(bright music) >>On today's show, it's Revelation Vineyards in Madison County.

Back in the kitchen, we'll have some delicious French onion soup, some verjus chicken and hazelnut biscotti.

So go grab your glass, It's time to "Un-Wine'd."

>>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.

(bright music) >>I love French onion soup, it's my favorite soup.

And today I'm going to pair this up with Merlot.

Nice medium body, medium tannin that pairs so well with the Swiss cheese that's on the top and the delicious onion flavor.

So we're going to start with four tablespoons of butter.

I'm going to turn it up to about a medium high.

I don't want to fry the onions for my soup, but I do want them to sweat pretty quickly.

So let's go with medium high on that.

The butter is going to start melting, and our goal is going to be to get those onions to a nice tender state.

So the butter is melted and now let's add our onions.

I have four large onions here that I've sliced thinly with a mandolin.

Now, if you don't have a mandolin, that's fine, just slice the onions as small as you can, as thin as you can.

Now, let's try to coat all those onions with a little bit of butter, and that's easier to do at the beginning than it is at the end.

So let's just stir all around.

Now, we want those onions to get to a nice soft state with a little bit of golden color, but we don't want to fry the onions.

When you do that, you release the sugar too quickly.

This is more like a caramelization process.

Now, you can see the onions are starting to soften.

They look beautiful, and they smell so good.

Now, you can see what's starting to happen here.

Just these little edges of golden brown are starting to occur on the sides of the onion pieces.

So at this point, those onions are really ready for a little bit of thickening agent.

We're gonna use two tablespoons of flour.

So let's just sprinkle that all over the top.

Try not to just dump it because then you'll end up with lumps.

Make sure that flour coats all of those onions.

And you want to make sure, as you're doing this, you stir it the entire time, or else you'll end up with burnt onions and flour on the bottom and nothing flavored and colored on the top.

At this point, our onions have gone about five minutes, and you can see how the fond has developed in the bottom of the pan from the butter, the flour, and the onions.

That's exactly what you want.

Now, I've turned my heat down to medium because I want to add, at this point, a little red wine.

Something nice and dry, you can use your Merlot, you can use a Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, but something dry that you would drink.

Don't ever use a wine that you wouldn't actually sit and drink a glass of, because then your food is going to taste like that wine.

Terrible.

Now let's just add that.

And what happens here is that the wine will bring up all the rest of the fond, and it just increases the richness of your stock.

So I'm simmering about one minute just to bring that fond up from the bottom.

And you can see that it's already started to dissipate off that pan.

It's just coming right up.

And then we'll add our stock, four cups of a nice quality chicken stock, preferably one you make at home, but if not, something that's really good and not too salty.

Hmm, the smell is just amazing.

So I'm just gonna bring this to a simmer and then I'll be ready to put it in my bowl and top it off with some bread and cheese.

So we have our brimming hot cup of soup.

It smells amazing.

So I'm gonna add some croutons to the top of the soup, just like this.

So let's top it with a little bit of Swiss or Gruyere cheese.

Not a little bit, we're gonna use a lot.

So you want to really cover that with this cheese.

Now, Gruyere and Swiss are pretty interchangeable in this.

Some people like to top it off, also with a little bit of Parmesan and that's great.

Now, I'm going to put this in a 450 degree oven for about four minutes to just brown that cheese, and we'll be back to see that finished product.

So look at this delicious soup.

Now we're just gonna top it with a little bit of chopped chive, and I like to do that just to give it a bit of color.

You don't have to do it.

It sure does look pretty.

That with a glass of Merlot, oh my goodness, absolutely incredible and I hope you'll enjoy it.

(bright music) So Francoise and Julian, thank you so much for having us here at Revelation.

I'm so excited to talk a little bit about your winery and how this all came to be.

So give us a little history behind Revelation.

>>Well, we moved to Washington DC from North Carolina.

We were both professors at North Carolina.

We had the idea that we would like to start a vineyard.

We had lived in California, we had this dream.

And then at the time, also, there was a buzz about Virginia being a good terroir for growing really good grapes to make good wine.

>>Right.

>>So we started looking for a property.

It took actually four and a half years.

>>Well, so Julian, how did you get started with wanting to make wine?

>>The bottom line is that it was ignorance and arrogance.

(Tassie laughing) We thought that with so many doctoral degrees in the family, how difficult can making wine be?

Turns out it's pretty tough.

>>Yes.

>>And so we contracted with Matthieu Finot at King Family first, and he made our wine for a number of years.

We outgrew them, and then last year we had it made at Virginia Wine Works.

And so this year we're hoping to move it on site.

I know a little bit of chemistry, but not enough to make wine.

>>Okay.

>>So at least not enough to make good wine.

And so we have our vineyard consultant and we're going to have our wine maker.

>>So tell me about the varietals you have planted right now and then others that you may want to plant in the future.

>>So in Reva, we have Petit Manseng, Pinot Gris, Viognier, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Souvignon, Tannat, Souvignon Blanc and a tiny bit of Traminette.

>>Yes.

>>And also some Vidal blanc.

But we also have Chardonnay and Albarino, and both have just been in blends so far because we haven't had enough.

So we hope to make a single varietal Albarino, in the not too distant future.

But we have some Cab Franc and some Tannat.

>>We have two acres, nearly three acres of Petit Manseng.

It's a great wine and it pairs wonderfully with food.

And there's so many different ways, characters of making it.

>>So thanks so much for talking to me about all of the wonderful history behind Revelation.

And I can't wait to pair up your wines with some food.

(bright music) Verjus chicken is a lovely chicken that you can serve with any kind of white wine.

But today, I'm going to serve it with a blend of white wine that we'll talk about in just a little bit.

First thing that we're gonna do is stuff our chicken with a little bit of garlic.

So what I wanna do is take some garlic cloves, and I'm just going to take my chicken breast like this, stuff my knife right into it, and give it a little wiggle.

And then I'll take a garlic clove, or at least a sliver of a clove.

My cloves actually happen to be pretty flat.

So I'm gonna take that whole clove and just stuff it into the chicken.

Now, make sure it's not sticking out on the end.

If it is, you wanna make your incisions just a little bit deeper.

So I love to make this chicken to serve for a special dinner because it has so much flavor and I also just like it as a weeknight meal.

It's absolutely delicious, and my family really enjoys it.

Now, just stuff those in.

So the next thing I wanna do is to take a little storage bag and put the chicken down inside of it.

And we want to marinate this for about 30 minutes to an hour, in a little bit of verjus.

Now, what's verjus?

Well, it means green juice.

So it's when the grapes are still really green.

Some wineries make it, some don't.

If you can't find verjus, you don't have to use verjus in this recipe.

You can actually use apple juice.

They're pretty much interchangeable with most recipes.

Now, let's put in about a half cup of verjus and we're going to let this sit for 30 to 60 minutes.

Now, we've let our chicken marinate for about 45 minutes, and what I wanna do now is just to take it out of the bag, and I'm going to put it in a hot pan where I have two tablespoons of butter and two tablespoons of olive oil.

And let's just make sure our butter is all melted.

This is such a simple dish.

Now our butter is melted.

I'm starting to see some little bubbles in the bottom so I think we're ready.

I have my heat at about medium to medium high.

So let's put that chicken in.

And I'm gonna put this smooth side down first because when we bake this, we'll want the smooth side up.

(pan sizzling) Hmm.

I can smell that garlic, it's just wonderful.

Now don't throw that verjus away because we're going to use it.

Just seal that bag back up.

And before we put it in the oven, the verjus goes in.

So let's take a little salt and pepper that I have just blended here, about half and half.

And we will just salt that a bit and pepper it.

So wine blends can really be fun to make for a wine maker.

So here's what we have in this.

Sauvignon Blanc is our main flavor.

Now, Sauvignon Blanc has a lot of citrus in it, it's absolutely beautiful.

Ad it has a lot of acid.

38% of this wine is going to be Sauvignon Blanc.

The next one will be Pinot Gris.

Now, Pinot Gris is a very fresh grape, also high acidity, lovely.

And in this blend, it also brings a spark of fruitiness.

So 33% is going to be our Pinot Gris.

The next one is going to be Chardonnay.

Now Chardonnay tends to be a little more mellow.

It has more body, more structure.

So a little bit of Chardonnay.

16% Chardonnay, 11% Vidal blanc.

And when you think of Vidal blanc, a lot of times you think about something that's sweeter.

Vidal blanc has a lot of floral notes, it has a lot of sugar content, and it will bring this beautiful floral aroma to a wine.

And together, then you have this great blend.

Now, let's check our chicken.

So you can see the butter is actually starting to brown in the bottom of the pan.

So you know the chicken is starting to brown in the pan.

That looks beautiful.

Ah, that's great.

Now, what we wanna do is sprinkle with just a little more salt and pepper.

(pan sizzling) Hmm, just season that up.

And then I wanna take that verjus that's still resting in my bag.

Now, let's turn the heat back because anytime liquid hits hot fat, it's going to spatter up.

So make sure you turn back the heat a little bit before you let that happen.

Now, we have about a half cup of our verjus.

Ah, it's lovely.

But I want just a little more.

So what I'm looking for is about a cup in my pan.

We're gonna save the rest to hit right at the end when the chicken comes out.

And then I wanna take some sprigs from my thyme plants, just a few sprigs, three or four, and a nice piece of tarragon.

Tarragon is a lovely French herb and it really adds a lot of authenticity to this French inspired wine.

Now, this is gonna pop in the oven at about 375 degrees for 30 minutes or until that chicken is nicely done.

And I like to flip the chicken at one point during the process so that I'm sure all the flavors are going through from top to bottom.

Now, I pulled my chicken out of the oven and I have it on about a medium low on the cooktop.

And I want to just take out, first, all of those herbs we cooked, the tarragon, the beautiful thyme.

They've already released all their flavor, and we don't need the strands in our sauce.

So let's just take that out.

Okay.

Now, I want to take a little more of my verjus, another quarter cup or so.

And let's just hit that with a little freshness of the verjus.

Now, I'll bring that up so it simmers.

And then we just want to add this to make a nice sauce.

It takes no time at all to make this.

And that sauce is just so rich and has wonderful flavors with the verjus and the chicken stock, and all those delicious herbs that I've just cooked off of their stems.

Now let's plate one of those up.

As this sis a little bit, it will get slightly thicker.

And then I like to put a little bit over top of the rice.

Just lovely.

And here we are with our white wine blend, that Sauvignon Blanc, the Pinot Gris, the Chardonnay, and the Vidal blanc.

Delicious with this dish.

(bright music) So tell me a little bit about this white blend.

>>It's called Brightwood because it's very bright, but Brightwood is also a little hamlet in Madison County.

>>Oh, wow.

>>It's a 2023 blend.

It has a third of Souvignon blanc, about a third of Pinot Gris and a sixth of Chardonnay and a sixth of Vidal blanc.

>>Yes.

>>Oh, I could smell the Vidal blanc.

I love that blend.

Hmm.

That is beautiful.

It has a lovely acidity, but also the fruit is really, really forward in it.

I love that blend.

>>We started with blends because of not having enough single varieties to make a single variety of wine.

>>Now you also produce verjus.

Tell us a little bit about that.

>>So verjus is a non-fermented juice from grapes that harvest early.

So verjus is a French word that says green juice, and green for early grapes, but not because they are not sweet enough.

They're green for wine.

>>Right.

>>And this verjus is used to make vinegarette, salad dressing, cocktails, mocktails.

We have a flight, a non-alcoholic flight at the tasting room where we have paired verjus with different flavors.

>>Yes.

>>So we have a a straight verjus, then we have an elderflower one, a hibiscus one, and a ginger one.

So people who do not want to drink alcohol, they have this little flight that they can enjoy while others are enjoying the wine.

>>Oh, that's great.

>>And it's becoming very, very much appreciated.

>>So let's try the red.

This is a Merlot.

>>100% percent.

>>Wow, 100% Merlot.

Merlot happens to be one of my very favorite grapes.

>>Mine too.

>>I just love the mildness of a Merlot.

>>So this is made from our grapes at the Reva vineyard.

The vines are planted right in the middle of a bi-concave hill.

So it gets very ripe, it gets really good phenolics.

The flavors are very, very full and round.

>>For sure.

It's just very, it's very flavorful.

It has a good palette, I think all the way back.

The finishing palette is really lovely and it has that beautiful fruit forwardness that I think is so important with Merlot.

(bright music) Cantucci or what we know as Italian biscottis are delicious with a dessert wine.

This particular dessert wine I'm going to pair with it is part Viognier and part Vidal blanc.

The primary ingredient is Vidal blanc, which is known all over the world as a great dessert grape.

So we're gonna start off with 12 ounces of very soft butter in the mixer.

And let's just take the paddle through it a little bit.

It's important when you're baking that you only use room temperature ingredients unless your recipe calls otherwise.

Once in a while, it will call for cold butter.

In that case, definitely use cold butter.

Now, I'm putting in sugar, two cups.

Now you want to make sure that you get that sugar and the butter blended well, so it almost looks lemony.

And then we'll start adding eggs.

You want to add one at a time.

There we go.

So I have two teaspoons of vanilla.

Make sure you use a really good quality vanilla, not imitation, two teaspoons.

And then I have some very old anise.

This came from my grandfather's bakery back in the fifties.

This is all I have left about an inch in the bottle.

My recipe calls for a teaspoon of anise.

You can also use one tablespoon of sambuca, or if you have a really strong anise, don't put in more than half a teaspoon because it will really overpower the recipe.

Now, let's add our dry ingredients.

And it's important that you mix those dry ingredients together before you ever put them into your bowl.

I have six cups of flour and I'm going to add about two teaspoons of baking powder.

Let's go ahead and mix that through a bit.

And then I want to add a half teaspoon of salt.

There we go.

Now, we're going to add all of that flour, all at once, but not with the mixer going.

Now, it's important that you don't let the flour fly.

So you want either a top on your bowl or you can use just a dish towel.

And I always use a dish towel.

Actually, even with the top on the bowl, it still tends to fly.

And I just catch it at the back, there we go.

Now let's just blend that for a little bit until we know that the flour is starting to blend through.

Now, I want to add some nuts.

For this particular one, I'm adding hazelnuts.

And the reason I'm adding hazelnuts to this cantucci is because the flavor in the wine has a really rich hazelnut flavor.

And I thought this would be perfect with this wine.

So just mix those through a bit.

That should do it.

So I pulled my dough out of my mixing bowl, and now I just want to dust it with a little bit of flour.

We're gonna go through a kneading process, but we're not gonna over knead this dough, not quite like bread dough.

But I just want to incorporate a little more flour so it feels like I can roll it a little bit like a log.

Okay, so what I'm going to do is to divide this into two logs, and we wanna make each about 15, 16 inches long.

So just take your dough and cut it in two.

Sit one part to the side.

And we want to make sure we dust the board just a little more, there we go.

And then let's just kind of roll it into a log form, just like that.

And you can just work with this, make it nice and even just like that.

And then let's just take it, lay it on our cookie sheet.

Now, I have a cookie sheet that's about a three quarter pan.

If you don't have a three quarter pan, make yours a little bit shorter.

You can make it 12 inches and it will go on a half sheet pan just fine.

And it doesn't matter if they're a little bit wider, cantucci comes in every size.

There we go.

Now we've got that one.

And what I like to do is lay that out and then I just give my fingers a little tap to make it about an inch thick.

I don't want it thinner than that, and I really don't want it thicker than that.

I'm gonna bake these at 375 degrees for about 35 minutes, and then I'll take them out, let them rest for an hour before I slice.

So here's our cantucci log.

It has rested for about 30 minutes, and now I should be able to slice it and then rebake these cookies, so twice baked cookies.

Now, it's perfect dough, perfect dough.

So we wanna slice these about three quarters of an inch thick.

And I like to go kind of on the bias.

And the reason is because if I'm going to dip these in chocolate, simply gives me more surface area to cover.

All right, so let's just slice like this.

You can see how beautiful that cantucci is.

It has a great crumb to it.

Now I'm going to put those on a cookie sheet, lined with parchment.

On one side, bake them at 375 for 8 minutes, flip them over, and then let them bake an additional 8 minutes.

So here we have our finished cantucci.

Now you can dip them in chocolate and they're fabulous that way.

But if you're dipping them in wine the way that I love to, then you don't wanna dip them in chocolate.

So in Italy, what they do is serve the glass nice and wide at the top with the cantucci so you can hit it and keep dipping my favorite way.

So I hope you'll enjoy this cantucci recipe the next time you have a glass of dessert wine.

(bright music) Well, I hope you enjoyed your time with me today on "Un-Wine'd."

Many thanks to my special guests, Francoise and Julian at Revelation Vineyards.

For these recipes and a whole lot more, you can visit me 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.

>>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.

(bright music) (bright music continues)