Palate Pleasers

“I actually search out wines that no one else has,” she says, explaining that some wineries make just 60 cases of a particular wine, and Baci is the only restaurant to acquire it. “I have a lot of smaller vineyards that I work with, whose grapes make excellent wine. To me they’re such a great value.”

Holmefjord, who’s been learning about wine since she was 20, came to the United States with a travel company. But fate led her to the wine business when she met Sarabi in Hawaii, where he owned a restaurant, “I decided to leave my job in 1989 and worked with my husband in his restaurant and opened two more,” she says. “We had a lot of California wines on our list,” she adds. She came here several times a year to do research and learn more about the wines.

Hurricane Iniki struck Hawaii in 1995, damaging the local economy. So, in 1996, Holmefjord and Sarabi moved to Sonoma County, where she joined Jordan Vineyard and Winery as director of public relations (a post she held for 10 years). She also worked for Lambert Bridge winery, where she continued meeting people and honing her knowledge of California wine. In 2006, she launched Premier Cru Creative to serve as a consultant for small wineries and the hospitality industry and, on April 1, 2010, she and Sarabi opened Baci Café and Wine Bar in downtown Healdsburg,

“My objective is to feature smaller wineries that make great wine—at a reasonable price,” she says, and she makes sure she’s familiar with the best. “I taste a lot of wines all the time, almost weekly, and I try to make a list that features the area we live in,” she says. She has a lot of contacts and carries some wines because of the relationships she’s had with the vintners over the years.

Baci offers approximately 300 wines, and in addition to California labels, it carries a substantial number from other countries. “I have quite a few Italian wines because it’s an Italian restaurant,” Holmefjord says. “I love Italian wines. I lived there for four years.” She adds, however, “Rome wasn’t built in one week, and neither was my wine list. It’s a project that’s ongoing.”

Baci offers 40 wines by the glass for easy tasting, many of which are smaller production wines. “I try to have a big variety,” says Holmefjord. She’s tasted every wine the restaurant offers, and it seems that some guests are following her example. Baci has several regular customers who are making their way through the wine list, trying something new every time they visit.

In another element of the wine program, private parties are a special experience for groups of 12 to 14 guests because they can enjoy a meal and taste wine around a table in the distinctive atmosphere of the restaurant’s bottle-lined wine cellar. It’s ideal for wine tastings, comparative tastings and executive meetings, and “People have a lot of fun in here,” says Holmefjord. Baci also offers winemaker dinners. “I did five last year and am in the middle of planning for this year,” she says.

The menu is extensive, and Sarabi makes seasonal changes featuring locally grown produce. Holmefjord has the continual challenge of finding new wines to go with different dishes. “You have to taste because vintages can be so different,” she says, although she finds that most wineries tend to be consistent from one year to the next. She also invites producers to visit the restaurant to talk about their wines and discuss which dishes would go well with them. “It’s a lot of fun being here and trying new wines,” she says.

Among new trends, Holmefjord sees young people learning about and developing an appreciation for good wine. “It’s great to see,” she says. “They’re trying to find what kind of wine they like that goes with food.” They’re not trying to get drunk. They enjoy the food and wine and having an experience.”

Also new is a movement toward dessert wines. “Something I’ve seen in the last six months, people are trying late-harvest wines, dessert wines and ports. Just by the glass, I have nine dessert wines,” Holmefjord reports.

Formerly known as the Lark Creek Inn, the restaurant opened as Tavern at Lark Creek in June 2009, and John Hulihan, vice president of beverage and service, Lark Creek Restaurant Group, saw the transition to a more casual environment as an opportunity to try something new. “I thought it was a good fit and it would be another enhancement to the overall wine experience,” he says of the switch. “I was intrigued by the idea.”

Launching the new concept, however, had its challenges, because although keg wine is common in Europe, it was unusual here, and filling orders and logistics were issues. In 2009, Hulihan spent six months soliciting wineries, and even though vintners were receptive to the idea, initially it was “hit and miss,” because availability depended on which wines hadn’t already been bottled. And even when he was able to persuade wineries to fill kegs, many times he had to find a way to transport them from the winery to the restaurant; he solved that problem by using his own truck. “I feel fortunate that we’re close to so many wine growing regions and wineries that let me drive straight to the source and bring wine back to the restaurant,” he says, noting that, since the initial launch of the program, the number of wineries involved in the tap segment has expanded exponentially and, consequently, the number of available wines has increased and the challenges of securing the wines has virtually disappeared.

Winning over guests also was a challenge, because “Tap wine isn’t about cheap wine,” Hulihan emphasizes; nor is it about selling wine inexpensively, although the restaurant sees a little bit of savings that it passes on to guests. “We knew going in that, to help dispel any preconceptions about the quality of tap wine, one goal would have to be to over-deliver in terms of price and quality.

“The beauty of the keg wine is that we use it for wine by the glass,” he says. “If you have a good, sound system for dispensing tap wine, it’s arguably the best way to sell wine by the glass. The wine is perpetually protected with a blanket if inert gas in a completely closed system.” He adds, however, that keeping wine fresh for a lengthy period hasn’t been a concern at the restaurant. “We’ve never encountered that situation, because the wines sell quickly,” he explains. Tavern at Lark Creek has eight wines on tap—four white and four red—and each keg holds about 100 glasses of wine, or approximately two cases. Hulihan estimates that the longest it takes to sell through any one wine is no more than 35 days and, in most cases, it’s much quicker.

Also among the advantages, he believes keg wine offers a great way to preview a new vintage—and sometimes a vintner will put an altogether new wine in a keg, providing something unique that’s only available at Tavern at Lark Creek.

“We’re fortunate to have the kind of guest who’s curious and willing to try [keg wines],” says Hulihan, explaining that the restaurant’s sophisticated clientele allows a wine program that’s interesting rather than mainstream.

The list at Tavern at Lark Creek includes about 110 wines, 10 of them are bottled wines available by the glass in addition to the eight in kegs. Hulihan describes the program as predominantly domestic, although a percentage of international wines are also featured. He looks for good, sound, balanced wines that comprise a program offering ample choices and variation that, hopefully, offers most guests the opportunity to find a wine that will please them.

Hulihan got his education in wine through hands-on experience working in restaurants while he was in college and says he was always interested in wine. He explains that wine was always a big part of the restaurant operations he worked in, and he continued to learn through experience over time. “I gained quite a bit of education and knowledge through participation in wine-related events, continuous reading and, especially, through interaction with winemakers,” he says.

Although he operates in an area where a large number of his guests are savvy about wine, Hulihan recognizes that most people don’t posses a high comfort level when it comes to wine, especially young people who are just learning, and so he tries to dispel the inherent intimidation they sometimes feel. He says the wine program is geared to guests, and he and his staff try to interact with them in a very accessible way, with much of the focus on talking to guests, asking questions and making them feel comfortable. “It’s very subtle,” he says. “What we try to do is get people to expand their comfort zone.”

Ingellis, who’s worked for Pawlcyn for 10 years, was wine buyer at Mustards Grill first, general manager at Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen next. In 2007, she moved to Go Fish, the restaurant that previously occupied the space that’s now Brassica. “I’ve worked for Cindy for a good part of my career,” she says, adding that she’s “had a focus on the wine programs both at Mustards and now at Brassica," which opened in September 2011. “Here, I’ve been building the program since I walked through the door,” she says.

She started with an already extensive wine list, and “I tried to expand on that, add cool, oddball varietals and other features outside the ‘wine list’ box,” she says. Wine by the glass grew to 75 choices (the most in Napa Valley), and to make it easy for guests to try something new, the restaurant began offering 2-ounce pours as well as 500 mL carafes. “Offering the 2-ounce pours is a great way for people to experiment a little more,” Ingellis observes. “People can get the small taste and not have to invest in a full glass or bottle. It’s perfect for pairing with each course.”

On Saturday nights, Brassica goes even smaller with a “Vintner Splash” series in which winemakers offer 1-ounce pours and mingle throughout the dining room. In addition, the restaurant is partnering with the Brassica 12 wineries on a lunch series in which vintners conduct tastings for about 12 people at a time and connect with them one-on-one over a paired lunch (tickets will be sold).

Also new is a tap system with coolers under the bar, which Burgstahler Machine Works in St. Helena built especially for Brassica. “I believe it’s the largest one they’ve done,” says Ingellis, who thinks it’s also the first of its size in Napa Valley, with 10 wines on tap. Some offerings, such as those from Staglin and Cliff Lede, are unique blends that one cannot find in a bottling.

“It’s a new system and we’re all getting used to it,” she says. At first, some people in the wine industry were concerned about maintaining quality in the kegs, but tastings won them over. “Once they taste the wine, they can tell we don’t sacrifice quality to keep it on tap,” says Ingellis, adding that wine stays fresher in a keg because oxygen can’t get into it.

For Brassica’s wine list, “I try to balance the tried and true with off-the-beaten-path small producers,” she says. She aims for a broad scope rather than just one appellation and includes sustainable wines as well. “I try to highlight that,” she says, adding that in the future, the menu will indicate which wines are organic and which wineries use sustainable farming practices.

Although local wines are a focus, the extensive list includes international labels as well. Brassica serves Mediterranean food, so Ingellis includes wine from Italy, Spain, France, Greece and even Lebanon.

Price is also a consideration. “Everyone has a different budget,” says Ingellis, who wants everyone to be able to enjoy a great bottle of wine.

Ingellis finds that the wine business is never dull. “There’s always someone who’s been an assistant winemaker and is now venturing out on their own. New labels are coming out all the time,” she says. “It’s fun to meet the people behind the label.”

Given its Wine Country location, many of Brassica’s guests are in the industry, and Ingellis finds it satisfying to introduce them to varietals that they might not know. “I find it to be a cool challenge,” she says. “It’s fun to see their faces light up.”