Wine Tour : Wine’s New Frontier

Barry Johnson poked a sturdy tri-tip crusted with seasonings, then flipped the meat so the oak fire would caramelize the other side. On one end of the grate was a shallow pan filled with melted butter, garlic, salt and beer. This was the dip for French bread that Johnson would toast over the coals when the meat was done. A huge pot of chili beans, made according to his special formula, was ready to dish up, and there would also be coleslaw decorated with juicy tomatoes grown nearby.

Every so often, Johnson adjusted the height of the barbecue grate with a mechanism rigged from an old Nash steering wheel and the gear box of a rototiller. Dressed in jeans, Western boots and a hat, he might have ridden in from the golden, oak-dotted hills that ringed the barbecue site.

Johnson is no cowboy. He rides herd on operations for the Gainey Vineyard in the fast-developing Santa Barbara wine region. And yet he exemplifies just what it is that makes Santa Barbara so different from the Napa Valley--an Old-West Early-California down-home spirit.

Daniel Boone has hung his coonskin cap on a wine label; actor Fess Parker, whose film and television credits include Boone and Davy Crockett, has a 700-acre spread with a winery under construction. Maverick has ridden into these parts too. Actor James Garner has bought acreage planted in Chardonnay grapes next to Zaca Mesa Winery. Parker says he has contracted for some of the Garner grapes, and winemaker Mark Shannon will try them out with an eye to roping in the lot.

Not all the Western folk hereabouts come off the screen. Richard Dore of Foxen Vineyard is the real thing. He’s the great-great-grandson of Benjamin Foxen, an English sea captain who sailed around Cape Horn in the early 1800s and became a pioneer cattle rancher in northern Santa Barbara County. Foxen Canyon Road, named in his honor, winds through spectacularly beautiful ranch land and is itself a wine route that runs from Firestone to the Fess Parker Winery, Zaca Mesa, Foxen Vineyard and Rancho Sisquoc.

While Napa Valley is accumulating architectural wonders and palaces of art up north, Dore and partner Bill Wathen locate Foxen’s sales and tasting in a blacksmith shop dating back to 1882 and plant a crude wooden sign out front to indicate it’s open. The wine is cellared in a barn built around 1880.

Across from Dore’s winery is the white frame house in which he grew up. The core of the house is a thick-walled 1860 adobe that once was a mail stop on the stage route from Guadalupe to Santa Barbara. The furniture in one bedroom came around the Horn over a century ago.

The adobe at Mosby Winery in Buellton is even older--it was built in 1853. Warmed by a crackling wood fire and decorated with Western art and hunting trophies, the living room makes a cozy site for winemaker dinners. Owner Bill Mosby built the rustic iron chandeliers himself.

Lane Tanner, noted for her Pinot Noirs, doesn’t even have a winery. This fall she will crush the grapes at the same facilities as Au Bon Climat, ferment at Foxen and cellar the barrels at the Central Coast Wine Warehouse in Santa Maria. Tanner’s 1989 Pinots, the first under her own label, were released in May and sold out in two months.

The Tanner label may be new to the area, but it has lots of company. The Santa Barbara Winery, the oldest member of the Santa Barbara Vintner’s Assn., was founded in 1962. Firestone Vineyard and a handful of other wineries followed in the 1970s, but this area is so young as a wine producer that most of the 32 members of the association didn’t get started until the ‘80s.

But if the area is new, the hospitality tends to be downright old-fashioned. When Bill Mosby and his wife, Jeri, hold a winery dinner, they do the cooking themselves--Bill on appetizers and Jeri handling the rest of the meal.

That doesn’t mean just canapes and casseroles. Working in the adobe’s small kitchen, the Mosbys can produce a sumptuous dinner. The one planned for Oct. 26 will feature the following menu: salad of shiitake and chanterelle mushrooms with fresh salmon on butter lettuce; linguine Gorgonzola; breast of smoked duck grilled over Gewurztraminer canes with red wine sauce; tomato and onion torte; fall vegetables, and pumpkin pie with creme fraiche.

The basic taste of the region, however, is Old Western. For family and friends, the Mosbys might stoke up the grill for a typical Santa Ynez barbecue: beef tri-tip, beans, green salad and garlic bread. And if you ask for recipes around here, you’re not likely to get a lot of chowders made with two cups of cream and three lobsters. Marcella Parker is proud of her oven-barbecued chicken with homemade barbecue sauce. While the Napa Valley is famous for its fancy Continental restaurants, one of the most popular restaurants in this part of the country is the Hitching Post in Buellton, noted for its steaks and pork baby back ribs grilled over oak.

And when a group of local wineries--Kalyra, Babcock, Foxen and Rancho Sisquoc--threw a joint dinner party last year, they served Mexican food. So attuned is the area to Mexican flavors that Chris Whitcraft of the Santa Barbara-based Whitcraft Winery, one of the smallest producers in the area, swears his 1986 Late Harvest Semillon has a nuance of jalapeno .

Richard and Thekla Sanford, of Sanford Winery, are serious students of Mexican regional cuisines and folk arts. Dinner at their place might start with poblano chiles or squash flowers stuffed with goat cheese. Chile ristras , Mexican pots, ceramic figures and other craft pieces decorate their tasting room and office, and Sanford hopes eventually to build an adobe block winery.

But it’s not all beans, barbecue and Mexican food. Fred Brander of the Brander Winery holds an annual bouillabaisse festival and once brought in French chefs for a Bastille Day luncheon that was attended by Julia Child. And Zaca Mesa’s winemaker, Gale Sysock, adds an international note with his hearty Ukrainian borscht and shashlik.

The Wild West is also tempered by a love of music. Last year Firestone staged a dinner with music matched to each course, hiring opera singers to perform everything from Sondheim to Puccini. Santa Barbara’s Bach Camerata will perform an all-Mozart program at the Gainey Vineyard Oct. 27. And Parker anticipates symphony concerts at his winery when it is finally completed.

Still, it’s the frontier spirit that really characterizes the Santa Barbara wine region. Where else would you find a winery with a mobile tasting room and kitchen? When Zaca Mesa’s new 40-foot custom-designed motor home hits the road, winemaker Sysock may be behind the wheel. At each destination he shows off his wines by cooking up such delicacies as scallops smoked over Limousin oak shavings or shrimp marinated with sundried tomatoes, cilantro, garlic and cumin.

“I’ve met very few winemakers who don’t like to cook,” says Signe Zoller of Cambria Winery, herself an ardent cook. “They all love it because they are interested in flavor.”

Here are some recipes from Santa Barbara vintners.

Richard Dore remembers waking up to the cheerful clatter of his grandfather cooking a hearty breakfast of fried eggs, salsa and refried beans. The beans were pintos, grown on the family’s 2,400 - acre ranch. Dore has worked out his own version of the recipe, using canned pintos instead of dried beans, substituting olive oil for the bacon drippings that his grandfather liked and adding lots of garlic. “I’ve never had any this good,” he says.

REFRIED BEANS (Richard Dore, Foxen Vineyard)

3 tablespoons olive oil

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 (29-ounce) can pinto beans

Salt, pepper

Heat olive oil in skillet. Add garlic and cook until fragrant but not browned. Gradually add liquid from beans, stirring each time until mixture thickens. Then add beans. Mash half beans but not all. Cook until blended, seasoning to taste with salt and pepper. Makes scant 2 cups.

Instead of cooking beans from scratch, Johnson uses canned chili beans, which he dresse s up with a surprising blend of seasonings including teriyaki sauce, soy sauce and brown sugar.

BARRY’S BARBECUE BEANS (Barry Johnson, The Gainey Vineyard

1 1/2 pounds ground beef

1 1/2 teaspoons garlic salt

5 1/2 tablespoons butter

4 medium onions, cut into 1-inch chunks

3 medium green peppers, cut into 1-inch chunks

6 (15 1/2-ounce) cans spicy vegetarian chili beans

1 (16-ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes

1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce

1/3 cup soy sauce

1/3 cup bottled teriyaki sauce

1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce

1/2 to 1 cup light-brown sugar, packed

Brown ground beef and season with garlic salt. Do not drain fat. Melt butter in large skillet. Add onions and green peppers and saute until onions are translucent.

In large stockpot, combine chili beans, beef, onions, peppers, tomatoes, Worcestershire, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce and hot pepper sauce. Cover and heat slowly 1 hour. Stir in brown sugar to taste. Do not overcook or stir too much, or beans will become mushy. Makes 4 quarts.

Richard Sanford serves Sauvignon Blanc with his stuffed chiles because it pairs well with goat cheese. The tomatoes for the sauce and the chiles often come from the Sanfords’ large organic garden.

MARTA’S CHILES RELLENOS WITH GOAT CHEESE (Richard Sanford, Sanford Winery)

6 large poblano chiles

1/2 pound bucheron (goat cheese)

3 eggs, separated

Canola oil

Flour

Tomato-Jalapeno Sauce

Place chiles directly over flame or on electric element of range and turn until well blistered. Place in plastic bag, seal and let stand 15 minutes to loosen skin. Peel chiles but leave whole. Make slit in side to remove seeds and veins. Rinse chiles and pat dry. Divide bucheron into 6 portions and place inside chiles.

Beat egg whites until stiff. Beat yolks separately and fold into whites. Heat oil 3/4-inch deep in medium skillet until hot enough to brown small dollop of egg batter. Roll chiles in flour until fully coated. Dip in egg mixture and immediately place in hot oil. Fry until browned on bottom. Turn and brown other side. Remove from oil and drain on paper towels. Chiles may be prepared 1/2 day in advance and refrigerated.

When ready to serve, heat sauce to simmer. Add chiles and simmer until heated through, 20 to 30 minutes.

To serve, place each chile in bowl and spoon sauce over top. Accompany with hot corn tortillas. Makes 6 servings.

Tomato-Jalapeno Sauce

2 tablespoons canola oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 jalapeno chile, seeds removed, if desired, and finely chopped

3 large tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped

1 (16-ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, pureed

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup chicken broth, about

3 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Heat canola oil in saucepan. Add onion, garlic and jalapeno chile and saute until slightly browned. Add fresh tomatoes, pureed tomatoes and salt and simmer 30 minutes, until slightly thickened.

Add chicken broth as needed to adjust consistency of sauce. When sauce has thickened, stir in cilantro. Sauce may be made 1 day in advance and refrigerated. Makes about 3 cups.

Bill Wathen’s Mexican version of Chinese paper-wrapped chicken is easy to assemble and cooks in only half a minute. Wathen serves it as an appetizer accompanied by a Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc or “a good cold lager in summertime.”

PAPER-WRAPPED POLLO (Bill Wathen, Foxen Vineyard)

4 boneless chicken breast halves, skinned

Bottled red or green chile salsa

Oil for deep frying

Cut chicken breast halves in 2x1/3-inch strips. Cut foil into 6-inch squares. Place 3 strips chicken in single layer in center of each square. Top with about 1 tablespoon salsa. Fold ends of foil to meet at top. Fold over together until sealed tight against meat. Fold sides in 2 or 3 times toward center. Packets should be securely closed.

Drop into sizzling hot oil and fry 25 to 35 seconds. Drain and serve at once. Makes 16 to 24 packets, depending upon size of strips.

“As with all of my cooking, this dish never comes out the same way twice because I use splashes and bits and whatever else I have around,” says Lane Tanner. She adds lots of garlic and herbs and pours in either Chardonnay or Pinot Noir, depending upon what bottle is open. “I drink Pinot Noir with the final product, which turns out to be rather thick and rich,” she says.

CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS (Lane Tanner, Lane Tanner wines)

1 chicken, cut up

2 large onions, diced

5 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped

1/2 cup chopped parsley

1/2 cup mixed fresh herbs (tarragon, oregano, thyme and/or marjoram), chopped

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons rice vinegar or 1 to 2 cups wine

Water or dry white wine

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 turnip, peeled and diced

1 parsnip, peeled and diced

1 pound mushrooms, sliced

Dumplings

Combine chicken, onions, garlic, parsley, herbs, Worcestershire, rice vinegar and pepper in tall stock pot. Add enough water or wine and water to cover bird and fill pot about 3/4 full. Cover and boil 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Check fluid level occasionally. Pot should remain about half full. Remove chicken and cool. Remove bones and skin. Set meat aside.

Add turnip, parsnip and mushrooms to pot. Cover and simmer until fluid is 2 1/2 to 3 inches deep and vegetables are tender. Return chicken to pan. Drop dumpling batter by spoonfuls into boiling pot. Cook uncovered over low heat 10 minutes. Cover pot and cook 10 minutes longer. Makes 4 servings.

Dumplings

2 cups buttermilk biscuit mix

1 teaspoon poultry seasoning

Dash cayenne pepper

2/3 cup milk

Thoroughly combine biscuit mix, poultry seasoning and cayenne. Stir in milk to make soft batter.

Marcy Parker might accompany her country-western chicken with Italian dishes such as arborio rice cooked with fennel; thinly sliced mozarella cheese with plum tomatoes and basil and French or Italian bread accompanied by extra - virgin olive oil.

OVEN-BARBECUED CHICKEN (Marcella Parker, Fess Parker Winery)

2 tablespoons butter

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup catsup

2 tablespoons brown sugar, packed

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon salt, optional

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce

4 whole chicken breasts, split, skinned and boned

8 thin onion slices

Combine butter, garlic, catsup, brown sugar, Worcestershire, salt, pepper and hot pepper sauce in small saucepan. Bring to boil and cook slowly 10 minutes. Wash and pat dry chicken pieces. Place in single layer in rectangular glass baking dish. Pour barbecue sauce over chicken. Top each breast half with onion slice. Bake at 375 degrees about 45 minutes. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Cambria winemaker Signe Zoller turns coconut milk and curry powder into a subtle, creamy sauce that is perfect with seafood. She accompanies the dish with Cambria’s 1988 reserve Chardonnay because it “has a definite coconut character.”

SEAFOOD IN COCONUT MILK (Signe Zoller, Cambria Winery and Vineyard)

18 to 24 medium shrimp, shelled and deveined

3/4 to 1 pound scallops

3/4 to 1 pound red snapper, true cod or orange roughy fillets

1 lemon

2 (14-ounce) cans coconut milk

1/2 small yellow onion, thinly sliced

1 teaspoon curry powder

Few drops hot pepper sauce

Freshly ground pepper

6 cups cooked basmati rice

Clean shrimp thoroughly. Rinse scallops. Rinse fish and cut into 4x2-inch pieces. Place seafood in bowl. Squeeze lemon juice into bowl, toss gently to mix and set aside.

Place coconut milk in large skillet or wok. Add sliced onion, curry powder, hot pepper sauce and pepper. Bring to rolling boil and boil hard 5 to 7 minutes. Lower heat, add seafood and any juices from bowl. Cook until shrimp are pink and scallops and fish are done, 8 to 10 minutes. If desired, remove seafood and boil sauce to reduce slightly, then return seafood to pan. Serve over hot rice. Makes 6 servings.

Jim Clendenen has produced elaborate spreads of Thai, Burmese, Brazilian, Italian, Southwestern French and American foods for winery open houses. Next Sunday, when he joins with Frank Ostini of the Hitching Post to cook dinner for the Central Coast Chapter of the Chaine des Rotisseurs, the menu will include tortellini with white truffle oil and Parmesan cheese, grilled smoked pork loin and grilled swordfish with yellow tomato-verjus sauce. (Verjus is a French seasoning that Clendenen makes from Chardonnay juice, underripe grapes, Chardonnay vinegar, Chardonnay distillate and brown sugar.)

Clendenen came up with this vibrant, herb-flavored lentil dish for a friend’s birthday party in London.

LAMB TONGUES WITH LENTILS (Jim Clendenen, Au Bon Climat)

6 lamb tongues

3 1/2 cups lamb or veal stock

1 cup Pinot Noir

Salt

2 cups lentils

1/2 sweet onion, diced

1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary

3 large cloves garlic

1 small head radicchio

Freshly ground pepper

Place lamb tongues in heavy saucepan. Add stock, Pinot Noir and season to taste with salt. Cover and simmer until tender, about 1 1/2 hours, skimming surface if necessary. Remove tongues to warm room temperature. Peel tongues.

Rinse lentils, then cook in water to cover until almost tender. Drain. Simmer tongue poaching stock with onion, rosemary and garlic, reducing slightly. Set aside some radicchio for garnish. Cut remainder into fine shreds. Add lentils and shredded radicchio to stock mixture and simmer until lentils are tender. Serve thinly sliced lamb tongues over lentil mixture. Garnish with small amounts of raw radicchio and season to taste with pepper. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Note: As variation, substitute grilled veal sweetbreads for lamb tongues. Do not simmer in stock mixture.

“Italian food is easy. It’s comfortable,” says Jeri Mosby. It also goes well with the Italian style wines--Brunello, Nebbiolo and Primativo (a high - alcohol - style Zinfandel made from very ripe fruit)--that her husband has added to the Mosby line.

LEMON PASTA SAUCE (Jeri Mosby, Mosby Winery)

6 tablespoons lemon juice

1/4 cup butter

1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

Generous dash white pepper

1 cup whipping cream

Salt

12 large shrimp, peeled and deveined

6 ounces penne pasta, cooked

Grated Parmesan cheese

Chopped fresh basil

Combine lemon juice, butter, lemon zest and pepper in saucepan. Bring to simmer. Add whipping cream. Bring to boil and cook until slightly reduced. Season to taste with salt. Add shrimp and cook just until shrimp turn pink. Combine mixture with penne. Serve at once topped with Parmesan cheese and basil. Makes 4 servings.

Winemaker Bruce McGuire shops for exotic mushrooms at a local farmers market but plucks the herbs for this dish from his own garden. Epazote may be available in some Mexican markets. If you can’t find it, substitute another herb or omit. Use either home-sundried tomatoes or a commercial brand that is not heavily salted.

GRILLED STUFFED MUSHROOMS (Bruce McGuire, Santa Barbara Winery)

4 giant or 8 (2 1/2- to 3-inch) fresh shiitake or portobello mushrooms

1 clove garlic or 1 shallot, minced

6 to 8 marinated sundried tomatoes, minced

1/2 cup grated gruyere cheese

1/2 cup Pinot Noir

1 tablespoon fresh marjoram, minced

1 tablespoon fresh basil, minced

1 tablespoon fresh epazote, minced

1 tablespoon fresh oregano, minced

1/4 cup chopped pecans or toasted pine nuts, optional

Salt, pepper

Olive oil

Clean mushrooms and grate or mince stems. Combine stems, garlic, tomatoes, cheese, wine, herbs and nuts, if desired. Season to taste with salt and pepper. (If sun-dried tomatoes are salty, no additional salt may be needed.) Brush mushroom caps with olive oil and mound stuffing inside. Grill or broil until cheese starts to bubble. Makes 4 servings.

A fall dinner at Rancho Sisquoc wound up with this luscious tart prepared by winemaker Stephan Bedford and accompanied by a special select late harvest Johannisberg Riesling.

PEAR-ALMOND TART (Stephan Bedford, Rancho Sisquoc)

1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

1/3 cup butter

1 whole egg

1 egg white

1 tablespoon flour

2/3 cup ground almonds

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

2 tablespoons kirsch

3 large ripe but firm pears

Lemon juice

Tart Shell

1/2 cup apricot jam, strained and heated

1 tablespoon orange juice

Cream 1/3 cup sugar with butter until smooth and light. Add egg and egg white and mix well. Stir flour into ground almonds. Add nut mixture, almond extract and kirsch to creamed mixture and mix well.

Peel, core and halve pears. Rub with lemon juice to keep from browning. Cut into long thin slices, keeping slices attached at top end to retain pear shape. Pour almond mixture into Tart Shell. Arrange pear slices on top, fanning each half out with tops of pears toward center and wider bottom portion at rim. Sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons sugar.

Place tart in lower third of oven and bake at 350 degrees 45 minutes. Move to upper third and continue baking until puffed and browned, 10 to 15 minutes longer. Cool.

Heat apricot jam with orange juice until blended and soft. Spread apricot mixture over tart and let cool completely. Remove edge of tart pan and slice. Makes 12 servings.

Tart Shell

1 3/4 cups flour

2 1/2 tablespoons sugar

3/4 cup butter

1 egg yolk

4 teaspoons whipping cream

Combine flour, sugar and butter and work together with hands or pastry blender. Combine egg yolks and cream. Blend lightly into flour mixture. Do not overmix. Form dough into ball, wrap in plastic wrap and chill 1 hour.

Roll out dough to fit 10-inch tart pan with removable bottom. Chill dough in pan 30 minutes.

Line with foil and top with pastry weights or beans. Bake at 350 degrees 10 minutes. Remove foil and pastry weights. Cool before filling.