If you’re like us and have been following the recent wildfires that have been plaguing California, you may be wondering what you can do to help. Sierra Nevada Brewery, from Chico, California, the next town over from fire-ravaged Paradise, is working with over 400 breweries to simultaneously brew a beer to support the victims.

Sierra Nevada Resilience Butte County Proud IPA is being brewed on November 27, 2018, and they have called on every brewery in the country to make their own version of the beer. And the best part is that 100% of all proceeds going to the Camp Fire Relief Fund to support the wildfire recovery efforts in California. Sierra Nevada is working with suppliers of the beer ingredients, malt, hops, and yeast, to secure donations of the raw materials to produce the beer, and asking all brewers to join in on the brewing effort and to also donate 100% of their proceeds from the beer to the relief effort as well.

So far, over 400 breweries from across the United States have signed on to support the project, with more signing up daily. They have also secured a commitment from five malt suppliers and five hop suppliers, as well as at least one yeast supplier. They will be adding wholesalers and retailers to the list soon.

“On November 8, the Camp Fire broke out near the town of Paradise, California, and within minutes raged through the community, obliterating a football field per second of everything in its path, destroying nearly 10,000 homes, killing many residents and leveling the town of 27,000 people,” Ken Grossman, founder of Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., explained in his letter. “Although Chico and the Sierra Nevada brewery were spared, the Camp Fire has devastated neighboring communities where many of our employees lived.”

Russian River Brewing in Santa Rosa had its own close call experience with wildfires recently, and not surprisingly, they are one of the breweries that have signed on and are pledging their support. It is expected the Resilience beer should reach stores and bars by early 2019. Be sure to continue checking the list of participating brewers, which Sierra Nevada is updating daily. And, be sure to support this welcomed effort by purchasing your Resilience when it hits store shelves next year!

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Sadly, our wine collection at home has been rather neglected as of late – between traveling the past few months and moving into a new place, we calculated that we’ve eaten more meals at various airports than our own home so far this year!  Last night was an unusually cold and windy night in Taipei so we opted to skip going out and finally enjoy a nice romantic meal in our new apartment, which provided the perfect excuse to open one of our good Napa Cabs.  Our pick – the 2004 Reserve from Waterstone.

Any good Cab deserves a nicely paired meal to bring out the complex array of aromas and flavors found in this hearty varietal.  My pick for this wine was a juicy, thick grilled steak.  Marinated with a dry rub, much like Emeril’s Essence, I was very curious to see how the Cab would stand up against the strong black pepper flavor often best reserved for a varietal like Zinfandel.

To my pleasant surprise, the Waterstone Cabnernet stood up perfectly against the peppery dry rub, maintaining its fruit forwardness and a nice finish.  The 2004 Reserve Cab is 9% Cabernet Franc, perhaps providing that tobacco touch that married so well with the black pepper in the spice rub.

In general, I’ve found 2004 to be a fantastic year for Cabs in the Napa Valley.  Almost every 2004 Cab I’ve tried from Napa Valley has easily beaten out other year vintages, hands down.  After what turned out to be an early harvest season due to early bud break followed by a hot summer,  many vineyards were faced with a decrease in fruit production; however, they ended up with grapes that had much more concentrated flavors.  This certainly worked in Waterstone’s favor as this wine was recognized by Wine Enthusiast and awarded 91 points in the November 2008 Buyer’s Guide.

Tasting Notes and Wine Data

• Tasting Notes: Aromas of cedar oak, currant, black cherry and ripe plum.  Flavors of cherries, plums, chocolate and tobacco marry with the subtle oak nuances. Firm tannins provide a balance, leading to a long, lingering finish.
• Composition: 79% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Cabernet Franc, 8% Merlot, 4% Petite Verdot
• Oak Aging: 21 months in brand new small French Oak barrels
• Production: 664 cases
• Bottling Date: January 15, 2007
• Suggested retail: $75
• Cellar Potential:  Wine Enthusiast suggests cellaring until 2012, or drink now after decanting for a few hours
• Website:  www.waterstonewines.com

The food was just as great as I remembered and the prices were still low, especially for the amount of food you get!

We started with the Kalua Lumpia ($5.29) which is shredded pork wrapped in wonton skin and served with sweet and sour or chili pepper water. I had a combination entree with a chicken curry and their famous Lahaina fried chicken ($12.99), which is served with rice, macaroni salad, and ramen cabbage salad as well. My Mom always gets their Chicken Teriyaki Sandwich ($8.99) and my father, another creature of habit, gets their specialty fried rice ($7.79).

Their desserts are excellent as well and they have a bakery counter if you just want to walk in and purchase desserts and other Hawaiian specialities. They sell the Hawaiian juice I love in the cans which is nearly impossible to find most of the time. 

Apparently they have a newer Manhattan Beach location as well, which I have not been to, but heard the food is just as good as the original. 

Back Home in Lahaina
519 East Carson Street
Carson, CA 90745
(310) 835-4014
www.backhomeinlahaina.com

Bleaux Magnolia is located in downtown Napa, about 2 blocks walking distance from the Beazley House B&B.  Back in January, Brett had come out to visit me and we stayed at the Beazley House for a couple nights, which is an absolutely fantastic place if you want to stay at a B&B!  It came highly recommended and we decided to check it out since we could walk and poor Brett was pretty jet lagged after his flight from Amsterdam, so we didn’t want to eat too late.

Bleaux Magnolia specializes in contemporary Creole. Their website notes that many people except to be brought back to New Orleans but as they remind everyone, this is California! 🙂

Chef Mermod, co-owner, is actually a self taught chef. He’s spent a lot of time working in restaurants in California and also in Louisiana, learning the cuisine there.

General Manager Schuster, is a Louisiana native who has a long history in the restaurant business, including managing some premier restaurants in San Francisco.

The restaurant is small and reservations are definitely recommended. There is a cute outdoor patio area which would be nice during the summer. They offer various specials and 3 & 5 course dinners. Tuesday nights are $1 BBQ Oysters and Wednesday night is movie night – they show a free movie on their patio area.

They have received a number of accolades being a relatively new restaurant. They were voted Best New Restaurant in 2008 and one of the whole Napa Valley’s top 10. One of the best things about them is they don’t charge a corkage fee which is rare. We didn’t know that beforehand, otherwise we would’ve brought one of our own bottles with us!

The night we were there they had their version of Oysters Rockfeller which were $3.50 each. We decided to try a couple each and OMG, they were incredible. I wish I could remember everything in them but I know one of the ingredients was marscapone cheese.

I ordered the Gumbo and Brett had the Jambalaya with the Duck Confit. Both were excellent but I agree with Brett, if we went back and they were serving the oysters, we’d each probably order 10 each and just eat those! LOL. They were incredible and I have been craving them for months now.

Bleaux Magnolia
1408 Clay St.
Napa, CA
Across from Clay St. Parking Garage & behind West America Bank.

Business hours:
Mon-Sat:  Lunch 11:30am – 2:30pm   Dinner  5pm – 9pm
Sunday:  Brunch 11am – 2:30pm    Dinner 5pm – 8pm
www.bleauxmagnolia.com

I stumbled upon Arroyo winery many years ago after an article appeared in Southwest magazine on the top 5 lesser known vineyards to hit in the Napa region. Although the magazine article brought a lot headache due to a huge increase in visitors for a short while, some loyal wine lovers were created as well.

Vincent Arroyo is a very small production winery with an annual case production of about 8,000 of seven different varietals. He pretty much was a one man show for awhile and when you’d visit the tasting room (which was right across from his house), you’d meet him. The last time I was there for an event, he obviously had quite a bit of help and the place was packed – they were offering golf cart shuttle from the street back to the barrel areas!

His signature wine is the Petite Syrah which almost always sells out prior to even bottling. You need to get on a waiting list for it but trust me, it’s worth it! In addition, he produces a Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Sangiovese, Zinfandel, and several red blends. Their signature Petite Syrah is developed into several different bottlings: Napa Valley Petite Syrah (blend of their many vineyards), 2 vineyard designated ones – Greenwood Ranch & Rattlesnake Acres, Winemaker’s Reserve Petite Syrah (barrel aged for 34 months) and a Petite Syrah Port.

One fun element to Vince’s take on winemaking is his dogs get in on the action! Each year, he features a special wine named after one of the dogs. The first year I met Vincent, he was working on J.J.’s blend! JJ runs around the vineyard and loves to run and jump on the barrels, especially to retrieve his tennis ball! Both JJ and Bodega were featured on the Napa Dogs winery calendar in 2007!

Vincent Arroyo hosts several events each year that are worthwhile to check out (if you can get in!!)

– Barrel Sampling Event – Last Saturday of February each year (free). Opportunity to taste all the wines still in the barrel and sample delicious food!

– Open House – First Saturday of May each year (free). They bring out the previously released library wines which have been sold out for people to try! This is an opportunity for people to see how their wines are aging.

– Winemaker Dinner – First weekend in May (reservation only, $$)

– Arroyo Open – August (fee -$$). The winery holds the Arroyo Open in St. Helena every year. Unique challenges at various holes, and a catered buffet dinner paired with wine.

-Amigos De Arroyo (unk). This is “THE” event if you can get in. Every October they get a group together to harvest and hand pick grapes, transport them back to the winery for stomping. Once all the work is dine, feast on paeall prepared over an open fire and drink some of his best wines. Each member of the group will eventually receive 2 bottles of wine they helped make once it has been bottled AND they are all listed on the label as winemakers! This is obviously a very popular event and you must be entered into a lottery to even have a chance at participating!

NOTE TO VISITORS WANTING TO TASTE: You MUST call ahead for an appointment now! For groups of 6 or less, the tastings are still complementary as far as I know. For groups of 7 or more, the fee is $5 per person. Please be respectful and make reservations ahead of time versus showing up direct at the winery.