Lewis Chardonnay BYOB at Henderson Beachwalk Cafe

Lewis Chardonnay BYOB at Henderson Beachwalk Cafe

Vacationing with Sister and Brother in-laws, Pat and Rodger at The Cove, our vacation rental in Destin (FL), we took them to one of our favorite notable dining spots in the Destin area. 

On our last weekend night together, we dined at scenic Beach Walk Café, Henderson Park Inn, Destin, with its picturesque views of the Gulf Coast beach and off-shore horizon, and the towers of Destin across Henderson State Beach Park in the distance, arguably one of the best views along the Emerald Coast.

I wrote about Henderson Beachwalk Cafe Dinner with a view in this blogpost during our visit there last fall, excerpted below. 

While we love the atmosphere, ambiance and menu selections, their wine list is limited, especially for pairing with coastal seafood. So, tonight we brought from our home cellar BYOB our own Lewis Cellars label, their limited release special Sonoma County Chardonnay. 

We had with the starter course beet salad with arugula, goat cheese and mandarin orange slices, and Wedge Salad, big enough to share for two. Last time we dined here, we had the Seared Blue Crab Cakes with Mixed Greens and Jalapeño Horseradish Aioli, which was delicious. Tonight, the girls both ordered it for their entrees. 

For dinner I ordered from the menu fresh seafood local catches their signature dish, Grouper Vince with Pecan Crusted, Crispy Potato Cake, Haricot Verts, Honey Worcestershire Sauce.

After dinner, we enjoyed the Key Lime Pie and the Chocolate Cake with Ice Cream for dessert. 

With the dinner course, we enjoyed from our home cellar, BYOB, one of our favorite full flavored Chardonnays, and ideal pairing with the seafood selections.

Lewis Cellars Napa Valley Chardonnay 2018

We write often in these pages how we have fun with the alphabet labels, “V” from various producers for Vivianna, and the “L” labels from Lewis Cellars, and others, for Linda, Lucy (grand-daughter, and in this case her namesake Great Grandmother Lucy), grand-daughters Lavender and Lilac. 

We also pay respects to our Indiana heritage and the legacy of Lewis Cellars’ founder/producer Randy Lewis, former Indianapolis 500 racer. 

So it was fitting that we brought this label, for the sisters’, Linda and Pat’s Mom, Lucy, and our combined Indiana, Hoosier heritage, and with Pat and Rodger hailing from Indianapolis. 

In an earlier blogpost on this label, we wrote about our visit to Lewis Cellars Napa Chateau and our private Tasting back in 2017.

We have an extensive cellar collection of Lewis Cellars’ wines including this Chardonnay label, their Cabernet Sauvignons, Mason’s Blend, Ethan’s Syrah and one of our signature favorite wines since it happens to be the namesake of our son and the Lewis’ first grandson, Alec’s Blend.

We’ll likely scale back our collecting Lewis wines since the family has sold the business and brand to a major consolidated producer. In 2021 Lewis Cellars was acquired by Justin Vineyards & Winery of Paso Robles and its owner, the Wonderful Company.
As a $5bn privately-held group founded by Stewart and Lynda Resnick, the Wonderful Company also owns Landmark Vineyards in Sonoma County and JNSQ rosé wine, as well as the Fiji Water and Pom Wonderful brands.

Since this blog is also partially about branding and strategy, I’d be remiss to not mention the self-inflicted branding fiasco Fiji brought on themselves a few years back - memorialized in these posts - enough said…

https://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/biz2/0701/gallery.101dumbest_2007/20.html
https://www.cleveland19.com/story/34514441/is-bottled-water-better-than-clevelands-tap-water-not-really/
https://www.governing.com/archive/gov-cities-tout-municipal-tap-water-as-better-than-bottled.html

Lewis Cellars makes around 9,000 cases of wine per year and is known for high-end wines made from Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Merlot, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay.

Justin Vineyards said Lewis Cellars will continue to be led and run by the existing team, including Randy Lewis and his stepson, Dennis Bell.

The strategy is to leverage the larger group’s marketing, strategy and sales teams to reach new audiences, such as via wine clubs or restaurants.

Tonight, this Lewis Cellars Chardonnay was a perfect pairing with the dinner, showing incredibly well, perhaps the best tasting of this label ever. Perhaps it was the ideal pairing that accentuated the delight of both the food and the wine. 

 

We brought this bottle to Florida from our home cellar and had been holding it for quite a while waiting for the right occasion and the right pairing. 

This was the third bottle of this label from our collection that we have consumed and this was the best showing of this wine to date. 

This 2018 release of Lewis Chardonnay was awarded 93 points by Wine Spectator and 92 points by Connoisseurs' Guide and Wilford Wong of Wine.com

Winemaker Notes - Like a silk robe or satin sheets the 2018 Napa Chardonnay seduces with thrilling texture. Creamy pear, crème brulee, white nectarine and gardenia blossom sprinkled with vanilla spice, it is simply delicious and irresistible. Finely structured yet opulent to the core, it is graced with a long, luscious finish.

Golden colored, medium bodied, full, round and structured, with rich brilliant flavors of ripe pear and apple fruits with butterscotch and creamy toasty notes on the tangy acidic lingering finish. 

RM 93 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=3390102 

https://www.lewiscellars.com/

To close out the dinner, we shared the Key Lime Pie and the Chocolate Tort Cake with berries and ice cream. We’ve wished for a Latte’ or Cafe Au Lait accompaniment but it isn’t an option. 

https://www.hendersonparkinn.com/dine/beachwalk-cafe/

Henderson Beachwalk Cafe Dinner with a view

Henderson Beachwalk Cafe Dinner with a view

Vacationing with Linda’s friends Pat R and Marylou at The Cove, our vacation rental in Destin (FL), we dined at scenic Beach Walk Café, Henderson Park Inn, Destin, with its idealic views of the Gulf Coast beach and off-shore horizon, and the towers of Destin across Henderson State Beach Park in the distance, arguably one of the best views along the Emerald Coast.

The Beach Walk Café at the Henderson Park Inn is an award-winning, fine-dining restaurant that overlooks the beach with views of the towering condo towers along the Destin beach and harbor two miles to the west. 

It has been named one of the most romantic restaurants in North America for its pairing imaginative cuisine rooted in the freshest, local ingredients with spectacular sunsets and starry skies amidst the surf.

The cuisine is crafted by executive chef, Destin native Daniel Peters. Daniel first worked a professional kitchen at the age of 26, gaining his first taste of fine food and wine knowledge at Chan’s Wine World.

In 2011, he moved to Napa Valley to further his culinary skills and experience. There he studied under a number of world-renowned award-winning chefs, including Douglas Keane, Sang Yoon, Jake Rand and Stephan Barber. He returned home to apply what he learned to elevation Destin’s food culture, with his Gulf-to-table concept at Beach Walk.

We wrote about Beach Walk Café in these pages last summer. Last time we dined here, the limited but carefully selected wine list offered several favorite producers and selections such as Nils Venge Saddleback, Chardonnay and Cabernet, no less than five of our selection choices were not available. 

So, tonight we brought from our home cellar BYOB our own Venge Vineyards label, their limited release special single vineyard designated Chardonnay. 

With the starter course beet salad with arugula, goat cheese and mandarin orange slices, and the Seared Blue Crab Cakes with Mixed Greens and Jalapeño Horseradish Aioli, we had from the wine list Chandon Sparkling Wine from Napa Valley. The crab cakes were delicious and a favorite of all.

For dinner we ordered from the menu fresh seafood local catches Snapper and Grouper and the Ahi Tuna.

Snapper with Corn Truffle Risotto, Madeira Mushrooms, Matchstick Truffle Fries, Citrus Beurre Blanc

Sesame Crusted Ahi Tuna Steak with Fingerling Potatoes, Sautéed Spinach, Ponzu Sauce

Grouper Vince with Pecan Crusted, Crispy Potato Cake, Haricot Verts, Honey Worcestershire Sauce

With the dinner course, we enjoyed from our home cellar, BYOB, one of our favorite full flavored Chardonnays, and ideal pairing with the seafood selections. 

Venge Vineyards Brown Bear Ranch Chardonnay 2018

I featured this label in detail in these pages last spring. This has proven to be one of our favorite and best tasting go-to Chardonnays. At the time I wrote, “I think this bottle is perhaps the best tasting one in our cellar right now, irregardless of the price point”. 

We first tasted this label and I wrote about Venge Vineyards and this limited release label in a these pages earlier, excerpted here back in December 2021 when we served it at a special holiday dinner - Venge Brown Ranch Chardonnay.

Venge Vineyards Brown Ranch Vineyard Los Carneros Napa Valley Chardonnay 2018

As featured, excerpted from earlier blogpost. This is a single vineyard designated label sourced from the 30 acre Brown Ranch Vineyard in Carneros, named for the previous cattle rancher owner Nadine Brown. The vineyard is bordered by HdV’s Hyde Vineyard and Beaulieu’s Vineyard No.9 on Old Sonoma Road in the Carneros district, straddling the rolling hills in the southernmost parts of both Sonoma and Napa counties. The cooling winds from the nearby San Pablo Bay, combined with the abundant midday California sunshine, create an ideal environment for producing elegant wines that combine power and finesse, with a perfect balance of crisp acidity and well-ripened fruit.

The property, formerly associated with Saintsbury Winery, was purchased in 2012 by the Renterias.

The property was planted with twenty nine acres of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay but most of the vines were afflicted with Eutypa, a fungi disease also known as the Dead-arm Dieback, which causes trunks or arms of the vines to essentially rot and die. Like the famous Dead-Arm Shiraz label from McLaren Vale, Australia, rather than pulling the vines out, the vineyard managers kept the rootstock, cut off the trunk just above the soil and nurtured a bud to grow into a new trunk. Like the Dead-Arm label, focusing all the mature rootstock energy into one vine branch resulted in rich, full, concentrated fruits.

The Brown Ranch’s hillside alluvial soils, with Dijon Clone 76 set into the pre-existing rootstock, produces this rich full round Chardonnay, worthy of the iconic Venge name.Winemaker's notes: The Dijon Clones are modern strains of Chardonnay carefully isolated from grapevine nursery blocks in France. These strains are selected for their incredible ability to produce the best of what the varietal has to offer and therefore have become quite popular with cool climate growers today. The cool and often foggy climate of the Brown Ranch Vineyard, located in central Carneros, Napa, allows for a slow growing season and optimal ripening. This climate aids in the balancing of acidity and lifting tropical aromas in the fruit and thus, in the finished wine. The vines were carefully hand harvested and delivered cool to the winery.

Winemaker's Notes: "This wine is stylish and freshly balanced, featuring a light, pale straw presence in the glass with a bouquet of fresh orange citrus, toasted pine nuts, mild allspice, rocky flints, and toasted oak. Crisp, savory pineapple, sweet delicious apple, savory stone fruit, and ripe pear lead into mouthwatering deliciousness. 

The grapes are blended into used French Oak barrels according to a Burgundian style of winemaking, light handed on the usage of new French Oak keeping it to an average of 45%.

495 Cases were Produced

This release was rated 93 points by Wine Enthusiast and Jeb Dunnuck and 92 points by Robert Parker's Wine Advocate.

Golden lemon colored, medium full-bodied, full, round, concentrated, complex opulent fruits with a layer almost bordering on butterscotch, accented by notes of baking spice, hints of lemon, grapefruit, ginger and a touch of peach and almond nut cream, with bright acidity, depth and balance on a full long finish.

RM 93 points. 

https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2024/05/pour-boys-gather-for-flw-weekend-and.html

https://www.cellartracker.com/w?3517412

http://www.vengevineyards.com/

https://twitter.com/VengeVineyards

https://www.hendersonparkinn.com/dine/beachwalk-cafe/

Belle Glos Clark & Telephone Pinot Noir Inniskillin Ice Wine at Beach Walk Café, Henderson Park Inn, Destin

Belle Glos Clark & Telephone Vineyard Santa Maria Valley Pinot Noir and Inniskillin Ice Wine at  Beach Walk Café, Henderson Park Inn, Destin

Date night out during our vacation getaway to The Cove in Destiny East in Destin, Florida, we dined at the Beach Walk Restaurant at the Henderson Park Inn at the end of our beach adjacent the Henderson State Park with views of the Destin harbor towers in the distance.

Destin sits on the Emerald Coast of the Florida panhandle and is noted as one of the top beaches in the state, nation and world, by various travelogues and reviews, with its powdery sugar white sands. 

The Beach Walk Café at the Henderson Park Inn is an award-winning, fine-dining restaurant that overlooks the beach with views of the towering condo towers along the Destin beach and harbor two miles to the west. 

It has been named one of the most romantic restaurants in North America for its pairing imaginative cuisine rooted in the freshest, local ingredients with spectacular sunsets and starry skies amidst the surf.

Our server said she has stayed there for a half dozen years because of their executive chef, Destin native Daniel Peters. Daniel first worked a professional kitchen at the age of 26, gaining his first taste of fine food and wine knowledge at Chan’s Wine World. 

In 2011, he moved to Napa Valley to further his culinary skills and experience. There he studied under a number of world-renowned award-winning chefs, including Douglas Keane, Sang Yoon, Jake Rand and Stephan Barber. He returned home to apply what he learned to elevation Destin’s food culture, with his Gulf-to-table concept at Beach Walk.

For our dinner this evening, we started with the Corn and Crab Bisque and the Iceberg Wedge salad with Applewood Bacon, Shaved Red Onion, Tomato, Maytag Blue Cheese Crumble and Dressing.

For our entree we selected the fresh catch Snapper with Corn Truffle Risotto, Madeira Mushrooms, Truffle Fries in a Citrus Beurre Blanc.

While the limited but carefully selected wine list offered several favorite producers and selections such as Nils Venge Saddleback, Chardonnay and Cabernet, no less than five of our selection choices were not available. 

We settled on an our fifth choice the Belle Glos Pinot Noir, which proved to be a superb pairing choice, perhaps testament to the quality of offerings, but there were few alternatives at that point. 

When I expressed my displeasure at the out of date wine list, and admonished them that we brought more wine from our home cellar in Chicago for our week away, than they had available, General Manager Mike Frey appeared and was extremely gracious and attentive. He granted us a complimentary Domaine Chandon California Carneros sparkling wine, a taste of the evenings WBTG special offer red, followed by a premium icewine accompaniment to our dessert, another offering not shown on the winelist.

Despite it all, we had a delightful long discussion throughout the evening on common interests, backgrounds and fine dining and wine experiences.

The Belle Glos Pinot was delightful with dinner.

Belle Glos Clark & Telephone Vineyard, Santa Barbara County, Santa Maria Valley Pinot Noir 2021

Belle Glos is the wine of owner winemaker Joseph Wagner, son of Chuck Wagner of Napa Valley Caymus notoriety. Belle Glos was the name of his grandmother, Chuck's mother, Lorna Belle Glos Wagner, Matriarch and co-founder of Caymus Vineyards, original land and vineyard owner. Joe focuses on single vineyard designated Pinot Noirs including this Clark and Telephone Vineyard from down in Santa Barbara County in the Santa Maria Valley.  

As a fifth-generation Napa Valley winemaker, Joe learned his way around a vineyard long before he was able to drink wine.

By the time he was 19 he knew that he would continue his family’s winemaking legacy, working alongside his father at Caymus Vineyards. In 2001, he created Belle Glos, with a focus on vineyard-designated Pinot Noirs from throughout California’s best coastal regions.

More recently, he has launched a number of new brands under Copper Cane Wines & Provisions. Joe has a keen interest in contributing to the evolution of the wine industry, by discovering new wine growing locations and through experimentation in the cellar.

Joe lives in Napa Valley, has six children, and maintains a healthy balance between his family life and a passionate dedication to his business.

Belle Glos showcases distinctive Pinot Noirs produced from California’s most noteworthy coastal wine-growing regions.

While each vineyard location lies near the Pacific Ocean, the climate differences are significant, varying with the amount of fog, wind, sunlight, and soil type at each site. Each Vineyard Designate is crafted to distill the purest essence of the locale into elegant expressions of California Pinot Noir.

Owner/winemaker, Joe Wagner chose the name Belle Glos (pronounced “BELL GLOSS”) to honor his grandmother, Lorna Belle Glos Wagner. Lorna was a co-founder of Caymus Vineyards, an inspirational figure to Joseph and an avid lover of Pinot Noir.

I wrote last year about Belle Glos Vineyard Select Pinot Noirs from the Wagner family vineyards. This selection is from their Clark & Telephone Vineyard, named for its location near the corner of Clark Avenue and Telephone Road in the Santa Maria Valley. The site is cooled by wind and fog that rolls in from the Pacific Ocean following the Santa Maria River. The vineyard was planted in 1972 with the Martini clone of Pinot Noir, one of the first to be used along the California coastlands.

This was surprisingly robust and flavorful, yet smooth and polished so as to nicely complement the fresh seafood entree. 

Dark ruby colored, medium to full bodied, smooth and polished with nicely integrated full flavors of black raspberry, with hints of blueberry, subtle strawberry and cherry. There are tones of cinnamon, spice, sweet oak and tea on a lively acidity long finish with supple tannins.

RM 91 points.

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=1610945

http://www.belleglos.com/

With our desert course, Mike presented us with this ultra-premium Inniskillin Ice Wine.

Inniskillin Vidal Blanc Niagara VQA Icewine 2018

We visited the Inniskillin estate, vineyards and winery on the Niagara escarpment during our Inniskillin Niagara on the Lake Wine Experience back in 2012. It is the 'first growth' premiere grand cru of Canadian wines. 

 Innisklillin Wines was founded in 1975 by Austrian-born Karl J. Kaiser, and native Canadian Donald J.P. Ziraldo, a decendant of a family of winegrowers in Northern Italy. They were granted the first winery license granted in the province of Ontario since 1929. 

Inniskillin was founded dedicated to producing the finest possible wines from vinifera wine grapes grown in the Niagara Peninsula. Karl and Donald tested the ground of Niagara, seeking the optimal terroir and located the Inniskillin estate and vineyards in Niagara-on-the-Lake at the historic Brae Burn Estate. Inniskillin gained international notoriety when its pioneering 1989 Vidal Icewine was awarded the Grand Prix d'Honneur at Vinexpo 1991 drawing worldwide attention to Canada's burgeoning wine industry.

VQA Icewine is a highly concentrated dessert wine made by harvesting grapes naturally frozen on the vine at -10 C in December-January. Inniskillin VQA Icewine is internationally awarded and recognized and is exported throughout the world.

 Vidal is a hybrid grape varietal, produced from Ugni Blanc and Seibel varietals, that has a thick skin suitable for harvesting late in the season. It is the most popular Icewine grape grown in Ontario. It’s noted for good natural acidity that gives great structure to the lusciousness of its tropical aromas and flavors of mango and lychee.  Inniskillin produces Vidal Icewine in two distinct styles, one without oak aging to highlight the fresh fruit emphasis, and with oak aging for added complexity.

This is the same wine, one vintage removed from that which we tasted at a fine dinner we had at the Herrington Inn Atwaters Restaurant in Geneva last fall.

Winemaker Notes - "Aromatics of tropical fruit including mango and orange dominate, on the palate fruit flavors including peach, nectarine and lemon are balanced by crisp, lively acidity. Perfect on its own; a variety of cheeses (blue veined, aged cheddar, rich cream cheeses with dried fruits); seared scallops; lobster; rich pates; fruit based desserts."

This release was awarded 94 points by Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, and 93 points by Decanter

The 2018 Vidal Icewine comes in with 245 grams of residual sugar, 10.5 of total acidity and 9.5% alcohol. An early harvest began on December 14 and continued for several consecutive days. 

 

Golden straw colored, fulled bodied, rich concentrated unctuous classic peach and apricot notes with tongue coating sugar sweetness, hints of spiced orange, caramel and almond in the lingering finish. 

 

RM 93 points. 

 

https://www.cellartracker.com/wine.asp?iWine=3737386

 

https://www.inniskillin.com/

http://twitter.com/InniskillinWine

@InniskillinWine