you can make with the one variety.

And in addition to that, year in, year out, it is hands down the best performer among the reds and can produce a solid red wine on any given vintage.

>>Oh yes.

>>So that, to me, you know, tells us it's time to really start playing with how we farm that variety, putting it in only the best of the best spots.

>>Yeah.

>>And really trying to make something special for Monticello.

(light jazz music) >>Some flavors that are perfect with lamb include mint, rosemary, fig.

Those flavors just bring out the flavor in the meat.

Now today, we're going to make a fig and herb compote with a little bit of rosemary and a little bit of thyme.

So in my pot, I have 1 1/2 cups of a port style wine.

Any port style wine will do.

You can use port or you can use a port style that we make here in Virginia.

Now, let's put in 2/3 cup (liquid sloshing) of chicken stock.

(glass clinking) And I want to add to that some figs, and I'm just using dried figs.

Don't waste fresh figs on this recipe.

Now we'll take eight figs and just put them in our pot.

And what you wanna do is take this little stem end off, and then just break the figs in two or cut them and drop them into your pot with your wine and chicken stock.

I have eight Turkish figs here.

If you're using little figlets, use double.

There we go.

Now let's turn this pan onto high.

(oven clicking) Because what we're going to do is start bringing it up to a boil.

Now, while that simmers, I want to add about three or four inches of rosemary, fresh rosemary, and three or four sprigs of fresh thyme.

Just as that begins to simmer, let's add one sliced shallot.

That's going to give us a real depth of flavor in here.

And then let that simmer until it reduces by 1/2.

To get these lamb chops ready for the grill, we're just gonna take a plastic bag.

(plastic crinkling) And we will salt and pepper our lamb chops all over.

(plate thumping) Just give it a good coat.

A lot of this will come off in the olive oil, and that's not a problem.

But you'll get a good flavor with all of this just all over the chops.

There we go.

Make sure you season that bone end.

(plate thumping) Okay.

(glass clinking) Now let's put those down in our bag.

(plastic crinkling) And to that, we want to add two whole garlic cloves that have been chopped.

Now this is for four lamb chops.

(glass clinking) Then rinse your hands and let's get some olive oil in that bag.

I'm going to put in about 1/4 cup.

No need to put in a lot.

But about 1/4 cup will do.

So I'd like to let these sit for at least an hour, but I have been known to let them sit overnight.

So let's give them a good massage in the bag.

(plastic crinkling) And then we'll let them sit at room temperature for about a 1/2 an hour before we put them on the grill.

Now, you can see, our fig compote, it's just cooking down.

All of that wine is now in those figs.

And what we want to do is turn off our cooktop and then pull out all of those herbs that are just kind of laying in the top.

They're going to be a little warm.

Just pull out all those stems and get rid of that.

Now let's take all that yummy fig and put it in our blender.

(liquid sloshing) (pan thumping) (pan clanking) Had a little jumper there, so I'm just gonna grab (laughing) that in.

Now, I wanna take about two tablespoons of honey and put in the blender.

And you can use three if you want it a little sweeter.

And three tablespoons of balsamic vinegar.

(glass clinking) And then I wanna take two tablespoons of butter.

I'm going to take about 1/2 of a six-inch sprig of rosemary and just drop that in there.

And the leaves of maybe one or two small sprigs of thyme.

And you want just the leaves.

Make sure you don't drop a lot of stem in there.

Mm, now let's blend that, and that makes our sauce.

(blender thumping) (blender whirring) Mm.

That is just a gorgeous and really wonderful smelling sauce.

Now I'll be back in just a second with a beautifully plated grilled lamb chop with this sauce, minted peas, and a little rice.

(light jazz music) Petit Verdot is such a beautiful, rich red grape.

It has aromas of violets and deep, deep red berries.

And it's perfect with red meat, particularly with this lamb and fig.

So I hope the next time you grab a glass of Petit Verdot, you'll try this lamb with fig compote.

(light jazz music continues) (bright music) So Robbie, I love your Sauvignon blanc and the minerality here.

How do you treat the grapes that gives you this unique Sauvignon blanc?

>>Well, it's a fantastic question.

I think one of the things that makes us most unique at Grace Estate, especially with our production methods or non-production methods, as it were, we actually do what's called a spontaneous fermentation on our grapes.

And in order to accomplish this, we have to be very careful in our vineyards, especially towards the end just before harvest.

We're really dialing back on any use of pesticides, usually none at all.

And we gotta keep that biome that's actually growing on the skins of our grapes healthy.

>>Okay.

>>And if we do that, then we're able to bring into the winery all of the yeasts and everything we need that's necessary to actually conduct a healthy fermentation.

With the Sauvignon blanc, it's slightly unusual for a white wine because we actually do a yeast mother kinda fermentation, where we go out to the best vines on the vineyard and select just the best clusters until we get about 60 pounds, which allows us to do a couple of small fermentations, teeny tiny.

And those become our yeast mothers.

During the beginning of those fermentations, we actually bring in the rest of the crop, we press it off as juice, and we get it ready to actually inoculate with our already fermenting yeast mothers.

And by doing that, we're avoiding having to buy any commercial yeast from outside, wherever they might be isolated from.

And we're able to kinda produce a what we believe is a more authentic representation of Grace Estate.

Because not only do the grapes come from Grace Estate, but also the microbiome that produces the wine is also coming from Grace Estate.

>>Wow.

>>When we inoculate the Sauvignon blanc, and this is kind of the unusual step, we actually inoculate with that entire yeast mother, which means that a certain percentage of solids, seeds, skins, and stems, all end up in that wine during the fermentation period.

It lasts as long as 20 days, a little bit longer sometimes.

And at that point, we do remove the solids and the wine is then aged in neutral oak barrels.

So it is an oak, but shouldn't pick up too much of the oaky flavor.

What we're really after is extra minerality and extra texture.

>>Wow.

Well, and then your Cab Franc, so lovely.

>>Cab Franc, obviously, this is a red wine, so the production methods change slightly.

And red wines typically are fermented on their skins.

So we actually do destem 100% of this wine before the fermentation, but we do the fermentation again spontaneously.

In this case, because we've already brought in so much skin and it's in the fermentation vat, we don't worry as much about making a yeast mother to actually get the fermentations going.

As long as we've got healthy grapes and we've done a good job in the vineyard to make sure that there's plenty of life still, we always feel confident that when we put the wines in the vat, the fermentation will begin.

And then, the unique step we make in Cabernet Franc and all of our reds is we've kind of changed the format of the kind of oak barrels that are being used typically in Virginia.

>>Yeah.

>>The model here, I think, for a long time has been to use these Bordeaux style or Burgundy style barrels, which are much smaller and can have a lot larger impact on the flavor of the wine.

We're more or less exclusively using these large format barrels.

One barrel will fit about five of the other barrels.

And so they're much- >>Wow.

>>Much bigger.

If the oak is giving the wine too much flavor, it tastes like the oak.

And I want the wine as much as possible to speak of Grace Estate.

>>Oh, well, it is absolutely incredible.

And I salute you.

>>Thank you.

(laughing) >>So cheers to you.

(glasses clinking) >>And thank you for the visit.

>>And to Grace Estate.

>>Cheers.

(light jazz music) >>Sauvignon blanc is one of those very bright, beautiful white wines.

It has hints of citrus in it, and it's just sparkly when you drink it.

Not sparkling on the mouth, but it's sparkling with its flavors.

It really is refreshing.

And it's perfect for seafood.

So today I'm going to make a seafood with a little bit of sauce.

And we're gonna have this with a Sauvignon blanc.

So let's get to our pan.

And I've got this heated up over medium heat.

You don't wanna go too terribly high with seafood.

But you also want to be able to melt that butter pretty quickly (butter sizzling) and get the oil going.

So I have two tablespoons of butter and one tablespoon of olive oil.

Now, the reason you do that is to keep that butter from burning.

Because it will burn up the seafood.

All right, so we have that nice and hot.

Now to that, I'm going to add a large clove of garlic that's just chopped.

That's another reason why you want this over medium, because if you have it over high heat, that garlic will burn quickly.

All right, so just a nice saute.

Now, I was able to find a mixed seafood in my grocery store in the frozen section.

And I thought it would be so nice for this recipe.

It has a little bit of mussels.

It has some calamari.

There's some clams in there, some mussel shells.

We've got some lovely shrimp.

(oil continues sizzling) But I have about a pound and a half here.

So I thought I'd just saute this a bit.

(oil continues sizzling) We just want it to hit the heat.

And then we're going to add some white wine to steep our seafood just a bit.

So I have 2/3 cup of a dry white wine, and I'm using just a Chardonnay.

You could use your Sauvignon blanc.

That'd be perfect.

And at this point, I'm going to turn my heat up to about a medium-high, because I want to just, not saute this, but really more steam the seafood.

And for that, I'm going to put the lid on the pot and let it go for about three minutes.

So let's put that lid on.

Let's let it go for about three minutes, and then we're going to add some cream and a little more seasoning to it.

So three minutes have gone by and now we have this beautiful seafood (lid clanking) that's simmered.

And we want to add some heavy whipping cream, about a cup and 1/4.

And let's give that a little stir through.

Now, as that comes up to temperature, oh, let's add a little salt.

About 1/2 teaspoon, and I have sea salt for this.

I like to use sea salt when I'm doing seafood.

(spoon clinking) And remember, sea salt releases slowly.

So when you're cooking with sea salt, you want to make sure that you season after you're finished with extra salt.

Because that salt will sneak up on you.

All right, let's bring this back to a simmer.

Over in my other pot, I have some pappardelle cooking.

Now, I made some fresh sourdough pappardelle.

I wanted to honor my conversation with the winemaker from Grace Estate and how he said that a lot of times, making wine is very much like making sourdough, particularly when it comes to this Sauvignon blanc.

So when I decided what recipe I was going to make, I made sourdough pappardelle.

Now, you can use any pasta with this, but I will have the sourdough recipe just in case you are a sourdough starter person and you're looking for a different recipe to use that starter.

All right, now our cream is starting to simmer on the edges, and now we want to add about 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese (glass clinking) and 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese.

This is gonna make just a nice, not super thick sauce.

It makes it just a little light, creamy sauce.

And then, at the very end, let's add a little bit of parsley.

Mm.

So I've got about two tablespoons of fresh parsley chopped up.

I'm going to let this simmer for about one minute so that cheese melts.

(light jazz music) And then I'll be back with a beautifully plated seafood with cream sauce.

So here we have this lovely seafood dish that pairs so well with Sauvignon blanc.

And I hope you'll enjoy it the next time you want to have a dish of seafood and pasta.

(light jazz music continues) (bright music) Well, I hope you've enjoyed today's show as much as I have.

And a very special thank you to my guest from Grace Estate, Robbie.

If you've enjoyed all the recipes I put together with his wines, you can get them and a whole lot more at vpm.org/unwined.

And until next time, I'm Tassie Pippert saying go grab that glass.

It's always time to "Un-Wine'd."

>>Production funding for "Un-Wine'd" was made possible in part by: (gentle music) >>The Virginia Wine Board.

Promoting the interests of vineyards and wineries in the Commonwealth through research, education, and marketing.

There's a movement growing in Virginia's vineyards.

Discover more at virginiawine.org.

(light jazz music) >>And by: (light jazz music continues) (logo chiming)