Earlier this summer, I was a guest at an unusual lunch in Evanston. The event was a food-and-wine pairing created by a mother-and-daughter duo. What made it unusual was the division of labor. The mother, Babette (”Babs”)
Joseph, had prepared the food. Her daughter, Kathy, had made the wine.
At age 36, vivacious, enthusiastic Kathy Joseph (the adjectives fit her mother as well) is a full-fledged professional, a member of California`s winemaking elite. In fact, the purpose of the meal was to introduce two new releases from her wine company, Fiddlehead Cellars.
Kathy got from here to there and back again in an unconventional way. After graduating from Nichols Middle School and Evanston Township High School, she went to the University of Wisconsin to study science. Her major was microbiology, and her long-range goal was a career in medicine. Instead, during a year as a research assistant in a biochemistry laboratory, a combination of ”boredom and my father`s encouragement” led her to enroll as an enology student at the University of California at Davis, the country`s foremost training ground for winemakers.
To her great surprise, she found a ”substantial overlap” between microbiology and enology, fell in love with viticulture and, like a basketball gym rat who virtually lives on the gym floor, found it difficult to stay away from a winery for any length of time.
An innate sense of quality drew her to two of the best wineries, Joseph Phelps and Long Vineyards, in the early `80s. Then, in 1984, she was hired by the innovative Robert Picota as chemist at his small Napa Valley winery. She stayed there for five years, becoming its winemaker along the way and developing a desire to run her own show.
Despite the unhappy economy, she found backing three years ago, leased space in a Napa Valley winery and became winemaker and managing proprietor of Fiddlehead Cellars.
The company is very small and still in its infancy. The 1991 Fiddlehead sauvignon blanc is a first release. The 1990 Fiddlehead pinot noir is a second.
Kathy Joseph made only 250 cases of the sauvignon and 450 cases of pinot noir. But she turned this lack of volume into an asset, selecting only prime grapes from highly respected vineyards, then carefully massaging the grapes into wine and shepherding its development like a doting parent.
Her aim, she says, is ”to create wines that are rich and textured without being excessive (and that) carry the same grace and elegance as the fiddlehead of a fern.”
Lacking a winery and vineyards of her own, Joseph spends a great deal of her seemingly bottomless store of energy seeking out quality fruit at the drop of a grape.
She is based at Davis, near Sacramento, in the northern part of California, but her growers are located in Santa Barbara County, the heart of the rapidly emerging Central Coast region. (Her sauvignon blanc grapes were grown in the Santa Ynez Valley at Valley View vineyard near Solvang. Her pinot noir grapes came from the Sierra Madre vineyard in the Santa Maria Valley.)
The wines were made and aged in Napa.
Not too chauvinistic to cross state lines, she prospected in Oregon`s Yamhill Valley last year as well and found grapes to make a second 1991 pinot noir. It is waiting in the wings, due for release in 1993. The Oregon wine, she says, will be ”leaner” than her California pinot.
The sauvignon was vinified with the fruit left in whole clusters instead of being crushed immediately. This resulted in a soft, rich fruity flavor that lingers on the palate. Yet her sauvignon has enough acidity to balance the fruit and let the wine stand up to spicy food.
The proof was in the tasting. Babs Joseph chose to present a giant bowl of guacamole but gave the avocado dip an Asian flavor by seasoning it with rice-wine vinegar, pickled ginger, the Japanese horseradish paste wasabi and toasted black sesame seeds. She also offered home-cured salmon (gravlax) that had been marinated in dill and fresh thyme. Again, a good fit.
The pinot noir, Kathy predicted, would smell of cherries, plums and spice and be ”fleshy, with lingering flavors.” It did and was, proving supple enough to cope with a Thai beef salad garnished with mangoes, pecans and a peanut sauce. The other main-course dish, a pudding-souffle made with goat`s-milk cheese in a giant earthenware dish, was a visual stunner and an ideal vehicle to show off the berry-fruit richness of the wine.
The dessert combination was even more symbiotic. Babs Joseph simply poached pears in her daughter`s pinot noir and served them with melt-in-the-mouth shortbread.
Good wine, good food, good luck. Kathy Joseph`s Fiddlehead wines are available at leading wine shops in Chicago and the northern suburbs and at several restaurants that feature American wines. The sauvignon blanc sells for about $16 and the pinot noir for about $25.
BABS JOSEPH`S ASIAN GUACAMOLE
Appetizer servings for eight
2 tablespoons black sesame seeds
4 tablespoons seasoned rice-wine vinegar+
2 large ripe avocados
2 tablespoons chopped or shredded pickled ginger+
2 teaspoons prepared wasabi+
+Available in Asian markets or in ethnic sections of supermarkets.
1. Place sesame seeds in a small, ungreased frying pan over medium-high heat. Shake pan every minute until seeds start to pop (3 to 4 minutes). Pour from pan into a shallow bowl and allow to cool. Set aside.
2. Place 2 tablespoons seasoned rice-wine vinegar in a bowl, preferably ceramic. Peel, pit and dice the avocados. Transfer to the bowl with the vinegar. Add pickled ginger and wasabi and remaining vinegar. Mix gently, then refrigerate until 15 minutes before serving.
3. Garnish with reserved toasted sesame seeds and serve with golden crisps (recipe follows).
GOLDEN CRISPS
1 package won ton skins+
Non-stick vegetable spray
+Available in Asian markets or in ethnic sections of supermarkets.
1. Heat oven to 450 degrees. Grease a cookie sheet with non-stick vegetable spray. Dip each skin in cold water and place on the cookie sheet. Prepare only a single layer of skins.
2. Bake skins until golden brown, 5 to 8 minutes. They burn easily, so check frequently. Transfer from the cookie sheet to a rack immediately. Repeat with remaining skins.
3. When cool, store in an air-tight container or freeze.
BABS JOSEPH`S GOAT`S-MILK-CHEESE SOUFFLE
Eight servings
Non-stick vegetable spray
6 croissants, day-old preferred
12 ounces soft, white goat`s-milk cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
6 extra-large eggs
2 tablespoons Dijon-style mustard+
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
4 cups whole milk
Freshly ground pepper
+Note: For a sharper taste, substitute English mustard.
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease the bottom of a 9- or 10-inch souffle mold or baking dish with the non-stick spray.
2. Break each croissant into 6 pieces and place in the mold. Break goat cheese into pieces and scatter over the croissant layer. Sprinkle on the Parmesan.
3. Beat eggs until frothy. Add mustard, nutmeg and milk and mix until blended. Pour over the cheese and croissants, then top with a generous grinding of pepper.
4. Bake in the middle of the oven for 50 to 60 minutes, or until golden brown, puffed and the custard is set. The souffle may be served warm or at room temperature. It falls as it cools, but still tastes delicious.
