Category Archives: wine

You already know we like Leonesse wines. You already know we belong to their wine club. You may not know that they are currently sold out of their Port and this makes us sad. I also may or may not have subtly threatened the poor guy pouring samples (who probably never works the counter except for these occasions) if the new port release isn’t as good as the last.

On our one free weekend at home (that was no free but really really busy) we decided to check out this wine pick-up night with free appetizers and jazz music. We drove up to Temecula (I feel like we’ve done this drive too much lately), not really knowing what to expect. Did you know Leonesse has overflow parking? And that there is a cute grassy picnic area by this overflow parking? Now we have somewhere to go other than Wilson Creek for picnic lunches!

Leonesse has finally opened their new restaurant, Block Five. They are open for lunch Thursday through Sunday and open for dinner on Friday. Wine club members get 10% off food (yay!). To showcase the new restaurant, some appetizers were available at the pick-up night.

When you check in, you get a glass (not to keep) with tasting tickets, a food ticket, and a ticket for a full glass of wine. Apparently, you can also combine tastes to get 3 tastes in one glass. I think they were only tasting the wines you get in the wine club shipment – Sauvignon Blanc, Four (a Cab/Zin blend), and a Syrah. We tasted them and I got a glass of the Sauvignon Blanc to enjoy. Then we stood in line for food, which was a plate of 2 calamari, some curry chicken salad and pita bread, and some brie-stuffed figs. I don’t know what time they really started, but we were there just a little after 7 pm and it was already packed! If we wanted to sit, we’d have to join someone at their table.

Of all the tables to sit at, of all the people we could have met that night, we spent the night talking to a couple of engineers who moved to Temecula to start making wine. What are the chances? It was actually a lot of fun and we enjoyed talking with them. I’m looking forward to when they open to the public so we can taste some of their hard work.

The appetizer samples were interesting. I think the brie and figs would be better if they had been served while still warm and the cheese was gooey. The calamari had a nice, light coating and was very tender. Not tender enough to cut with a fork, but soft enough to bite easily. I didn’t like the curry chicken salad – I think it wasn’t flavorful enough. My mom’s recipe is better. But, based on these tastes and a potential 10% discount, I’m looking forward to the next time we can spend an afternoon wine tasting. Now we have a place to go for lunch! We’d also like to go back to Keyways and really get an idea of how their wines are. The last time we were there, we’d had too much wine to really pay attention.

It wasn’t exactly what I was expecting, but I’m glad we went. Depending on the format of the next one, I’d consider going back to pick up our wine shipment.

Wednesday we went to Thee Bungalow for their Tablas Creek wine dinner. We had gone to their Tobin James wine dinner before, and of course our girls night for the anniversary menu. I like Thee Bungalow. I’ve said it, I mean it, and I really don’t get why I never hear of other people saying they like it. Are you eating food that I’m not ordering? Are you getting service from some bad server who is hidden when I go? Do you just shun it based on its Cohn ownership alone? Do you know something you’re not telling me??

Okay, sure, the fact that they’ve added $2 valet parking is kind of lame. And, yes, it’s silly that their overflow valet parking is the softball field parking lot that we park at and walk the whole 50 feet to the front door.

I like wine dinners, but I don’t like paying $80 for 3 courses and a passed appetizer bite. That’s too expensive, people! Thee Bungalow has wine dinners for $60 with a passed appetizer, 3 courses, and dessert. The last time we were there the passed appetizer was a house made cracker/flatbread with a crab or lobster or something in a cheesy sauce. It was so good! And we got, like, 3 each!

This was the passed appetizer bite. It was like half a shrimp on top of edamame and cucumber. I have to say, this was my least favorite bite, although the spoon is really cute. I did taste the orange zest on the shrimp and the edamame were nice and crisp, but the ginger vinaigrette didn’t really come through. And we only got one. Still, the Esprit Blanc that it was served with was very nice and I had 2 glasses. I felt silly taking pictures, especially when I had to turn on the flash, but I still did it, just for you.

We moved on to the bacon, mushroom, and cheese ravioli in a clam infused butter sauce. This was the best dish ever. The pasta had the perfect chew to it, the bacon and cheese stuffing wasn’t too smoky or salty, the mushrooms were meaty, and the butter sauce was so good. So good! Meaty bits of clams with the mushrooms and just a rounded velvety sauce that you could lick from the plate. Which is kind of what we did, but we used bread so as to be civilized!

Oh, the Roussanne that they served with this was like a lighter Chardonnay. It was T’s favorite wine of the night and it cut perfectly through the rich sauce.

Then came the rack of lamb on a bed of braised lamb shank and white bean cassoulet. I love rack of lamb, but the braised shank and white bean was just so comforting and tasty. I preferred it to the rack of lamb. But I did eat it all, plus the extra piece of lamb that T didn’t want. We drank the Esprit Rouge with this and it actually wasn’t too bold for the lamb. A little dry, but a bold red that was pretty jammy. It was right about here, too, that I started getting tipsy. And a little full.

But not too full to scarf down some Kobe skirt steak on arugula before I realized I didn’t take a picture. Believe me, the steak looked much prettier before I started pulling pieces off. It was meltingly tender and you could taste the happy cow fat that had been lovingly massaged into the beef. Now, I don’t know if this was real Kobe or the Americanized Wagyu, but it was probably the best example of Kobe beef that I’ve ever had. Sometimes I’ll taste it and think regular beef is just as good, but this? This was perfect. Medium rare and not chewy at all. The arugula was a little bitter, but I think that’s how arugula is, which isn’t great because we just got a big bunch in our CSA this week. The Cotes de Tablas they served with this was very bold and dry, a little tart, but it actually had a smooth finish. I think. I was getting to the point where I couldn’t taste wine any more, I was so full and so kind-of-drunk.

For dessert, I ate a piece of the cheese before taking a picture. But then I didn’t want to take a picture because the chef was standing right behind us. So, of course, when he comes to our table to make sure we were enjoying everything, T asked if he would mind posing with his dish for a picture! Ah well, Chef Niles is a nice guy and he makes good food and he’s pretty easy on the eyes, too. He is holding a plate that contains some grapes (sweet and crisp), 2 slices of apple (meh), 2 slices of sage infused derby cheese (because I had eaten the 3rd piece already), and 3 small chocolate truffles sitting on minty sugar sauce. Don’t ask about the Mourvedre we were drinking because I don’t even remember. It’s a dry wine, not like a port, not sweet. Okay, the fruit? Good. Standard. The truffles? Better than those buttery ones from Trader Joe’s! Melty and perfectly balanced in sweetness, not too dark chocolate truffley, you know? The mint sauce? Mmm… like minty crack sauce! You could taste the herbalness of the mint leaves, which infused the sugar sauce, and then it just melted away and you were left missing it and wishing you had more. But the cheese! I looked at the green striped cheese and thought it would just be cheese. Why would I want sage in my cheese? Well, I don’t know, but that cheese was the best thing on that plate. Considering I will do nearly anything for chocolate and/or sweet desserts, that’s saying a lot. It’s such a different flavor than dried ground sage. It’s fresh. It taste green, but not grassy. It gave the cheese this entirely new dimension, because derby cheese, I think, isn’t all that impressive usually. So, does anyone know where to buy this sage derby cheese?? Because I was too drunk to even ask.

The portions of food are so large, to me. Add some veggies and a potato and you could eat any of those courses and a large entree. I would have eaten a pot of those ravioli, personally. All this for $60 plus at least 5 glasses of wine (these are not 1 oz tastes they’re pouring!) Why would I pay $80-100 for a wine dinner when I can get all this for so much less?

Also, their anniversary dinner goes through the end of August. Half a crisp roasted duck for $12.95. Their other popular dishes are practically half off. We’re going back next week. Are you?