I’m just back from having spent an amazing weekend in Napa Valley. Kendall-Jackson Winery invited 12 food bloggers (and Ruth Reichl!) to California for their first annual Sip, Bite & Blog gathering. KJ outdid themselves planning this extraordinary event!

Our first evening was a food and wine tasting, then dinner, at the Kendal Jackson Winery.

We were all totally blown away by this tasting as each wine was paired with the most delectable morsels of food heaven!

The tasting included Fried Green Tomatoes paired with AVANT Chardonnay, Buckwheat Crepe with Prosciutto, Cheese and Apple Butter paired with Vintner’s Reserve Riesling and Smoked Fennel Tomato Soup with Highland Estates Seco Highlands Pinot Noir.

Are you salivating yet?

The KJ Chef made us all swoon with the Sweet Tea Brined Niman Ranch Pork Belly Slider that was paired with a Highland Estates Alisos Hills Syrah.

But the most unexpected combination was Caramel Corn paired with late harvest Chardonnay. It was delightfully sinful!

Here is the recipe for Kendall-Jackson’s award winning caramel corn.

Much to our surprise, this tasting and food paring is available on a daily basis to the public!

Day two we headed to Alexander Valley Mountain and Stonestreet Winery.

It was crazy hot that day! About 95 degrees hot!

Our timing was perfect in that we actually got to see the grapes being harvested.

Within just a few hours of being picked, the process of actually making the wine begins.

Kendall-Jackson has a forest of oak trees in France. That is the wood that is used for the barrel-making. The barrels are used just once.

Another tasting and a picnic lunch…

took place on top of Alexander Valley Mountain.

Then we headed to Jackson Park Vineyards/Ranch. This next tasting was seriously educational. Director of Wine Education Gilian Handleman and winemaker Matt Smith’s theme was “Nature’s Blueprint – Pairing Wine and Produce”.

They had us sampling Granny Smith apples, beets, figs, tomatoes, corn, and peaches with Chardonnay, Pinot Noir or Sauvignon Blanc. All of these tastings really were amazing in helping to encourage one’s palate and nose to distinguish flavors and scents. (Be sure to check out Kendall-Jackson’s fabulous Wine and Food Pairing Chart.)

Jackson Park Ranch is breathtakingly beautiful.

In addition to the vineyard, they are actually developing a truffle forest. Hazelnut trees, impregnated with the truffle fungus are planted in-between English oak trees. Eventually the hazelnut trees will get cut down and there will be a forest of oak trees and truffles!

Brian Malone with his planned truffle forest

Fields of lavender….

….surround the Matanzas Creek Winery where the Local Artisan Food Purveyor Dinner was being served.

It felt like walking through a Monet painting!

I loved the look of these trees just outside the window of the dining room.

Dinner was a joint effort between the Kendall-Jackson Culinary team and Liberty Ducks, Gourmet Mushrooms, Drake’s Bay Oysters, Whole Vine and Redwood Hill Farm Cheese.

The appetizers were both delicious and educational. I particularly liked the Organic Mushrooms.

Our last day was spent at Arrowood winery.

We worked in teams, photographing a plate we had designed, with advice from a professional food photographer and food stylist.

Our plate of scallops won!

Justin, Marc, Adam (Adam) and me!

Then onto a walk through the Kendall-Jackson “scratch and sniff” garden with Ruth Reichl.

Ruth’s pre-dinner speech was delightful! She is so charming and gracious. In fact during dinner, she visited with each table and signed books as well.

Needless to say, this dinner, served with amazing wines, was astounding! My favorite course was the Glazed Local Cod with Corn Pudding and Cherry Tomatoes. It was served with Kendall-Jackson Highland Estates Camelot Highlands Chardonnay. It was a combination to die for!

During the past few days I learned a heck of a lot about growing grapes, wine making, wine styles, tasting wines and pairing wines with food. I discovered that Kendall-Jackson really is a family-run business that cares about its people and the environment. I met some extremely talented food bloggers. It was delightful to share the weekend with Grace, Nicole, Rebecca, Maryse, Adam, Marc, Cathy, Adrianna, Jessica and Gina.

Best of all I experienced wine country like everyone should, at least once in your life!

Thanks, Kendall-Jackson!

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P.S. I was delighted to be Kendall-Jackson’s guest for this amazing event. They paid for my food, lodging and airfare but they neither asked me nor paid me to write about this adventure.

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Cheers,
Kathy

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