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.
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
Even though it says, Cabernet Sauvignon, we chose this particular label as it is actually a Bordeaux Blend of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc, 7% Merlot, 3% Petit Verdot, - ideal for pairing with our filets of beef. 
