While hoards of foodies from the 50th descended upon the Hawaii Convention Center's rooftop for the HFWF 2014 Corks and Forks event, a small handful of us gathered in Hiroshi Eurasion Tapas' private dining room for dinner with the Master from the Central Coast, none other than Jim Clendenen of Au Bon Climat. For more than 30 years, Jim has been creating soulful, terroir driven wines with both his Au Bon Climat and Clendenen Family labels out of the Central Coast. Why have his wines endured? Like any real estate agent will tell you, location, location, location, The topography of the Central Coast has mountains running West to East funneling in the cool breezes of the Pacific Ocean as opposed to Napa and Sonoma with mountains running North to South. The Central Coast also has an abundance of limestone and rocky soil for great drainage and the meager soils mean grape vines struggle to produce grapes concentrating their efforts into just a few bunches per vines whereas Napa's fertile valley soil gives vines all the water and nutrients they can absorb. And more than location, Jim has a devil-may-care attitude especially when it comes to appeasing "experts" who judge and assign numerical scores to wines. Though a 95+ score will have oenophiles beating a path to your winery willing to pay in excess of $$$ per bottle, I really get the feeling that Jim could care less.
Chuck Furuya arranged a menu and wine pairings that looked like this:
Shinsato Pork Sausage Bruschetta
with roasted peppers & balsamic reduction
2oz 2007 PIP Nebbiolo
The PIP Nebbiolo was named after the winemaker's deceased Border Collie who used to patrol the winery. It had enough earthiness that it reminded me of a Piedmont Langhe declassified Barolo or Barbaresco. I would purchase several bottles if it were carried locally.
Seared Dayboat Scallops
served with thyme—ricotta agnollotti, charred fennel & preserved lemon
2oz 2001 Hildegard
2oz 1999 Hildegard
The Hildegard was named after the wife of Charlemagne (Corton Charlemagne is one of the great Grand Cru white burgundies) and consists of those long forgotten non-Chardonnay white grapes of Burgundy, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris and Aligote and after aging reminded me of an aged white Rhone. Rich and delicious!
Balsamic Marinated Shinsato Pork Loin
served with trofie pasta & Kahuku corn
2oz 2005 Pinot Noir “Knox Alexander”
2oz 2005 Pinot Noir “Isabelle”
The Knox Alexander and Isabelle are named after the Clendenen children and always consists of wines from the best barrels so the vineyards can change every vintage. The Mrs loved the Isabelle while I gave the Knox Alexander the edge.
Sous Vide Big Island Beef
with grilled Hamakua Alii mushrooms, roasted Molokai sweet potato & a savory chimichurri
2oz 2006 Nebbiolo
2oz 2005 Nebbiolo
2oz 2002 Nebbiolo
From the Clendenen Family label, these Nebbiolos really straddled the Old and New Worlds. Some mineral and leather though not as much as a La Spinetta or Cavallotto and with ripe red fruit but not as much as Palmina's Sisquoc. Very delicious and very food friendly!
Lemon Verbena-Lime Panna Cotta
with strawberry gelato
And as usual, I uncorked a bottle to share with the honored guest. This time it was a 2012 Canarelli Biancu Gentile from Corsica that Jim seemed to enjoy due to its rusticity.
After dinner was completed, we moved over to Vino where Bruce and Barbara Neyers were dining and the German winemaking trio of Fritz Hasselbach, Paul Furst and Johannes Haart eventually ended the evening... though we were long gone at that point since the Mrs worked the next day. So that's a wrap for the Hawaii Food and Wine Festival 2014 and though we didn't attend any "formal" events, we did have dinner with two of the winemaker participants which is just as cool...
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