Geoff Gatto, Director of Vineyard Operations, is our very own fountain of viticulture knowledge. We’ve been very lucky at the winery, as Geoff is always willing to patiently describe every development in our two estate vineyards located in Napa Valley. He even uses terms that do not require an advanced agricultural degree to translate these vineyard updates into easily digested tidbits. (With one exception, Geoff still has us stumped on how to define soil series vs. soil variations – but that is a story and maybe…lucky you…a blog, for another time).
Recently, Geoff walked us through the practice known as “field grafting” while out in our Dollarhide Estate Vineyard. Field grafting is a technique that requires great skill and precision, think of it as grapevine cardiovascular surgery, that can provide tremendous benefits in the vineyard. In its most ineloquent description, field grafting is a way to take a pre-existing root and slap on the bud of a different variety. If perfectly executed and maintained, the grapevine will produce the grape that has been grafted on, not what had been growing before.
Have we confused you with our attempts at describing this Frankenstein-like science? Perhaps it’s best to watch the video and let Geoff show you how it’s done.
All of us at St. Supéry Estate are pretty excited about #SauvBlanc Day coming up on May 17th and a lot of our conversations around the winery have turned to our favorite food and Sauvignon Blanc pairings. Rumor has it Pam, one of our spectacular wine educators, has the best fish taco recipe that she serves with our Dollarhide Estate Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc. Luckily, we were able to convince Pam to reveal her top notch fish taco recipe so we can share it with you too!
Pam’s Baja Style Fish Tacos
1 lb white fish (Halibut, Cod and Tilapia all work well)
½ - ¾ cup Krusteaz pancake batter
½ – ¾ cup Mexican beer
3 – 4 drops of your favorite hot sauce
½ cup mayo
Lime juice (4 limes)
Salt & pepper
Corn tortillas
Mix pancake batter, beer and hot sauce together. Let sit for a few minutes.
Prepare white sauce: mix together mayo, lime juice, salt and pepper. Set aside to top tacos.
Heat canola oil on medium high heat. While oil is heating, coat fish in the batter. Reduce heat to medium and fry fish to golden brown.
Heat corn tortillas on a griddle, fry pan or bbq. Top with fish and white sauce. Dress with shredded cabbage, cilantro and tomatoes if desired.
Serve with St. Supéry Napa Valley, Dollarhide Estate Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc and enjoy!
Meet the Chef
Meet the Chef - Pam!
Name: Pam
Employee at St. Supéry Estate for 8 years
Favorite Current St. Supéry Estate Wine: 2009 Dollarhide Estate Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon
Favorite non-St. Supéry Wine: Goldeneye Pinot Noir
Favorite meal to serve surprise dinner guests: Seafood tostada topped with any grilled fish, black beans, broccoli slaw, jicama, cilantro, salsa and a squeeze of lime.
We checked in with Geoff, our Director of Vineyard Operations, to get the latest vineyard news. He happily reported that the buds are breaking in St. Supéry’s Dollarhide and Rutherford Estate Vineyards. Our hillside vineyards are alive with the (very quiet, really mostly silent) sounds of Cabernet Sauvignon pushing through. The Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot and [...]
St. Supéry Estate’s winemaker, Michael Scholz, is leading two live online tastings this week on ToutSuite with the help of beverage culture icon and Mutineer Magazine president, Alan Kropf. Thursday, March 21st – 4 pm PST/7 pm EST Saturday, March 23rd – 1 pm PST/4 pm EST Join Michael and Alan online as they taste [...]
Does it get any better than that? Scott Tracy, our in-house sommelier and food & wine pairing guru developed this shortbread cookie recipe to pair perfectly with our 2009 Napa Valley Estate Cabernet Sauvignon. On cookie and wine taste testing day at the winery, the approval of this delicious combination was unanimous. Try the recipe [...]
It’s official! St. Supéry Estate Vineyards & Winery is now certified both Napa Green Winery and Napa Green Land. Our Environmental Engineer, Joey Giordano, led the charge to raise our winery’s sustainability practices to meet and exceed the very high standards of the Napa Green certification. These standards, established by the Napa Valley Vintners, focus [...]
‘Tis the season of holiday cocktail parties, large family gatherings, and cozy nights at home with loved ones. This also means, ‘tis the season of copious amounts of delicious food and superb wine pairings. And who couldn’t use a quick and foolproof, but still dazzling, recipe to bring to the table (if you will…) this [...]
This November, we challenged our employees to form teams and compete to bring in the most non-perishable food items benefitting the Napa Valley Food Bank. With a weekly prize on the line, we were floored to see the generosity of our employees as donations piled up in our barrels. (We also learned people will do [...]
Geoff Gatto and his team have been harvesting St. Supéry’s estate grapes since 10:00 PM on August 27. Most of our harvesting is done at night and in the cool morning hours here in Napa Valley. Our vineyard team gets to sleep sometime in the mid afternoon (sometimes) and start again that evening. It’s a [...]
All of us at St. Supéry Estate Vineyards & Winery are honored to be recognized by Wine & Spirits Magazine as one of their Top 100 Wineries of 2012. That means that out of the more than 10,000 domestic and international wines the Wine & Spirits Magazine’s panel and critics have tasted over the course [...]
