Our first Winemaker Dinner was a beautiful evening in the vines, surrounded by a very special group of old and new friends. We crossed our fingers all week as the weather forecast showed rain, but lucked out in the end with a balmy night and painted sky. The evening began with delicious appetizers paired with our 2014 Rosé, enjoyed in the small orchard at the bottom of our vineyard. Shortly before sunset, guests made their way to the long table set halfway up the hill between vines in our Zinfandel block.
Dinner started with an amazing salad of local greens tossed in a vinaigrette made from Seven Oxen wine. The main course was Chef Jeff's award-winning paella with smoked chicken, linguica sausage, and citrus marinated shrimp, topped with arugula pesto and stone ground mustard cream. The meal was prepared in Chef Jeff's pop-up kitchen and served family style with all of Seven Oxen’s current release wines. Guests tried all potential pairings and helped each other find new favorites, with Bastien occasionally standing up to provide background on the 2014 varietals and his thoughts on the wines’ characteristics.
Desert was a Seven Oxen Zinfandel chocolate brownie with blackberry compote served alongside an apple crumble with hazelnut cream, made with apples picked right from the Seven Oxen Estate. Chef paired this incredible combination with our 2013 Zinfandel as well as a pre-release 2014 Zinfandel. We were treated to an electrifying sunset and a glowing moonrise, and almost everyone lingered well into what turned out to be a beautiful evening.
We wanted to extend our gratitude to all of our guests who made the journey out to our vineyard to dine with us. We'd also like to thank Lynette Sonne of FARMsteadED for all of her help planning and executing the event, as well as Chef Jeff of Jeffrys Catering and his team who prepared an unforgettable meal. We're already looking forward to the next Winemaker Dinner in the Vines! Join our Wine Club to get first access to tickets, or sign up for our Mailing List to keep up to date on upcoming events!