>>Today on "Un-Wine'd," it's Mountain Run Winery in Culpeper, Virginia, where the wines are beautifully balanced, families are welcome and history abounds.

So go grab that glass.

It's time to unwind.

>>Production funding for "Un-Wine'd" was made possible in part by.

>>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.

>>And by.

(upbeat music) >>I love to pair Viognier and Chardonnay with this recipe.

It's so simple and it's versatile.

So we're gonna start off in our pan with a little butter and olive oil, three tablespoons of butter and a tablespoon of olive oil.

And you just wanna heat those up until they're nice and warm.

And then we're going to add some mushrooms and a little bit of garlic.

Once that butter is nice and hot, let's go to the pan with a pound of sliced button mushrooms, and about three cloves of finely minced garlic.

(pan sizzling) (gentle upbeat music) Make sure when you're buying those mushrooms that they're closed up tightly, so that the dirt doesn't get up in the gills.

Now let's stir that around for about two minutes.

At this point, we're just trying to coat the mushrooms with the butter and oil, and they'll start to cook from the outside in.

But you don't wanna overcook the mushrooms because they get a little bit mushy.

Now at this point, let's add a tablespoon of flour.

This is going to serve as our thickening, but you don't want the flour to be uncooked.

So, as you can see in the pan now, the flour is white.

We're going for a nice cooked flour.

So once that flour has all dissipated and it's no longer white in the pan or on the mushrooms, then you're ready for the next step.

Now, while the mushrooms and the flour cook out, let's drop in some fresh pasta into some boiling water.

Now, I have a pound of fettuccine here.

I love to use fettuccine for this recipe, but you can use any pasta you choose.

The great thing about fresh pasta is it cooks in about two minutes.

So about the time that your pasta sauce is ready, your pasta's ready to go.

Now, the flour is all cooked and the mushrooms are starting to gain some color.

At this point, let's deglaze that pan with a little white wine.

I'm using Chardonnay, about three quarters of a cup.

And let's add in about three quarters of a cup of chicken stock.

Now, let's simmer this for about two minutes, or until it starts to thicken.

Now the pasta's ready, and I'm just going to let it rest above the pan until I'm ready to put it into our sauce.

So at this point, we've got a little thickening and a little simmering going.

We're going to add a cup of heavy cream.

Now, as soon as this comes to another simmer, it'll start to thicken up just a little bit.

But the real thickening agent in this comes from the Parmesan cheese.

So our sauce is just starting to come to a simmer.

I see little bubbles on the side of the pan, and I want to add about a half cup of finely grated fresh Parmesan cheese.

Then let's add a little color with some parsley.

This is about two tablespoons of fresh parsley.

And now we're ready to toss in that fresh pasta.

This is such a quick, wonderful weeknight meal.

So let's toss it all together and we'll plate it up.

So let's get some of this creamy pasta in the bowl, and then we'll make sure that we get some of that sauce and mushrooms as well.

This recipe serves four people easily, or just for a couple.

And if you're living alone and you just wanna make it for one, you've got great leftovers.

Now, let's finish that up with a little Parmesan and some extra parsley.

Ah, it looks so good.

(upbeat music) And paired with Viognier or a Chardonnay, this'll make a great night any night.

(upbeat music) So, David Foster, thank you so much for having us here to Mountain Run.

I love this place.

Tell us a little bit about this winery- >>Certainly.

>>How you found it.

Was it a winery or was it?

>>So this is a 130 year old farm.

I was sitting at my desk a couple years ago, about eight and a half years ago, looking up farms basically that I could find.

I found this one.

Came out, toured it Friday.

Driving down I said, "This is it, this is it."

>>Wow!

>>So just like that.

Really, really, great place.

The house is 130 years old.

Barns range in age from 120 years old.

This one that we're under here is about 75 years old, and just beautiful old.

They're in excellent shape.

We didn't have to do much to it.

Where we did, we tried to use as much of the old barn boards to be able to fix it up.

So just about everything here is 75 years old, 130 years old, and just a beautiful, beautiful spot.

>>It's gorgeous.

So were you looking to buy and create a winery, or were you looking for country land?

>>I was.

So, I had wanted to get into the wine industry.

Really enjoyed agriculture, growing things.

I'd been doing homemade beer, actually, in a little one gallon, or a two a gallon plastic thing.

And I said, you know what?

I bet I can run a full-size winery, you know?

But, so I had gone around and I had talked to other wineries, particularly ones that were up for sale.

And basically said, you know, "I'm really interested in getting into this.

Probably don't know much about what I'm doing.

What do I need to do?

Who should I talk to?

What kind of, you know, things should I do?"

And they basically said, "As long as you're willing to work really, really hard, you're able to do that."

But yeah, you know, basically 14 hour days.

>>Oh, wow.

>>We have about 2,400 grapes planted here.

I personally put them all in.

The first year, we put in about 6 or 700 vines, Chambourcin, some, yeah, Chard.

We would do about 1000 vines or 800 vines each year after that.

>>Well, it's beautiful, and as I sit here and I look back, it's middle of summer and I can't help but wonder what kind of vineyard management you have to deal with in the summer like we've had with a lot of wet, and then a lot of dry, and then a lot of wet.

How does that work?

>>Yeah, so that is a lot to answer.

So when we got into the business, right, so I read every book that I could.

I went out and I interviewed people, and I walked around and I saw everything.

I said, "What do I need to do?"

And I thought that I knew what I needed to do, but no amount of, you know, books, and talking with other people, you know, it took a couple of years of trial and error, of things that other people said would work or wouldn't work.

Well, maybe those things do or don't work.

But there is a lot.

And right now, 2023 vintage is looking great.

>>Fantastic.

>>Most fruit we've ever had.

>>Wow.

>>Fruit's looking good.

You know, I finally, after eight years, I think that I figured it out.

Hopefully I get those fingers, those fingers, you know, crossed.

But there's definitely a lot out there.

And one of the fun parts is just every couple days walking through and just seeing how everything's doing, what the fruit looks like, the leaves and everything.

I care, you know, much more about what my vine looks like as a total vine than just, is the fruit looking good?

Because you gotta have the whole thing to be able to your feed it.

>>Well, you have gorgeous looking vines.

>>Thank you.

>>Absolutely beautiful, and I can't wait to get out and walk through a little bit.

>>Certainly, yeah.

I'm looking forward to that too.

(upbeat music) >>Petit Manseng is the perfect wine to pair with something that's a little bit spicy.

So today, Baja shrimp tacos, and I love to make these and serve them with guests.

Oh, they're just fantastic.

So what I'm gonna do is take about three tablespoons of olive oil, and I'm gonna mix up a few seasonings in that.

First of all, chipotle chili powder, about a teaspoon and a half.

Then I wanna take about half of a little quarter teaspoon, so it's about an eighth of a teaspoon of some cayenne pepper.

Now you can use a little less or a little bit more.

Then I'm gonna take a half teaspoon of salt, and some corn starch.

This is a teaspoon of cornstarch, and the reason that I use this is because it holds all of the marinade together.

(spoon tapping) Now, let's just mix that through.

Then I want to put this on two pounds of medium shrimp that have been peeled, deveined, and the tails are off.

Just drizzle that over.

And then let's stir it through.

Now, the amount of oil that you've just put on the shrimp should be enough in your pan to keep the shrimp from sticking, but I always like to spray my pans just in case.

So a little non-stick spray, and then all of this lusciousness.

Now, at this point, you can either fry or saute the shrimp, or you can put them on the grill.

(pan sizzling) So for right now, we're going to saute, and I want my pan over high heat.

While those shrimp are starting to saute or grill up, I want to make some sauce.

Now, this is a really easy sauce.

This is about a cup of sour cream, and to that, we're going to add some fresh lime juice.

And then I wanna take a clove of garlic, just one clove is fine.

Finely minced.

And a pinch of salt.

Don't take as much as an eighth of a teaspoon, it's a little too much, so just a pinch.

And then I want to take two chipotle peppers that have been marinated in adobo sauce, and I want to take a tablespoon of adobo sauce.

Then let's just blend that.

(blender whirring) Now, let's add a pinch of cumin, and I want to get back down in my blades and just make sure that those peppers are not blocking anything.

There we go.

Just a pinch.

(blender whirring) So let's go back to our pan, and what we're looking for is a little color on our shrimp, and we want to make sure that they're completely pink all the way through and that they're done, but you definitely don't want overdone.

Now, while these are finishing up, I want to go ahead and put some tortillas on the pan, just to saute them a little bit, make them nice and soft.

So let's take just a speck of olive oil, just a tiny bit, and brush that all over the pan.

What we want to do to make these tortillas perfect is just put a little water on them and drop them on that hot pan.

Give it about 15 seconds, and then we're gonna give it a flip it.

(food sizzling) Then let's hold those tortillas to warm on another plate while we do the others.

So our shrimp are ready, our tortillas are ready.

Now let's go assemble.

The first thing I wanna do before we assemble is to get my avocado ready.

So I've taken the little end out of the avocado.

I see that it's green.

So with a little bit of give, that avocado should be perfect and it is.

I love it.

Now, let's just take that pit out, and I'll scoop out the avocado and just give it a little slice.

If you look at the stem and under the stem, it's brown, your avocado has started to turn.

So make sure that you use that up quickly.

Now, let's give these a little slice, just like that.

Mm.

I love avocado in my taco, it just kind of makes it for me.

I like the texture of the avocado, and it's just perfect.

Now, I wanna take a lime and give it a little bit of a squeeze, so it has a little bit of juice ready.

You don't wanna serve a lime that is so hard that people can't get the juice out of it.

And then let's just cut some wedges.

I like to use a taco holder.

It just holds the tacos in place, and then they're not all over the plate.

Now, let's take a tortilla, and these, of course, have been warmed, and we're gonna take three shrimp and just put right down on the bottom.

And I like using these street taco size.

They're just perfect for a taco.

Now, let's take a little bit of Cotija cheese, and you can always put this on the top and the bottom.

I like a little bit in the bottom and a little bit on the top.

And I'm gonna take a little bit of cabbage, or you can use lettuce.

Some pickled jalapeno peppers.

Mm.

A little bit of pickled onion.

Some cilantro.

And then I want to take a little of my sauce that we made, that wonderful hot, spicy sauce.

Let's take a little bit of our lime right here, and a little of our avocado.

There we go.

And just a touch more Cotija right across the top.

Isn't that gorgeous?

So let's make up a plate of three tacos, and then you're ready to serve them.

These are absolutely delicious and perfect with Petit Manseng.

(gentle upbeat music) (upbeat music) So David, Viognier, one of my very favorite grapes.

>>So the thing that I really enjoy about this is just the most incredibly floral, floralness to it.

Just you get that light kind of orchardy nose to it.

Really, really just, you know, awesome.

It's so interesting to me, growing the actual fruit out there, if you go out and taste the actual fruit, the fruit doesn't, I mean, doesn't taste like that.

It's something that kind of comes in afterwards, and it's just such, I mean, wonderful thing that it can really, really turn into that but yeah.

>>Yeah, I know a lot of the must that I've tasted in the winery before it's ever- >>Oh, sure.

>>Gone through anything, it just tastes like apple juice.

>>There you go, or grape juice.

>>Yeah.

(both laughing) >>So, yeah- >>This is a beautiful- >>Just that really light, yeah, really light flavor.

>>A beautiful bouquet.

Great flavor, crisp.

>>Yep.

Yep.

>>But it has a little bit of- >>And then it kind of has a balance.

>>It's not buttery, but it's a softness about it.

I really enjoy it.

>>Yeah, thank you, yeah.

This is probably my favorite springtime drink, so just wonderful.

>>Oh yeah, yeah.

>>Wonderful beverage.

>>I can just imagine a really hot day, relaxing with a glass of this- >>There you go.

>>By the pool, on the deck, whatever that is.

>>Beautiful.

>>Gorgeous.

Gorgeous.

I do love Viognier.

And then Petit Verdot is becoming quickly my favorite red varietal.

I just love it.

>>Yep.

So this is my favorite.

Dark, inky, tannic, rich, purple.

I mean, just such a wonderful, wonderful wine.

2021, so it's still got a couple in years for us.

But yeah, just a really, really great, great flavor.

>>Mm.

That is so nice.

>>Rich, dark kind of tannic.

>>Yeah.

>>So yeah.

>>That deep, rich, rich red fruit.

Oh my goodness.

Just so nice.

>>Yep, so wonderful.

>>Mm-hmm, love it.

Well, David, thank you so much for having me here at Mountain Run, for letting me enjoy my day with you.

For just an incredible day of wine.

>>Well, cheers.

Thank you.

>>Thank you.

(upbeat music) I love Meritage wine, and I particularly really love it with that strong protein content of beef.

The two just balance each other beautifully.

And today we're gonna make this with a beef salad.

So the first thing I'm gonna do is blot this beef.

I just wanna make sure it's nice and dry, because when I put the oil-based herbs on it, I want them to stick.

So let's just blot that really well.

And then I'm gonna take some olive oil.

This is about, oh, half cup of olive oil.

And to that I'm gonna add a couple of cloves of garlic, and then half teaspoon of salt, quarter teaspoon of pepper, and a half teaspoon of freshly minced rosemary.

Now, let's just stir all that up in the bowl.

Usually, when I'm making this, I like for this to sit about a half an hour so that all the flavors blend.

But I just wanna show you how to do this.

So, we are going to take a nice little bottle, or you can use a bowl, and I want to just put a strainer in it, so that I can strain out all these herbs.

The herbs are gonna go on the meat.

There we go.

So just strain that through.

We're using the oil on the salad, but the herbs on the beef.

So let's take those herbs and we're just gonna rub them all over this meat, just like this on both sides.

And then I wanna put it in a really hot cast iron pan that has the grill markings in it.

All right, so let's take this beef and put it over in our pan.

And what we wanna do is just mark it, and then I'm gonna pop it in a 425 degree oven.

(pan sizzling) Now, what I wanna do here is just mark the beef on all sides, so nice little hash marks.

And then we're finishing it in the oven because that brings uniformity.

When you're grilling, on the inside, sometimes that's hard to achieve.

So let's just turn this a half turn, just like that.

And then we'll do the same on the other side and pop it in that oven.

Now, right before it goes in the oven, I want to take just a little bit of my oil, not a lot, just a tiny bit, and just squirt right on the top.

That will keep it nice and moist.

And we're gonna put it in 425 degrees for about eight minutes.

So our steak is ready and it's rested a little bit.

So what I wanna do is just move it to a cutting board.

Let's just cut it nice and thinly, usually about a quarter inch.

Now, the Italian name for this salad is (Tassie speaking in foreign language).

That means that it's sliced steak, sliced beef with arugula, Parmesan cheese and tomato.

So we just wanna slice it nice and thinly.

Now, you can use a different steak with this.

You can use sirloin.

You don't have to use filet, but today I'm using filet.

I just think it's so beautiful and wonderfully tender in this, and I like it.

This is one of those items when we were in Italy, if my husband saw it on the menu, he just said, "I'll take that."

All right.

Now we've got that nice thinly sliced steak.

So let's move this over to our board, our nice plate.

And I just wanna give it a nice little angle here, because I like to make it beautiful.

It's gonna taste great, but why not make it pretty as well?

So I have a bed of arugula here, (water splashes) and I just wanna put the steak nice on the arugula.

Then let's move that board out of our way.

So here, we have our nice thinly sliced steak.

Now, what I wanna do here is take my olive oil, give it an initial drizzle, and then let's top it with a few tomatoes on that offset part.

Just make it pretty.

And then we'll take some fresh Parmesan that I've just shaved, and we just put that right across the top like this.

Then let's finish it with just a little extra rosemary.

Just give it a little rub right over the top.

And just another sprinkle of that olive oil.

This is an incredible dish that works so well with Meritage.

Anytime you have a really tannic wine, you want to pair it with a beautiful protein like this.

(gentle upbeat music) Well, I hope you've enjoyed today's show and the great foods that we put together with the wines from Mountain Run Winery.

So whether it's this great taco, or it's the creamy mushroom pasta, or even the steak salad, you can always get the recipes on vpm.org/unwined.

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

It's always time to unwind.

>>Production funding for "Un-Wine'd" was made possible in part by.

>>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.

>>And by.

(upbeat music) (gentle music)