>>In Afton, Virginia, there is a wonderful winery called Valley Road, and today on "Un-Wine'd," we'll be there to taste their wines and I'll make some great food in the kitchen.

So go grab your glass, it's time to unwind.

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

Promoting the interest 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 had the best time with Stan and Barbara Joyner as we tasted through their wines and they told us a little bit about the winery.

So on today's show, we'll taste some of those wines and I'm pairing those up with some lobster and corn chowder, a wonderful cherry braised short rib of beef, and then some coconut panna cotta with a little fresh mango.

So in my pan, I'm melting four tablespoons of butter and I'm gonna add to that one chopped onion.

You can use white onion or yellow for this.

Now let's just give that a little stir.

Make sure that all that onion is coated well with that butter 'cause we want to saute this just a little bit.

I have about eight small lobster tails, eight to 10.

What you're looking for is about three to 3 1/2 cups of chopped lobster tail.

Not cooked yet.

We don't want it to overcook.

Now, I also want to add to my pot right now about six slices of bacon.

And I didn't add it first because I don't want it super crisp.

I actually want this bacon to not be quite as crispy as if I'd started it and then added that onion and butter.

It's just a texture thing with this chowder.

All right, we're gonna get great flavor out of all of that.

Okay, now let's chop up that lobster meat.

So what we're looking for, some kind of chunks.

You don't want 'em too big.

I'm not looking at something that completely fills a spoon, but I'm not going to say, "Oh, we have to have it exactly a half an inch thick."

You want pieces that are like this, maybe just a little bit smaller.

How about like that?

And we'll just chop that up.

And then what we're looking for is about 3 1/2 cups or so.

If your lobster tails are larger, you definitely don't need eight lobster tails.

So just look at those tails and go, "Oh, I think I could probably get a half cup of meat out of that one."

And you know what?

If you have a little too much lobster, that's not a problem.

Okay, let's give that onion a little stir.

Smells so good with the onion, the bacon.

So delicious.

All right, the next thing I'm gonna do is add some celery, a cup and a half to two cups finely chopped celery will do it.

So we'll just give that a stir.

Let's get that celery going.

Those onions are cooking.

That bacon is getting nice and soft and the wonderful fat is being emitted from it.

It's just, oh, it's just beautiful.

Just keep stirring that until this vegetable mixture starts to get soft.

I'm gonna give it about another minute and then we're gonna add a couple extra ingredients.

Now I want a little thickening in my soup.

So let's take about a quarter cup of flour.

Sprinkle all over those vegetables.

Give it a good stir through.

And we're gonna cook for about two minutes until all of that flour cooks through so that you don't get that uncooked flour flavor.

Make sure if you've got it on your spatula that you get that knocked off as well.

Now at this point, you're going to start to see some sizzling on the bottom of the pan where that flour is starting to adhere to all the fat, you're gonna start to build fond.

Fond is that brown layer that you start to get on the bottom of the pan that's caused by the proteins and the flour that are going to build up in this chowder base.

Okay, that looks cooked through.

Now as always, the best way to remove those bits, acid.

And what kind of acid are we gonna use?

Of course, we're going to use some wine.

Let's pour in about a cup of white wine.

Nice and dry.

Boy, that looks so good.

You can see it's a nice thick liquid now.

And the next thing we're gonna do is add our lobster before we put in any more liquid.

I know that sounds a little bit odd, but usually you think of putting the lobster in first or you think of putting it in last.

Because it's uncooked, I wanna put it in early, but I also want it to get that thickening around it so that it almost sears it.

It doesn't let it overcook.

All right, so we've coated all of our lobster now and I want to add three ears of corn that have been just stripped.

And I'm going to do the same with that.

Let's just stir that through.

Okay, now let's add a little more liquid.

So first of all, two cups of milk.

Whole or skim for this works fine.

And let's just stir that through.

And then I wanna add a potato.

Now, if I was going to simmer this longer, I would make sure I used a raw potato and cut it up.

So one large baking potato or two small.

But because I want this to cook a little bit faster today, I've already cooked through the potato so that potato won't take terribly long to cook.

Now it's time to add some seasoning.

I wanna go in with about a tablespoon of salt.

It seems like a lot, but remember, we did not cook that lobster.

Normally, you'd be cooking that lobster in a little bit of salt water.

And we haven't added any kind of stock here.

There's no chicken stock in here.

This is a nice, rich, thick, very thick lobster and corn chowder.

So we wanna make sure that we are putting in enough salt so that we have a good seasoning base.

And then I also want to add some freshly ground pepper.

Now, I know some people really like to use white pepper when they're cooking with white ingredients, but for me, I like to see the pepper.

I like to know that it's been seasoned.

So it's really a personal choice, and you choose yours.

Now, last but not least, for the liquids, let's add a cup of heavy cream.

As if it can't get any richer.

Wow.

And now I wanna take a bunch of chives, just a small bunch, and just finely mince.

And I'll stir those in with that cream.

This is gonna give a little extra color, and of course, a little extra flavor.

And if you're measuring by what you've chopped, I'd say probably about three tablespoons of chopped chives.

So if you're using dry chopped chives, about three teaspoons or one tablespoon.

Okay, let's get this right over in our pan.

Now, let's stir that through.

And we're gonna let this simmer for about 10 to 15 minutes.

We never really want to boil heavy cream.

We want to bring it to a simmer, to a lovely simmering liquid that then cooks everything that's in it.

So let's give this a try.

Let's ladle some out into this gorgeous bowl.

Look at that.

Oh, chunky, rich, intense with flavor.

Beautiful and creamy.

So creamy and good.

I can just imagine this on a cool winter's day.

This is a Viognier.

Viognier is from the Rhone Valley of France.

It's just a gorgeous wine with hints of vanilla, honeysuckle, sometimes you even get a little spice like some cinnamon, some clove.

It's just wonderful.

So fruity, so sparkly, just makes me happy on my tongue.

Viognier has to be one of my very favorite white varietals.

So delicious.

And of course, it's the state grape of Virginia.

So good.

The celery is still just slightly, it's not crisp.

I wouldn't even say it's tender crisp.

It's just slightly under tender crisp.

It's just perfect, it's so good.

And with this wine, incredible.

(upbeat music) Well, I'm here today in Valley Road in the Monticello AVA and I'm joined by Stan and Barbara who are a couple of the owners here.

Stan is the CEO.

Barbara, what do you do here?

>>I am the director of marketing.

>>I love that.

And we're gonna talk a little bit about why all of these things are so important and how they come together with this amazing group of owners.

So thank you so much for having us here today.

>>It's our pleasure.

>>And as I talked to Barbara at an event where we met, she was telling me a little bit about this place and how it came to be with a group of friends.

So tell us that story.

>>Well, we have five couples involved here.

Barbara and I are the only ones that are actually here on the ground, but only 24/7.

The other four couples are here a lot, but basically it's a Richmond-based group for the most part and we had had different professional, personal, and other relationships over the years.

We were not a friend group.

It was just the hub and the spokes.

And it just all came together around that time of life when everybody was looking at their next chapter or were they going to retire.

And people call this retirement, and I'm telling you, you've never farmed if you've never- >>This is not retirement, this is working.

>>This is the next book, not the chapter.

>>Right.

>>Absolutely.

Well, you've poured us a little Viognier, so why don't we chat?

Tell me a little bit about this Viognier.

>>Well.

>>Oh, nice.

>>Unmistakably Viognier.

>>Oh yeah.

>>Well, it wasn't that long ago that we unofficially referred to Viognier as Virginia's signature grape.

And the only problem with that is that when you highlight one grape as the signature grape, that gently implies that everything else is down a notch and that's simply not true in Virginia with Petit Verdot and Cab Franc and even Petit Manseng on the way and others.

So, but anyway, Viognier does very, very well here.

And in our early years, we didn't know just a whole lot about wine.

But somebody in this valley does.

She's a master of French wine.

So she's set up a tasting of various wines for us.

One of the featured wines was our 2015 which was a gold medal winner.

And we blind tasted it against Condrieu, the gold standard of French Viognier.

And ours won nine to one.

And that's when I learned that you tend to like what you know because no one ever tasted Condrieu before.

But the Viognier here, particularly in the Monticello AVA but throughout Virginia is quite special.

>>Well, what are we gonna try next?

This is amazing.

>>Yeah, thank you.

So we are gonna go with the Cabernet Franc.

And I know you know, this is such a special part of the state for Cabernet Franc.

Different styles throughout the region.

This one you'll find is a, I would call it a light to medium bodied.

There's some other great Cabernet Franc throughout the area that is bigger, fruitier, bolder.

Now I love those too, but this one's very elegant.

This one just made us proud because it received gold in the Monticello Wine Cup.

So to get it from this region, recognition from your peers, pretty special.

>>Where so many grow Cab Franc.

That's fantastic.

So this beautiful Cab Franc, what a color.

Oh my goodness.

>>Isn't is beautiful?

>>I love that.

Blends right into your shirt, Barbara.

>>And it's on brand.

>>Exactly, exactly.

Oh.

Oh my, I love that aroma.

>>Well, we're big fans.

We've planted our first vineyard back here in the spring of 2016, and it included a block of Cabernet Franc.

A year and a half ago or so, we acquired the meadow next door to us, which is very well suited for grapes as well.

And we planted two different similar clones of Cabernet Franc there.

So we were fans and we're trying to do different things with it.

Of course, the maritage and the single varietal and- >>Oh yeah.

Oh, fantastic.

Well, and I'm dying to taste your Petit Verdot.

This is gorgeous.

Look at that deep purple.

>>Beautiful.

2017 Governor's Cup was the first time we entered a competition.

Like so many things you do for the first time, you have no expectations or any idea to do anything.

One of the things that happened was that year, in the governor's case, those top 12 wines out of the 500 plus entered, five of the 12 in the case were 2014 Petit Verdot.

Four of those were from this neighborhood.

>>Oh my gosh.

>>One of 'em was ours, of course.

And so anyway, that, in an industry internationally, that doesn't have a lot of new news.

It's an ancient industry.

This was buzz Petit Verdot because you're not even permitted to make a single varietal in France, as you know.

>>Exactly.

>>Well, the buzz goes around, the next thing we know, Forbes Magazine has come down and is doing the story on it and on this area and Petit Verdot.

And the title of the piece is, "How Do You Market a Wine No One's Ever Heard Of?"

So, of course the point was, that if California and France don't do it, who's ever heard it?

The market's never been penetrated.

>>It's not worth it, everybody thinks.

And in France, it's only a blending rate and pretty much in California as well.

>>Well, and people.

>>Its purposes, yes.

>>People say, so they can't grow PV in California, say, "No, no," but if you can grow and ripen and make a great Cabernet Sauvignon, maybe the best in the world, and a big Zinfandel, why would you struggle with the Petit Verdot?

But it turns out it's our big red in Virginia.

>>Oh yeah.

Yeah, and when you were talking about earlier, the fact that Viognier was called the Virginia grape.

I really, in my mind, it's Petite Verdot and Cabernet Franc because those are such signature grapes for us and this is amazing.

>>Thank you.

>>Thanks very much.

>>Well, thank you so much for tasting with me.

>>Oh, thank you for joining us.

>>Absolutely, I love it.

>>Any excuse to taste good wine with friends.

>>Absolutely, any day.

Cheers to you.

>>Cheers.

>>Cheers.

>>Panna cotta is one of my favorite desserts.

I love how creamy it is and how it goes with a lot of different fruits.

So you can make chocolate panna cotta, you can make a vanilla panna cotta.

Today we're going to make a coconut panna cotta and I'm gonna serve it with a little mango and mint.

So in my little bowl here, I have two tablespoons of cold water.

That's all.

And I want to add to it, just one of those little packets of gelatin mix that you get.

Plain gelatin, nothing flavored.

So just stick that right inside.

Sprinkle it over the top.

And then let's give it a stir with a spoon.

So what you're doing here is really just making a nice gelatin base so you can thicken up your panna cotta, just like that.

You see how gelatin thick it is?

So we're just gonna let that rest while I bring my coconut milk to a simmer, just slightly simmer.

I don't wanna boil it at all.

So I have two cans of full fat coconut milk in my pan.

It works best with full fat.

You can use a reduced fat coconut milk, but you won't get quite the creamy texture.

So go ahead, add that full fat.

And then I'm gonna add 1/3 cup of sugar.

Now the goal here is just to bring that coconut milk to enough of a high temperature so you can get that sugar to melt.

You don't want a gritty panna cotta.

So while my cream comes up to temperature, my sugar just starts to melt, I'm gonna chop up a little mango.

I love to use mango with coconut.

The flavors together are just so wonderful and so natural because they're both tropical.

Just cut this into some cubes.

Doesn't have to be perfect.

I don't think any of your guests will be looking at your knife work.

What I usually plan is for this to serve four people, and one mango usually serves four, but if they're real fruit lovers, you might wanna go with two mangoes.

Now, at this point, I'm going to put in about half teaspoon of vanilla.

Now remember that vanilla can be really dark.

I always make my own.

I make a bourbon vanilla.

So it's really simple to keep on hand, it's not so dark.

You might wanna use a clear vanilla in this if you're a purist and you have to have that pure color.

I just don't like to add a lot of really dark vanilla because it can really color your panna cotta and it makes it look a little brown and ugly.

So I'm gonna add a half teaspoon of that vanilla.

Give or take a drop.

And I see little bubbles right on the side of my pan so I know it's come to a simmer.

I don't wanna bring it to a boil.

And now it's time to take it off the heat.

So because this melted my sugar, it's also going to melt my gelatin.

So let's take that gelatin and just drop it in there.

It's gonna be a big glob.

That's okay.

Let's just start mixing through so that that gelatin has a chance to melt.

You don't want a glob of gelatin in your panna cotta because the gelatin is necessary to make sure that panna cotta sets up.

This looks great.

Just wanna stir it through really, really well.

Now, over on my pan, I have four six-ounce ramekins.

I like to do this in ramekins.

Sometimes I do it in a clear dish.

Just depends on how I want to serve it.

Sometimes I've even been known to do panna cotta in a parfait glass, and I'll layer in some other things.

I really like to do that.

But for today, we're gonna make a classic panna cotta which is one you just simply turn out of the dish and put onto your plate.

Okay, that is all ready to pour into my bowls.

I just wanna put it into a measuring cup so that I can pour a little more gracefully because pouring out of the pan into these small containers just doesn't always work for me.

So let's pour into that cup.

And while I do that, I can also just drizzle in and make sure that none of that gelatin is stuck in any clump.

Now let's pour it in.

Now, there are also fun ways to make panna cotta and I'm gonna show you a fun way that I love to do for my friends.

So I'm going to stick this in my refrigerator overnight, let it solidify, and then tomorrow, when I come back, it'll be solid.

We'll be ready, but I've got some ready for you now.

So let me show you how to plate that up.

So you can see how solid that becomes after it sits overnight.

It's gelled, it's beautiful, and it's so simple.

Panna cotta is a easy piece of cake.

So on this one, I put it in a clear bowl.

I love this little pyramid bowl.

And so I thought that would be fun to just make some panna cotta in that for today.

So what you wanna do is run your knife just right around the edge, all of the edges, whether you're round or square.

And then we're just gonna take that and turn it upside down on our dessert plate.

There we go.

How about that?

Now let's dress it up with some fruit.

So as I said, I love mango and mint with this.

Coconut, mango, it's just beautiful.

Because it's a little pyramid, I wanna start at the top and then I'm just gonna bring some down the front.

So good, so delicious.

All right.

And then I just wanna finish it off with just a little sprig of mint.

Just right in there.

Doesn't that look delicious?

But I wanna show you a fun plating that I love to do for my guests, and I'll trick them sometimes and tell them I'm giving them breakfast for dessert.

Let me show you what I mean.

So this is just a thin panna cotta.

I only put about this much in the bottom of the dish.

Then I turned it upside down.

I scooped out just a little bit of mango with a melon baller.

And then I put the wine that we're going to serve in this tiny glass that almost looks like a juice glass sitting on the side.

It's just a fun plating and one that I thought I'd enjoy showing you.

Now let's try this delicious dessert with this wine.

This is a dessert wine.

It's so sweet and floral.

Delicious, perfect for dessert.

Has a great aroma.

Gorgeous flavor.

Now let's try it with this coconut.

So good.

So I hope you enjoyed today's show as we traversed to Valley Road Winery.

I had so much fun pairing up these wines including this Viognier with this lovely lobster and corn chowder, this Cab Franc with an amazing cherry short rib of beef.

So delicious.

And of course, who could forget the fun coconut panna cotta with mango.

So don't forget, for all these recipes and a whole lot more, you can join me at vpm.org/unwined.

And until next time, I'm Tassie Pippert.

reminding you to 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 interest 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)