Wine, Food & Family

This past weekend we popped up to Napa Valley to catch up with some of our recently found relatives - Rob and Kelly Brewer.  We got to meet Rob about a year ago, when through the efforts of his brother Deron, we were able to connect with their father Tim Brewer.  Tim is the "Brother from another Mother" that I learned I had several years ago.  In spite of my searching, I was unable to track Tim down - that is until his son Deron succeeded where I failed - he found me.  As a result, I now am happily connected with my half-brother Tim, his beautiful wife Becky and their kids Deron, Rob and Rene' and their respective spouses and kids.  

We were so happy to meet up with Rob and Kelly up in Napa, because this would be the first time we would meet Kelly in person.  Rob suggested that we meet up for dinner and maybe a little wine tasting before that.  We decided to meet at Cakebread Cellars - a great choice.  We made our way up to Napa to meet them around 3:30PM. When we pulled into Cakebread Winery I was a little concerned because it indicated that tastings were by appointment only. Fortunately we were able to book a tasting on the spot.  We got to test their newly released vintages of three  2015 whites - their Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Chardonnay Reserve and three reds - 2015 Carneros Napa Vally Pinot Noir, 2014 Napa Valley Cabernet and 2014 Napa Valley Merlot.

My assessment is that these are all "good" wines - very drinkable now. However, there are some "great" wines in the making here.  The Chardonnay Reserve is great and my personal favorite when it comes to the whites.  It is smooth and buttery in texture and just the right amount of oak.  If you like your Chardonnay's with lots of oak, you may be disappointed in their standard Chardonnay and should spend the extra $$ for the Reserve.  The Sauvignon Blanc will be great served cold on a hot sunny day.  Among the reds my favorite was the Cabernet.  It is bold with great dark color.  It is smooth to the palate with just the right amounts of berry flavor and tannins.  It will do well with an extra year or two in the bottle but it is very drinkable now.  This will be another 90+ point wine for Cakebread Cellars.

For dinner, the four of us were dining at Bistro Jeanty in Yountville.  It is a favorite spot for Rob and Kelly and our first visit there.  The restaurant is located at 6510 Washington St, in Yountville.  It has been there for over 15 years and it is very popular.  Reservations are recommended.  The restaurant as you might guess is French but Chef Jeanty prepares all his dishes to reflect a country style French cooking.  Our server, whose name I've unfortunately forgotten, was very welcoming.  He explained that he lived and worked in San Francisco for many years and he would regularly visit Bistro Jeanty as a customer for over 10 years.  When he got married, he and his wife decided to move to Napa and he was fortunate enough to become a waiter at Bistro Jeanty.  He did an excellent job of walking us through the large menu and he would take extra time describing some of his personal favorites.

We decided to order a number of different appetizers that we could all share.  Our selections included the Mussels in wine and butter sauce, the escargot, the smoked Salmon, tomato bisque with puff pastry and deviled eggs with black truffles.  Each of these were amazing.  The filling in the deviled eggs were very creamy and the black truffles made them very special.  The mussels are locally sourced (Tomales Bay) and the creamy white wine sauce is fabulous.  You will not be able to stop dipping your bread in the sauce.  The mussels were large and not over cooked - so they were tender.  The smoked salmon and the toasted croutons were also very good.  The tomato bisque with the puff pastry was also excellent and the butter lettuce salad helped cleanse the palate after this elaborate appetizer course.  For our main dishes, Elisa and Kelly order the sole with a caper, lemon butter sauce, Rob had the beef stew and I had the filet of pepper steak.  Since Rob and I were having beef and Kelly the fish, we asked the waiter to help us pair a wine we might all enjoy and he chose an excellent light Pinot Noir.

Elisa enjoyed her filet of sole but wasn't overly impressed - "it was good, but nothing special".  The rest of us were extremely pleased with our main courses.  The pepper steak was nicely seared with a peppery crust but the internal temperature of the meat was a perfect medium rare.  The mustard sauce the complimented the steak was excellent.  My dish was accompanied by french green beans and mashed potatoes and Rob's with beans and carrots.  We ordered a side dish of sautéed spinach in a butter cream sauce that was very good.  The waiter also talked us into ordering the quenelles de brocket.  These are a pike fish dumpling cooked in a creamy lobster sauce.  The quenelles are usually served as an entree, but now that I've tasted them, I can't see ordering them as an entree.  The are bread dumplings and have the texture of a soft cheesy bread ball with very little fish taste.  The dumplings are covered with a delicious lobster sauce.  It was tasty, but a little seemed to go a long way to me.

Over all, I would give Bistro Jeanty 4 stars out of 5 and Elisa would give it 3-1/2 stars out of 5.  It is a little on the pricey side when you throw in a nice bottle of wine but still a great splurge.

Check them out.