I pick up the phone and dial my pal in Tasmania. “Sarah, we’re going to Napa.”
“I’m so keen,” she says, “what are the details?”
It’s this spontaneity and sense of adventure that Sarah and I both have that has doused gasoline on the fire that is our friendship. Last year our mutual friend David introduced us and it didn’t take much convincing to get Sarah to Maui and out on the boat catching tuna. All-expense paid trip to Napa to cook up for some legends? No brainer.
The villas that the clients had booked were ridiculous. We spent the first night cooking up stone fired pizzas and grilling wagyu and scallops over fire between some vines on the property that overlooked the Sonoma Valley. We sipped on Bollinger Champagne and got to meet the 20 guests we’d spend the next four days with. Afternoon gave way to dusk in the form of the most incredible sunset with the sun reflecting off the windows of the Financial District skyscrapers of San Francisco. “This is work,” I joked to Sarah. We capped the night off with a little wine education for the group and got them pumped on what the next few days would hold. They’d embark on tours and extravagant lunches and dinners at wineries while we geared up for the grand finale, a Sarah and Kiawe Outdoor feast of fire. In the meantime, we’d have a little fun of our own.
As a sommelier, I’ve been fortunate to have incredible exposure to some of the best chefs and winemakers in the world. When we came up with the game plan for the four days in Sonoma and Napa I wanted to make sure we took the time between cookups to see a friend and taste some great wine. Harlan Estate was the obvious choice. Tasting some of the first vintages of this wine changed my perception of what Napa Valley wine can be. Most sommeliers start their journey tasting wines of the new world and get seduced by the hedonistic textures and generous fruit of a wine grown in a warmer climate like Napa. But dessert for every meal doesn’t work and I was quickly drawn to the savory, restrained wines of Europe. Wines to pair with food. The savory pepper of a well made Rhone Syrah with kiawe smoked meat will forever be one of my favorite pairings. And then I tasted 91 and 96 Harlan. In my head I created Harlan to be this hedonistic point chasing monster of a wine. Wines like that don’t age gracefully. They die. But the second I stuck my nose into the glass I knew my preconceived notions were wrong. These wines had character. Balance. Volatile acidity. And perfectly aged fruit character. My advice? Know your producers and truly let some great Napa wines age. Way too much infanticide, drinking current release wines.
As anticipated, our time at Harlan with the king of hospitality, Don Weaver did not disappoint. Don told us stories as we sipped Krug Champagne and got a feel for the upcoming vintages of Harlan, tasting out of barrel and some recent releases in bottle. The 2008 was the standout. These wines age so gracefully.
We spent the rest of our downtime hanging out with our families at the villa. We seemed to have an endless supply of wagyu and Cornas and made sure we put it to good use. We swam in the pool and sipped champagne and discussed the upcoming menu. We settled on a game plan to hit up some farms, bakeries, and Hog Island Oyster Company. Little did we know, this would lead to one of the funnest days ever; and to one of the most unsuspecting pairings: mezcal and oysters.
Sarah, her dad Paul (fondly referred to as pop-star), David and I hopped in the jeep and set out for Hog Island. We loaded up the Yeti with oysters and a bottle of sancerre and since they technically weren’t open for business yet, decided we’d pull over on the side of the road and have an oyster breakfast. We remembered we had some mezcal in the jeep and brought it along; just in case we needed it. Little did we know that this was of the most insane pairings ever. A spent oyster shell is pretty much nature’s shot glass and was the perfect vehicle to deliver the smoky agave spirit. “Mezcal makes me crow!” Sarah yelled. We found ourselves crowing and laughing on a peninsula on the bay. Anyone that passed us must have either thought we were crazy or wondered what was so fun that we were crowing about.
We hopped in the jeep and stopped a few times to forage wild fennel, blackberries, and mint. Sarah and I both like to create dishes on the fly so we were thrilled to incorporate our findings. Then we hit the jackpot. Live Oak Farms in Petaluma. They had the most incredible produce in their farmstand. $100 was all it took to clean them out. Heirloom tomatoes, purple bell peppers, amazing yukon potatoes, herbs, onions, all farm fresh and grown biodynamic. Biodynamic is the way to go. It treats the entire farm or vineyard as one living organism. When you farm with this kind of care and attention, the produce thrives and you can literally taste the difference. Check out the books by Nicolas Joly for more. It’s bonkers. We stopped by Della Fatoria for a little coffee and pastries then headed back to the villa to prep. It was then that I learned that Sarah is actually a wizard…
We got to the villa and dropped off the groceries in the spacious kitchen and I set off to get some more cast iron and some bamboo for our live fire. In the hour that I was gone, Sarah prepped everything! Chickens were stuffed with fennel and herbs, the meat was trimmed, shrimp were cleaned, veggies cut, salads prepped, and the berries macerating. Wizardry. We lit the fire, hung the meat, and started shucking oysters as the guests arrived from wine tasting. Let’s just say that there was mezcal and crowing involved. My good friend Raphael opened wines like a madman and charmed the guests. He took the night off from his michelin starred restaurant to work with us in a field. Rafa’s a legend.
Guests gathered around the fire and snapped photos and asked questions. We sliced bites from the fire and Rafa poured amazing wine. We had couches on the lawn and they lounged and sipped champagne and told stories from the weekend. The anticipation grew as the whole tomahawk ribeye basted in the smoke. We set up a huge harvest table in the middle of the lawn and started composing the dishes. We pulled out the bread we made in the fire and dinner was served at dusk with the first stars starting to show. A warm night in Sonoma was the perfect setting for our live fire feast. Sarah and I described the menu and thanked the guests for the opportunity to cook for them. We soaked in the moment. This is what lifes about. Amazing moments with the ones we love.
Until the next adventure…how about Patagonia in April, Sarah?
Chef Yeshua Goodman and Sarah Glover
All photos by Michael Carr