Artisan Bistro

As usual the summer is a whirlwind of events and travel...both personal and work related! Having just returned from a two week vacation in Montreal, I immediately dove back into work with renewed vigor, and spent a week taking the Carina Cellars wines throughout the Bay Area.

One of places that was on my list to visit was Artisan Bistro in Lafayette. Artisan recently opened March , 2009, and has been wowing their customers with their California-French fusion cuisine. They also carry the Carina Cellars 2004 SBC Syrah, so I knew I had to go enjoy a glass!Each dish is a work of art, and it's no wonder with chef John Marquez on board. Marquez honed his culinary skills Picasso in the Bellagio Hotel in Vegas, and the world-famous French Laundry in Napa, and was working at Fringale Restaurant in San Francisco prior to coming to Artisan Bistro.

I visited Artisan Bistro last Thursday for lunch, and was impressed by their delightfully shaded patio, and the warm and inviting interior. I chose to sit near the fireplace so that I could enjoy looking out the window onto the sunny patio, and started off my lunch with their corn soup with sauteed maitake mushrooms. It was as though I was eating corn freshly cut off the cob! I was surprised to find that this incredibly creamy soup had absolutely no cream added, and was merely pureed corn...delicious!
Given it was a hot day I decided to follow my soup with the marinated beet salad, with herbed goat cheese, walnuts, fuji apples and a shallot vinaigrette. I absolutely love beets, and this salad was absolutely wonderful! Not only did it come with an array of both golden and red beets (beneath the lettuce), but it also came with golden and red beet puree along the side of the salad...almost no dressing was needed because the puree was so flavorful!

And given sqaush are in season, I also ordered a side of the Ronde de nice squash with brown butter and pine nuts, and must say that the pine nuts and squash were the perfect compliment. The proportions were perfect-not too much, not too little, but just right. And the prices are the same. Artisan Bistro is a must try for anyone visiting/living in the Bay Area!

Lost Angeles

Hello!

Carolyn Turner, Carina Cellars' national sales manager reporting from the road, and I have just spent a couple wonderful days selling Carina Cellars to restaurants and wine bars in Orange County and Los Angeles and have visited some really wonderful restaurants and wine bars, and so wanted to share a few with you. 

On Tuesday I spent the day working with the gregarious Colby Hagen, who is one of the reps that I work with for our distributor (American Wines). We spent the day in Newport Beach and Corona del Mar, and had lunch at The Golden Truffle, which was delicious! We also visited a few other wonderful places like Villa Nova, Wildfish, Wine Gallery, The Bungalow, Brix Wine bar and Spark restaurant...a very packed day!

Then I spent Wednesday working with another American Wines rep, the illustrious Patrick Garvey, who was wonderful company. We took the wines around to several hot spots in Santa Monica, and especially enjoyed lunch at Gjelina (featured above from left: Patrick Garvey ready to dig in!, avocado & beet salad, turkey sandwich and chickpea soup)

*For a full restaurant review of Gjelina, please visit our website.

If there is a restaurant or wine shop you would like to see Carina Cellars at, please contact me at 805-252-0860 or carolyn@carinacellars.com

Cheers!

3 Generations of Iconoclast

The Iconoclast is our flagship wine, with a unique blend of 67% Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa and 33% Syrah from Santa Barbara, and here you see the progression of the blend throughout the years.

The black label is the Iconoclast that winemaker Joey Tensley created under his Tensley Wines label.

The yellow label is the first vintage of Iconoclast that Joey created as the new winemaker for Carina Cellars in 2001.

In 2003 the red and black label was created specifically to differentiate our higher-end wines with under 100 cases, and remains the same for our current 2006 Iconoclast.

The 4th generation of the Iconoclast can be seen in the background...the Carina Cellars vineyards that will produce the grapes for our Estate Iconoclast! We expect that the first vintage will be next year, 2010 harvest...so stay tuned!

Our Story

In the southern hemisphere the constellation Argo Navis is separated into three star clusters: Vela (The Sails), Puppis (The Stern), and Carina (The Keel). Named for the epic ship Argo and its crew of fifty, the constellation was placed among the stars by the Greek goddess Athena upon completion of the epic quest for the Golden Fleece. The crew, better known as the Argonauts, included Jason, Hercules, Orpheus, Castor and Pollux, triumphed through perils unseen in our modern world and became legends to innumerous generations.

At Carina Cellars we strive to produce wines worthy of being placed among the stars. We seek out vineyards throughout the Santa Ynez and Santa Maria Valleys with the best Rhône grapes available in a quest to produce truly great wines. With crisp Viognier’s full of tropical fruit and spring flowers; dark Syrah’s loaded with spice and lush fruit; earthy Mourvedre’s, and bright, fruity Grenache’s we represent the classic character of Santa Barbara County’s legendary wines. 

Cheers-CC