ZINSVALLEY RESTAURANT

After my wonderful experience at Murphy-Goode, Anita and I drove back to Napa Valley to meet with our friend Chef Greg Johnson, owner of Zinsvalley Restaurant.  My sister Michelle is Greg’s Line Cook and makes a mean Chocolate Ooze Cake.

I personally love Zinsvalley Restaurant for many reasons such as:

• No Corkage Fee (First Two Bottles)
• Diverse American Cuisine
• Warm Neighborhood Atmosphere
• Fantastic Desert Menu!

Thanks to Greg’s experience and hospitality, Zinsvalley Restaurant has been a family favorite of ours for many years.

The Murphy-Goode Challenge

For this food pairing video, I decided to put Murphy-Goode’s Petite Verdot to the test by having Chef Greg Johnson compose the perfect meal to compliment this wine.  Judging by the smile on his face I think we’re in for a real treat!  Stay tuned for the video and see what’s cooking!

Last Friday was my first visit to the Murphy-Goode tasting room in beautiful downtown Healdsburg.  I had an awesome experience as I finally got to taste all their exclusive blends.  These popular wines such as the “Snake Eyes” Zinfandel, “All In” Claret and Petite Verdot have been taunting me from the MG website for weeks on end.

I was also very lucky to have Bill Reid as my tasting room expert to school me on the history behind each and every wine.  My goal was to taste them all and decide which would make the perfect pairing at Zinsvalley Restaurant.

Sweet Reds

I love the “Liars Dice” and “Snake Eyes” because both make an excellent pairing with BBQ.  The “Liar’s Dice” is very fruit forward and sweet while the “Snake Eyes” is peppery with a toasty oak finish.  I think the choice between these two would really depend on the sweetness level of your BBQ sauce of choice.

Juicy Reds

The “Terra A Lago” is a very big, round, juicy, dark fruit Cabernet with a nice balance of tannins to open your palate.  I can see myself having this with a Rib Eye steak and a baked potato.  The “All In” Claret is another amazing red, lighter in color but has a big bite to it on the tip of the tongue.   I would recommend this with a steak salad with a light blue cheese crumble.

Petite Verdot (Oh My God!)

My heart skipped a beat after that first big hearty whiff and for a brief moment, I was at peace with the world.  There was no way to hide the expression of joy on my face.  I spent the next few minutes smelling the wine before taking that first sip… and then… I was speechless.  This juicy wine was full of big tannins that rocked my palate with a rich cherry flavor.  After catching my breath I looked Bill in eye and said…

“There’s a party in my mouth and everyones invited!”

I left the tasting room confident in my selection.  That evening I met up with Chef Greg Johnson at Zinsvalley Restaurant and told him about the Petite Verdot.  He nodded his head with a huge smile.  I think we have a winner.

Man, that was a long drive!  Anita and I spent seven hours on the I-5 yesterday, making our way from Los Angeles to Napa Valley.  If your ever planning to make this trip in the future I highly recommend you make your rest stop at Harris Ranch.  This place is a steakhouse, resort, and a private airport.  They cook a mean Tri-Tip steak and produce their own wine.

It feels good to be back with my family, in my child hood home, in Napa.  I wish you could all see just how beautiful it is right now.  The vineyards look like a sea of green.  I feel like I could just float among the leaves.

My family and I spent the evening drinking wine, telling stories and enjoying a cup of my dad’s gourmet chick soup.  First we had  a Sedna Rose of Syrah, a The Girls in the Vineyard Cabernet from Lake County, Ventana Vineyards Syrah from Monterey, and the famous Sharp Hill “Creepy Baby Wine“.  Truly a magical evening to kick off our visit.

The Mission… Should I Choose to Accept it.

Wow!  There is so much happening on this trip.  Visiting family, planning our wedding, networking wineries… and shooting another video?!?!  That’s right.  My next project is a food pairing video featuring Murphy-Goode and Zinsvalley Restaurant.

Filming starts tomorrow (11:00am) at the Murphy-Goode tasting room in Healdsburg.  Please come visit if your in the neighborhood!

I hope to hit a few more wineries in Sonoma & Some great new restaurants While I’m in town…. I hear The Girl & The Fig is a good one.  Recommended by WinePros member Kris Vera-Phillips.

There’s been some serious June Gloom in LA. This city needs sunshine to function or at least give us some rain. But days on end of just the grey cloud cover it’s a little hard to bare.

My Solution: Wine Tasting with Friends!

ATTENTION: Murphy-Goode Applicants.

I am very proud to announce that my fiancé, Anita Gouloomian, took the initiative to help unite this growing Murphy-Goode network.  In our commercial business there is a very exclusive network called CoPros that was created to unite all freelance producers, managers, and coordinators.  In this same fashion, Anita has created WinePros!

PURPOSE:

To have a neutral network to email when you don’t know the answer.

WHY JOIN THE NETWORK?

WinePros will be an exclusive email group for the Murphy-Goode applicants who wish to ask for help and get advice, long after the competition ends. 

This is a natural territory (safe haven) where like-minded applicants can ask questions; coordinate events, without the fear of being judged. 

This group will be used as a Help and Advise zone. For friendly notifications (i.e. If you have a How to Question or a Recommendation for a program that could help others.)

It is not meant to be an advertising platform.  Facebook, Twitter and other such sites fulfill that quality.  Members that do not respected these terms will be excluded.

FEATURES INCLUDE:

• An email community full of like-mind people.
• Need to find a vendor, request feedback or contact info, this would be the place.
• Upload / Download files and reports to share and strengthen the community.
• Create a Pole for an idea you might have.

This is a bouncing board of ideas and information for the up and coming wine 2.0 Universe for the Wine Industry.

HOW TO JOIN?

If you would like to subscribe to this group you have 2 options:

 1. Click here to Join.  (Yahoo Account Required)

2. Send an email to WinePros-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

PLEASE NOTE: 

This group will not be large as of yet. So please utilize according to the members we have now. Finally the moderator (Frank Loves Wine) will have final say over membership and content for the site.