Robert Sinskey Vineyards

The Good With The Bad...
What’s keeping us apart is bringing us together!

It is hard to be convivial in a pandemic. Our mission for the past 35 years has been to bring people together over the common bond of food and wine. Well, that mission has been altered a bit, at least for now. We can’t, for now, gather at that large, sixty person winery table for seasonal feasts with guests from around the world. I miss the summer food and wine festivals (mostly I miss seeing my friends at those festivals) and I can’t hop on a plane to share our wine at wine dinners in restaurants around the country. Forget about overseas - the rest of the world… they don’t want us anyway. Instead we video chat happy hour with our friends and family, Zoom with our colleagues from wine shops and restaurants and dine with our immediate family.

There is an upside - time. We are home. We gather our family and, except for take-out here and there, we make dinner together. We talk. We actually work on projects and have time to complete them. So far we have built tables, planted gardens, built a greenhouse, cleaned out sheds, played music, gotten exercise, played with the dog and, in the evening, we take the veggies from the garden and fruit from the trees and make things. Fresh Anaheim chilis get roasted, peeled and stuffed for Chile Rellenos. Squash and eggplant have become nightly staples as they are either simply prepared and sautéed or turned into a tart or baba ganoush. Radishes are served with Maria’s special “crack” butter as an appetizer. Peaches that aren’t eaten fresh become a peach frangipane tart, a morning smoothie or grilled and served alongside an heirloom bone-in pork chop from our friends at Fatted Calf.

We now have time to make these things together, sit together and raise our glasses as we enjoy the fruits of our labor and talk. We discuss our fears and our dreams. We complain about the government. We reminisce and tell stories.

Food and wine is better than therapy. It slows us down, gives us pleasure, sustains and relaxes us, but, most importantly, it brings us together so we can solve our problems and achieve our goals together.

A Little Magic

I look forward to just-picked, garden-ripe tomatoes all year long. It’s rare to catch me eating an out of season tomato because they lack the joy and magical aroma of one just plucked from the vine.

The minute that first tomato begins to ripen, my mind drifts towards a good BLT, a sandwich whose success depends greatly on the taste and texture of perfectly ripe tomatoes, quality smoked bacon and a dollop of mayonnaise.

Good mayonnaise is key. Though some may have brand loyalty for store-bought iterations, homemade is best. Making it yourself allows lots of options from the minute the first ingredient hits the bowl.

I use classic mayo as the best all-around mayo for sandwiches. However, aioli slipped into a cold roast beef with black pepper and watercress is a bit of heaven. Anchovy Aioli is also exceptional with roast beef but is particularly delicious slathered on a simple tomato sandwich whose juices soak into the soft yet crusty artisan bread and mingle with the aioli for a roll-your-eyes-back moment.

Mayonnaise and aioli aren’t just for sandwiches. Slice some colorful heirloom tomatoes, arrange on a beautiful plate and plunk a variety of mayo/aioli in bowls and let people choose the one they like. Use mayo/aioli to dip fried things like little fish, Swiss chard stems and French fries. Thin the sauces with a little lemon juice or water and drizzle over salads like basil aioli over a salad Nicoise. The sky is the limit for these magical sauces.

For a magical sauce, you need a magical wine – Abraxas. From the start, Abraxas has been rooted in magic. It is rumored that Abracadabra arose from the name Abraxas. Abraxas lives up to its magic with food. It’s single vineyard blend of aromatic grapes shape shifts to match a multitude of dishes. A perfect BLT. Check. A plate of sliced tomatoes with aioli. Check. Little fried fish dipped in lemon aioli. Check. The list goes on and on.

Grab a bottle and a whisk and get crackin’ on your perfect summer sauces.

Until the Next Wine....
Maria

Perfect BLT (for me)

Classic Mayo

Lemon Mayo (includes Basil Mayo variation)

Basic Aioli (includes Anchovy Aioli variation) 

Abraxas is a Vin de Terroir from RSV’s organically farmed (with BD principles) Scintilla Sonoma Vineyard. A Vin de Terroir is a single vineyard wine made of multiple grape varieties - in this case Riesling, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc and Gewürztraminer. The cool, wind blown Scintilla Sonoma Vineyard is ideal for these aromatic white varieties. Each is planted adjacent to the other, picked individually at optimal ripeness, whole cluster pressed and cold fermented to preserve the freshness of the wine, and then blended to create the most elegant, balanced and delicious white wine of the vintage.