Gerry Goldwyre's North American Adventure

 

MasterChef winner, chef and architect, Gerry Goldwyre and his wife Susan are on a year's trip to American discovering all that's best about food and cooking along the way.

September

Delores Cakebread. Now there’s a name. Delores started making wine in the Napa Valley many years ago. We visited Napa on a beautiful sunny day. We rolled up to the Cakebread Cellars winery in our “tartanmobile” with my sister and her husband. The temperature was rising outside in complete contrast to the controlled chill of the winery front shop and tasting room. These guys at Cakebread have it sussed. They produce top end wines and also run regular cooking classes with food and wine pairing as one of the highlights. Delores, bless her, always believed that good wine should be served with good food. Smart lady.

We asked to do the wine tasting. Normally by appointment but luckily there was space in today’s group. We tried wines that ranged in price from $19 to $90 per bottle. The pick was the 2002 Pinot Noir at $43. This wine usually sells to smart restaurants where the cost at the table will be $100.

What is really strange with wine in the USA is that each state only permits a limited amount of wine for import from an adjoining state e.g. Texas only allows 1 bottle per person to be shipped. An individual can carry as much as they want in their car though. This way the distributors get their cut. Last time I heard about this kind of set up a guy called Al Capone was running the show.

After our day at Napa we geared up for the following day’s chilli festival in San Francisco. This was a chilli cook-off and it has been running for around 20 years. There were 14 teams competing to make the best chilli. I was in heaven. For $5 you could sample all 14, sip microbrewery beer and listen to live jazz and blues whilst watching the yachts sail under the golden gate bridge.

I did get an excellent recipe for a poblano and buttermilk dressing for a spinach salad. I’m looking forward to trying this out at the restaurant.

Diary updates can be read in the Travels section of Gerry's website.

The Chili Foundry Featuring many chili vendors

Lupe Pintos - A great source for chilis