Robert Sinskey Vineyards

An Enlightened Story...
of "Real" News!

I read the news today - oh, boy…
About a nutty man who laid an egg
Though our leader makes me sad
I scribed an ep-i-graph
Remember the hab-i-tat!

Beyond the media madness instigated by the chaos surrounding the leader of the free world, there have been far too many critically important stories with too short of a shelf life… stories about how the sixth mass extinction is occurring at an unprecedented, accelerated rate; how coral reefs are dying due to climate change and the acidification of our oceans; or how the greatest scientific mind of our time is warning that we are turning our planet into the next Venus.

These real stories generated front page articles, but were superseded by the Trump/Russian meetings, a Kardashian revenge-porn incident, a Kid Rock Senate run and other banalities. Thus, the critical environmental issues were relegated to a subordinate position or side-bar status. None of these critically important stories about our planet made the top ten most read or most shared lists of articles. Why don’t enough people care? Where is the outrage? Where are the protests? Where is Jacques Cousteau!?!

We need voices of outrage and optimism to rally us into action and bring us together with a cause célèbre. Voices from business, government - both domestic and international, journalists and pop culture icons all need to make climate change and habitat protection the most important issue… and offer potential solutions and social pressure to institute real change. This is the next civil rights movement - a movement that affects all living beings.

At some point, we must acknowledge that our economy is directly linked to the environment. We have deferred the real cost of the Industrial Revolution with artificially cheap consumer goods that ignore the devastating cost to the environment. When industry expels pollutants or when we drive fossil fuel burning vehicles, the real cost is deferred to everyone and everything through climate change and environmental degradation.

If we continue to abuse and neglect nature, it will rebel. Nature abhors a monoculture and has a way of introducing checks and balances to species that are overly successful. Let us be smart enough to realize that we don’t want to be that monoculture. If we don’t get out in front of this, it will cost us more in food, water, housing, health and general quality of life. It doesn’t matter if you are left, right or center. We need to vote the environment to let them know we are watching… and that we care.

Flavor Bump

Salt has played a significant role in my culinary life. I’ve consumed a lot of salt, very little or none at all. One time I went for a long spell without it because I felt I had become numb to the true taste of food. It was a nice experiment, albeit a rather bland one. My return to salt was like going from black and white to an exploding kaleidoscope of color. Let’s face it, salt is a flavor enhancer.

Fact is, I love salt. I gave up the medicinal tasting free-pouring, iodized salt of my youth and drifted into the realm of pleasantly scratchy, easy to grab, kosher salt. It still remains my everyday go-to salt. However, somewhere along my salt timeline I had a Eureka moment. A melting snowflake of salt on my tongue enhanced a still warm from the sun garden tomato so perfectly that I thought I had achieved the zenith of bliss. That moment revealed the pure pleasure of flaked salt and started a lifelong love affair.

Flaked salt should be used sparingly. It should surprise the tongue with its tingle and follow with a crunch that trips its mouth-watering effect on the salivary glands. Do not use it for marinating or pre-seasoning. It wastes that precious crunch . Use it as a glorious finishing touch.

Sometimes, wine doesn’t play well with salt. A well-respected sommelier once told me that he could test a wine’s mettle by tasting it with salt. I still use this test if I’m on the fence about a wine. Orgia’s compatibility with salt was never questioned. The wine has a beautiful salinity and minerality that stands up to salt and many, many foods. I have enjoyed Orgia with chicken, pork, steak, seafood, vegetables and a wide range of herbs and spices. Even something with a strong flavor like saffron works admirably with this wine. Orgia itself is a flavor explosion. Its beautiful, sensual body carries a bit of edge from a hint of tannin. Complex, beautifully built, Orgia is perfect if you love food, wine, and salt!

Until the Next Wine....
Maria

EAT: Golden Summer Squash, Tomato, Fresh Mozzarella Gratin

The vintage of 2015 was the third year of an unprecedented West Coast drought. Lack of water, coupled with aberrant weather patterns during set, created a Pinot Gris crop of small, intensely flavored grapes.

Pinot Gris can be a prolific producer in some parts of the world - 6 tons per acre is not uncommon. RSV’s organically farmed Three Amigos Vineyard, in the Carneros, produced just 2.3 tons to the acre (a yield that would even be considered small for a Cabernet Sauvignon producer!) and translates to just 3.8 pounds per vine. This small amount of fruit produced a delightfully concentrated and complex beverage.

The unique nature of the crop, with its thicker skins, required a delicate hand in the cellar to assure the finished wine had some grip without becoming too tannic. About a quarter of the fruit was destemmed and lightly crushed then fermented on skins for 12 days (this imparted the beautiful copper color and elegant backbone), while the rest was whole-cluster pressed to emphasize the stunning quality of the fruit. Some of the wine was aged in neutral oak barrels to help develop texture and complexity while the rest was left on the lees in stainless.