Sunday, May 7, 2023

Great selection of fine dining in Destin - Bijoux

Great selection of fine dining in Destin includes Bijoux Restaurant in Sandestin Miramar Beach

We spent a week traveling, visiting the Emerald Coast of the Florida Panhandle getting to know the area and evaluating the real estate market and several properties. During our stay, we dined at four local legendary restaurants. In Destin (FL) we dined at Louisiana Lagniappe, Boshamps Seafood and Oyster House, and The Crab Trap, Destin. We also dined at Bijoux in the Sandestin Resort community. The wide range of fine and casual dining options in one of the key reasons we're considering the Destin area for a vacation or vacation home. 

We featured some other wine and dining experiences in recent posts from a trip to the area earlier this month - Kistler Les Noisetiers Sonoma Coast Chardonnay at Emerils Coastal.

https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2023/04/kistler-les-noisetiers-sonoma-coast.html

Bijoux Restaurant Destin/Miramar Beach

Bijoux is one of Destin’s top award-winning restaurants since 2002, offering “coastal cuisine with a New Orleans flair.” Bijoux is a full service fine dining restaurant located in The Market Shops at the entrance of Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort in Miramar Beach. Its open for dinner seven nights a week which is great since so many restaurants close one or two nights a week, most often on Mondays. They feature fresh Gulf seafood, prime steaks and an extensive award winning wine list.  

Bijoux has been selected Best of the Emerald Coast from 2009 through 2018 and the Best French Restaurant by Emerald Coast Magazine.

The restaurant is tucked away in the back behind another more prominent restaurant at the front, so its easy to miss if you're driving by. There is parking in the front or in the rear, beyond the resort security access entry gate. 

They offer a spectacular imaginative and well selected wine list with a wide range of favorites and several ultra-premium reserve selections, as well as numerous respectable modest budget selections. Its easy to offer great high priced wines. Its difficult to offer great wines at entry level or lower tier prices. Of course, most often I am focused on finding the best great values with high QPR (Quality Price Ratio) across price points. That is what readers of these pages most often ask about. Bijoux does a great job offering great wines and some good values at all price points. 

While most often I'm challenged to find a choice of more than a couple interesting and tempting offerings, Bijoux's wine list offered a dozen such labels. Their wines are priced at about or slightly above the customary 2x retail. Their wine list was awarded the Wine Spectator Award of Excellence award over the last decade.

For a starter we had the imaginative and superbly prepared and presented Blackened Brie with Toasted Walnut Bread Pickled Grapes and Local Honey. It was fabulous.

 We also had the Roasted Beet Salad, Baby Arugula, Walnut Bread Croutons, Ruby Red Grapefruit, Whipped Goat Cheese, and Citrus Vinaigrette.

For my entree I had the “Black Skillet” Filet Mignon with Buttermilk Gruyere Mashed Potatoes, Port Wine Onion Confit and Roasted Garlic Herb Butter.


Normally, I would not order grilled beefsteak when on the coast where fresh seafood is available, but the preparation of this entree coupled with an ideal wine pairing, and the fact we'd have seafood several times this week, I opted for this steak entree, which was fabulous.

Linda had the Grouper Almandine Toasted Almonds, Crispy Brussels Sprouts with Preserved Lemon Vinaigrette, Creamy Herb Risotto.

For our wine selection we had one of our favorite labels, a Right Bank Bordeaux Blend that would be an ideal pairing with my steak as well as Linda's seafood. 

Spring Valley Vineyard “Uriah” Walla Walla 2015

I featured the Spring Valley Wines in detail in this detailed blogpost Spring Valley 2013 Blends - Uriah vs Frederick, and this particular label in a recent blogpost back in February - Uriah Spring Valley Red Blend 2015.

From that February posting - With a dinner of take-out of one of my favorite dishes from local eatery Gia Mia, their Meatballs al Forno, Veal Meatballs with Creamy Polenta and Roasted Tomato Sauce, and some artisan cheeses including Raclette cheese which was featured in our spectacular dinner the other night at 3-Michelin Star Alinea restaurant, that we were eager to try. 

For this favored meal combination, for a nice relaxed evening dinner together, I pulled from the cellar one of my favorite drinking Right Bank Bordeaux varietal blends from one of our favorite producers, Spring Valley Vineyards. 

We visited Spring Valley during our appellation visit to the Walla Walla (Washington) wine region in the fall of 2018. We visited the Spring Valley Vineyard tasting room in downtown Walla Walla, then ventured out to the vineyards and winery northeast of town. There, we met Dean Derby patriarch, and husband to Shari Corkrum Derby, grand-daughter of Uriah Corkrum, namesake for this label. Meeting Mr. Derby was one of the highlights of our Walla Walla Wine Experience, especially since he has since passed on. We posted a Tribute to Dean Derby and memorium of that visit - Spring Valley Vineyard toward the end of 2021. 

All of the Spring Valley wines are named for one of the ancestral or current family members. Spring Valley Vineyard wines are all produced from 100% estate-grown fruit, a relative rarity in Washington.

Washington State and regional powerhouse Chateau Ste. Michelle Wine Estates purchased the winery and the brand from the Derby family recently, but they continue to own and operate the vineyards.

Spring Valley Vineyards Uriah Red Blend 2015

The Spring Valley Vineyards adjacent to the
farmstead site
This label, Uriah, is named for the Spring Valley Vineyards founder Uriah Corkrum, grandfather of matriarch Shari Corkrum Derby. Born in Walla Walla on June 1, 1866, he began successfully farming on his own during the 1880s. Unusual summer rain kept him from getting his harvested wheat to the warehouse so he lost everything in the depression of 1893. He persevered and, in 1897, acquired land in the area known as Spring Valley that is the site of the vineyards today. Uriah is featured on the flagship label Uriah Spring Valley Red Blend. This is our favorite label from the Spring Valley portfolio. 

This is 100% sourced from Spring Valley Vineyards in the wind-shaped Palouse Hills 12 miles northeast of Walla Walla, amid the picturesque wheat fields of southeastern Washington and the Blue Mountains in the distance. The initial block of Merlot was planted in 1993 on a southern hillside facing southwest. The vines follow the north-south slope of the hills in vertical rows, an orientation that when combined with the declination of the slope, allows the vines to take optimal advantage of air drainage, sunshine, and the reflective nature of the surrounding wheat fields.

The 2015 vintage was one of the warmest growing seasons on record in Washington. Warm temperatures continued through the spring and summer, moderating slightly into fall and extending an early harvest. Overall, 2015 saw very favorable growing conditions, producing optimal ripening across varieties and yielding outstanding wines throughout the region.

This label, Uriah, is a Right Bank Bordeaux Blend, meaning it is predominantly Merlot based rather than Cabernet, complemented by Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec. This release has a high percentage of Cabernet Franc which provides spiciness and bright flavor sprites.

This 2015 release is a blend or Bordeaux varietals, 43% Cabernet Franc, 38% Merlot, 14% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Petit Verdot and 2% Malbec. It was aged 18 months in 100% French oak, 40% new.

Winemaker Tasting Notes: “Our most terroir driven blend, mostly Cabernet Franc and Merlot. A rich wine coming from one of the warmest harvests. The tannins are velvety and the finish is long and soft.”
~ Serge Laville, Winemaker.

This was rated 93 Points by Wine & Spirits, 92 Points by James Suckling, 91 Points by Wine Spectator, and 90 points by Sean Sullivan of Wine Advocate. 

We hold half dozen vintages of this label and pulled the oldest vintage as part of effective cellar management rotation. 

At eight years this is probably at its peak, the apex of its drinking profile, not likely to improve further with aging, but certainly to age gracefully for another decade if you're patient enough to keep it that long. 

Bright garnet colored, medium bodied, elegant polished, rich but approachable for pleasant but sophisticated drinking, its right-bank style blend shows vibrant black berry and dark plum fruits with notes of cassis, spice, floral and hints of balsamic and herbs with dusty minerality with polished soft tannins on the lingering finish.

RM 92 points. 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=2648699

Linked referenced in this blog:

https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2018/10/spring-valley-vineyards-tasting-and.html

https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2019/11/spring-valley-vineyards-nina-syrah-2017.html

https://www.springvalleyvineyard.com/

https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2023/02/magnificent-dinner-at-alinea-kitchen.html

https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2023/04/kistler-les-noisetiers-sonoma-coast.html 

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