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Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Ravenswood Winery founder visits Dallas with whole portfolio of zinfandels

by Teresa Gubbins

And the food at Dallas Fish Market did those wines right.

DALLAS — Even if you don't favor zinfandel (and you should), you've probably seen Ravenswood. This Sonoma-based winery is dedicated to zinfandel and has a lot to do with increasing the popularity of this affordable, drinkable wine.

Marc Lee

Aside from the high value and low price you get with zinfandel, you can almost always find Ravenswood in the supermarket. It's accessible. It's also the single biggest producer, selling more than 500,000 cases of its Vintner Blends line, priced between $10 and $18.

But Ravenswood also has a second tier of wines produced in smaller quantities and not necessarily available at the grocery store. These come from individual vineyards and are made in small batches, so they cost more.

Ravenswood winemaker and founder Joel Peterson visited Dallas last week to share samples from his latest vintages. He hosted a lunch at Charlie Palmer for members of the local wine press such as Renie Steves (who tweeted: "Lunch with Joel Peterson of Ravenswood once again proves his pro-active attitude. Love it."); and dinner at Dallas Fish Market with Hayley Hamilton, founder of Dallas Uncorked, a social-educational group dedicated to wine; his touring publicist Lisa; a crack photographer; and me.

He presented the wines in two flights:

Vintners Blend and County Series -- the more affordable wine
Single Vineyard Designate -- the expensive stuff

The wine was interspersed with a stream of dishes from Dallas Fish Market chef Randy Morgan, who prepared some amazing food.

Peterson steered us through tasting notes on six zinfandels: 2007 Vintners Blend, 2006 Lodi Old Vine, 2006 Napa Valley Old Vine, 2006 Sonoma County Old Vine, 2006 Big River, and 2006 Teledeschi. He ended with two top-of-the-line Ravenswood bottlings: 1. 2006 Icon "mixed blacks", his most expensive offering at $75 a bottle, and 2. 2005 Pickberry, an unusual Ravenswood in that it consists of merlot and cabernet sauvignon, with none of Ravenswood's trademark zinfandel at all. A bottle goes for $50.

He also unraveled the mystery of "old vine" zinfandel, which has become a trendy catch phrase and selling point. Younger vines, he said, are like adolescents, and are unpredictable. Older vines -- 50 years and older, some more than 100 years old -- have a lower number of grapes that are smaller in size but their output is more reliable and the wine produced is more likely to age. He also noted that an older vine indicates that it is special in that someone has cared for it for a long time.

Marc Lee

Founder Joel Peterson with four Ravenswood zinfandels (from left): 2007 Vintners Blend, 2006 Lodi Old Vine, 2006 Napa Valley Old Vine, 2006 Sonoma County Old Vine. These were the more affordable wines, which we tasted oh-so briefly. He produced 84,000 cases of the Lodi, at $12 a bottle. There's 22,000 cases of the Napa, $18 a bottle; and 51,000 cases of the Sonoma, $15 a bottle.

Marc Lee

Scallop ceviche at Dallas Fish Market. Scallop shells = nifty presentation. Diced finely, the scallops had a pleasing, nubby texture and perky flavor, thanks to fresh lemon juice.

Marc Lee

Dallas Fish Market's spicy tuna sushi with avocado topped with a carefully-piped spot of spicy mayo and a dab of hot srichi sauce. Do they look sortof like eyes? Like red-and-yellow eyes. Oooh, scary.

Marc Lee

Beet salad at Dallas Fish Market had purple, golden, and pink beets, cooked until barely al dente, then sliced, dressed in vinaigrette, and topped with generous sprig of kicky watercress. Heart watercress. Tan crusty object (top right) is a puck of goat cheese coated in crumbs and deep-fried -- a not-uncommon, though not especially elegant way to dispatch goat cheese.

Marc Lee

Ravenswood founder Joel Peterson and Hayley Hamilton, founder of Dallas Uncorked. Think this was right after he talked about his mother's early discovery of French wine back in the '50s. Or maybe it was when he shared the fact that he travels to Europe and Asia two times a year.

Dallas Fish Market sea bass with caramelized onion mashed potatoes, cherry gastrique, wild mushrooms, and armagnac. Joel Peterson's publicist Lisa said the sea bass was perfectly cooked.

Marc Lee

Dallas Fish Market chef Randy Morgan shared this creative trio of barely-seared kampachi; sunchokes topped with a crunchy fried oyster; and American wagyu Kobe strip loin, topped with a mustard-seed sauce.

Marc Lee

Dallas Fish Market chef Randy Morgan and Ravenswood founder Joel Peterson

Marc Lee

One of the current sides at Dallas Fish Market: risotto with fresh fava beans and diced lobster. Greatness.

Marc Lee

Side of Swiss chard with bacon at Dallas Fish Market. The chard was chopped roughly and barely cooked, so it still had body, not just a sogged-out mess. Bacon cut into thick chunks was intensely chewy and flavorful.

Marc Lee

In this story about zinfandel, Ravenswood founder Joel Peterson is quoted as saying that the zinfandel market was hurt by "not having an iconic Zinfandel". Voila: Icon 2006, an "artisanal" wine, dark, dense, quirky, and delicious. 1,395 cases made, $75 a bottle. On the right: Pickberry Vineyards 2005, from fruit grown on Sonoma Mountain, dramatic like Bordeaux, only 1,100 cases made, $50 a bottle.

Marc Lee

Ice cream sandwich trio at Dallas Fish Market. Three baby cookie sandwiches with nearly-melted ice cream in between. One had a bruleed banana that kept its distinctive bruleed crust, no small feat. Another had a potent espresso ice cream. The smear of mascarpone cream sprinkled with blueberries was simple and decadent.

Staff
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Anonymous

Worzel_Gummidge, says:

It is hard to think of a wine less suited to fish than Zinfandel.

Anonymous

6 months, 2 weeks ago
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OEsophagus, says:

Chianti.

Anonymous

6 months, 2 weeks ago
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Teresa Gubbins, says:

worzel, please if you will, enlighten us on what the great wines suited for fish are. sauvignon blanc? i hope it's sauvignon blanc. a nice riesling maybe? or perhaps you will pull a nifty unexpected red out of your bag. do tell

Staff

6 months, 2 weeks ago
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ch0, says:

MD 20/20 Blue

Anonymous

6 months, 2 weeks ago
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Jason Rice, says:

"whew~!" I thought my "7-up" was gonna D-list me. Thanks cho!

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6 months, 2 weeks ago
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Ondre Sembera, says:

I'm with ch0... MD 20/20 please. Anyway Ravenswood is pretty much box wine in a bottle.

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6 months, 2 weeks ago
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Scott Doyle, says:

box wine in a bottle

Come again?

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6 months, 2 weeks ago
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Ondre Sembera, says:

Referring to the quality of Ravenswood, typically box wine is worthless.

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6 months, 2 weeks ago
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Worzel_Gummidge, says:

TG: Certainly Sauvignon Blanc. And Riesling in the Alsatian style. But actually 'almost' any dry white wine with 'almost' any fish. With oily fish like salmon and tuna you can even get away with some light, low-tannin reds like Pinot Noir but "Red Wine with Fish" always worked better as a gimmick to sell wine books than a reliable recommendation.

Fish aside, Zin. has a host of problems of its own going with food.

Anonymous

6 months, 2 weeks ago
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Scott Doyle, says:

Yeah, Ondre, I got it - a terrible simile, imo, considering cask wines are commonly considered lesser quality simply b/c of the packaging.

Was wondering why you're knocking it.

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6 months, 2 weeks ago
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Nancy Nichols, says:

Risotto with fresh fava beans and diced lobster? Looks good. Nice report.

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6 months, 2 weeks ago
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Billusa99, says:

TG... Still waiting to see pics of the crack. Marc???

Worzel... You ain't lived till you've had a '99 Saxon Brown Zinfandel, Casa Santinamaria, with a 4-hour cooked Bolognese. Unless that isn't food.

Scott... I think that you meant to say "box wines" as a cask is pretty well synonymous with a barrel in wine-talk.

I, like Hannibal, prefer my fava beans with liver and fine Chianti.

Anonymous

6 months, 2 weeks ago
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Scott Doyle, says:

Bill, the extent of my frou-frou wine knowledge is that I dig my own bouquet. Past that, all I ask is a little elaboration on why peeps might not like this wine.

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6 months, 2 weeks ago
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Billusa99, says:

Can't help you there... I like it.

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6 months, 2 weeks ago
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DC, says:

OH, SD don't worry about it, besides compiling useless second hand knowledge from watching the Travel Channel, the other requirement to be a Dallas 'foodie' is to be an insufferable clot most of the time.