 |
BarVino 1457 Licoln Ave. Calistoga (707) 942-9900
Wine Country Cuisine |
Located on the ground floor of the Mount View Hotel, BarVino is an urban/hip space complete with shake-your-booty background music, red leather booths, a horseshoe-shaped bar and silver and dark wood furniture pieces. It offers a unique taste of the Wine Country, in that its wines are all from small-production wineries (each comes with an informative tasting card), and the small plates that accompany them, created by Chef Ross Kilkenny, are at an equally amazing artistic level.
After carefully studying the menu and wine list, my friend Halley and I opted for “flights.” Halley went for the “Sauvignon Blanc Styles,” which included Clark-Claudon, Solovino and Carl Roy wine, all from Napa Valley’s 2005 vintage. They were paired with oysters “Roscofellar” (served hot with guanciale and mornay sauce—delicious), and thermidor-style “crock of crab.” A generous serving of crab baked in a buttery, creamy sauce, served with toasted sourdough slices. I tried it along with the first wine in my “Big Wines” flight, which was the 2002 Ochoa Napa Valley Chardonnay—a buttery, silky dream of a thing. It also paired well with the “goldin” fries with black truffle, parmesan and aioli.
Next we tried the roasted dates with blue cheese, wrapped in bacon. Love at first bite, it was the hottest date I’ve ever had. The crispy, bacon exterior was perfectly cooked (not too crisp), and the inside was brown sugary sweet. I honestly couldn’t detect the blue cheese (neither could Halley), but we didn’t care one single bit.
By now I’d moved on to the red wines on my list, which included Shypoke Charbono (anise on the nose and like biting into a plum), Wings Cabernet Sauvignon (a Bordeaux-style blend), Calix Syrah (berry, cherry, thick and a long finish), and James Creek Zinfandel (one feisty number for sure).
The New York steak with braised escarole and roasted garlic was so tender I cut it with my fork. It was served with crisp fingerling potatoes and an au jus-style sauce. We also tried the crispy fried calamari with artichokes and preserved lemon juice. Crunchy and flavorful, it wasn’t golden fried and heavy, but rather light—and the artichokes were such an excellent combination with this interesting twist on what can often otherwise be a tired dish.
For dessert we had the artisan cheese plate, which had four cheeses, sliced apples, candied pecans, honey, dried cherries and walnut bread. We also had the cardamom cake with bosc pears and honey whipped cream. Accompanied by the Topaz Late Harvest (honey, citrus) and the Tom Eddy “Z” Late Harvest Zinfandel Port (silky, sexy) dessert wines, it was a truly well-rounded experience.
