This is Santa Barbara - wine country - and there are
winemakers dinners every week around here. I have attended my share of them as
a wine and food writer and have seen every kind imaginable: fancy, rustic,
celebrity chef, candlelight in the wine caves, blah, blah, blah. Often these
wonderful dinners have the winemaker or winery owner present to talk about his
or her juice, a fancy dinner, lots of loud guests and a tab which hits close to
$150. Ouch. That’s a lotta bucks, but often these are 5 and 6 course affairs,
with those specific wines paired with the food from said terrific kitchen. And
yes, they are fun.
But what if there were a winemaker dinner series which had a
specific theme (let’s say Oregon Pinot Noir versus California Pinot Noir;
Cool-Climate Syrah versus Warm Climate Syrah, for example). And what if the winemaker
was present talking and pouring his wine, but each guest also brought a
bottle of wine tied in with the theme? (Simple math means that each guest or
couple would amount to an additional 25 to 40 bottles of wine specific to the
theme depending on how many guests show up). And what if the cost for the
dinner wasn’t hovering well over a hundred bucks, but was priced at a stunning $50? Would you go? You bet your sweet
dessert wine you’d go!
Well, guess what: 10 times each year the BYOB Wine & Dine dinner held at
Max’s on Upper State Street does just this. Started by local wine lover Leslie
Thomas, they were designed to showcase the diversity of wines from around Santa
Barbara. On my visit on a Sunday night Tantara
Winery owner Bill Cates (known for his wonderful Pinot Noirs) was on hand
and the theme was Syrah. In addition to the Syrahs Bill brought, there were an
additional 30 bottles of Syrah to sample: a tall order, but one I gladly
accepted. And that’s the beauty of this format. You can contrast and compare
Syrahs form multiple producers (there were lots of Syrahs from Santa Barbara, Paso Robles, Monterey and
Washington State and some I never got to because frankly there were so many).
To start the evening off there are assorted paired cheeses from C’est Cheese, the single best cheese
shop in Santa Barbara. That was followed by three courses that Max’s staff
prepared including an Herbed Gnocchi
with Green Olives, Cippolini Onions, and Roasted Cherry Tomatoes, followed by a
Cassoulet of Braised Lamb with
Cannellini Beans, Chard, and Stewed Tomatoes, and finally the night wrapped up
with a Wine-Poached Pear with Dark
Chocolate-Sesame Seed Bark, which was served with a late harvest wine from
Tantara.
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| The staff at Max's prepares the meal |
Yes, it’s a lot of food, a lot of wine and a lot of fun. Some in
attendance are well versed with wine, others are relative newbie’s, but the
common denominator is a love of wine with out all the stuffy pretentiousness.
There is a small educational component, but this is not a formal class-room
setting, so if you want to talk with the winemaker or owner, if have access to
get more detailed if you want. So if winemaker dinners are new to you, or if
you want a casual environment to sample plenty of wine specific to the theme of
that evening, then definitely consider the BYOB series at Max’s. These are also
great dinners if you are visiting for only a few days, or if you’ve lived here
for decades.
They run from 6 p.m. to about 9 p.m. and I highly recommend it.
Check out their website under events for upcoming dinners. Max's restaurant
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