THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 19, 1995 TAG: 9510170080
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 15 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: ON THE TOWN
SOURCE: SAM MARTINETTE
LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines
Virginia wines have a long tradition, stretching back to the Colonial-era vineyards of Thomas Jefferson, the commonwealth's most famous winemaker to date.
Today, Williamsburg Winery's Steve Warner is making headlines with his recent vintages, and some of his finest will be served Tuesday evening at Uncle Louie's Restaurant at Ward's Corner.
Warner has worked more than 10 harvest seasons in Virginia, including stints at Montdomaine Cellars in Charlottesville and Chateau Morrisette. He has spent the last eight seasons at Williamsburg Winery, where he has been responsible for an annual output of more than 40,000 cases, which equates to 95,120 gallons.
Williamsburg Winery was established in 1984 on a 300-acre farm overlooking the James River and produced its first 2,000 cases of wine in 1988. Today it is the largest winery in Virginia in both production and sales. Williamsburg wines have been showcased in Paris and have been awarded the Wine Spectator's Critics Choice Award.
On Tuesday night, Warner will be on hand to pour a number of his fine wines at a $50 per person dinner prepared by Gloria Gibney of Renaissance, the catering arm of Uncle Louie's. The six-course dinner will start with ham and rye fritters and a confit of autumn vegetables on crostini toast, accompanied by a 1994 Governor's White. A 1992 James River White should complement the Nantucket scallop chowder, followed by a duck and butternut squash risotto with spicy roasted pumpkin seeds and duck cracklings, and a 1991 Vintage Reserve Chardonnay.
The main course of roasted lamb loin, with Gabriel Archer sauce, rosemary lentils and carrots velvet, will be accompanied by a '91 Gabriel Archer Reserve. Seasonal greens with walnut oil and raspberry vinaigrette will be next, followed by a dessert of Chevre cheesecake with a pear gratin, served with a Virginia Colony Spiced Wine.
I had the good fortune to sample a spiced wine at last year's Virginia Wine Festival and can recommend it as a quick warm-up. A cabernet sauvignon spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves, and served ``mulled'' or warmed, it must have made many a Virginian happy back in Colonial times.
The renaissance wine-tasting dinner, which will be limited to 35 guests, will take place from 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday. Call Uncle Louie's (132 E. Little Creek Road, 480-1225) for information.
The wine-tasting dinner is an unofficial follow-up to the eighth annual Town Point Virginia Wine Festival, set for this Saturday, from noon to 5 p.m. The annual event is a lot of fun, a fine mix of outdoor schmoozing and tasting, often held under an azure sky. This year, 27 wineries from across the state will be featured, from Williamsburg to the Shenandoah Valley.
Unlimited tasting tickets are $15, and general admission is $5 (for connoisseurs over 21 years of age), and there will be plenty of food on hand, I'm told. The folks from the Virginia Marine Products Board will be there with their new ``Virginia Waterfront Cuisine Cookbook,'' and there will be wine and seafood seminars.
Award-winning Chef Jimmy Sneed of The Frog and The Redneck Restaurant in Richmond will be making a guest chef appearance, joining JP's Executive Chef Jay Zachary at JP's Waterfront Restaurant (Dominion Tower, 623-2217) on Monday, Oct. 30, to prepare a special meal to benefit the Chef and Child Foundation of the American Culinary Federation.
Sneed made his rep at Windows on Urbanna Creek in Urbanna, and has been featured on PBS with Julia Child and the Discovery Channel's ``Great American Chefs'' series. Esquire Magazine picked the restaurant as ``One of the Best New Restaurants in America,'' and Sneed was nominated for a 1995 James Beard Award for ``Best American Chef'' in the Mid-Atlantic.
The menu will include Sneed's signature Tempura Sugar Toads (the fish, not the frog) served with a St. Michelle Cuvee Brut; cream of pumpkin soup with smoked bacon, accompanied by a Jepson sauvignon blanc; sauteed local shiitakes with garlic and shallots on mixed lettuces, with a '93 Arrowood Sonoma chardonnay; grilled, fresh cobia with ``Redneck'' caviar, mussels and a tomato-basil-garlic broth, and a Dunnewood pinot noir. That will be followed by pan-seared fresh buffalo hangar steak with a red wine and shallot sauce, and a `92 Kendall Jackson. Dessert will be old-fashioned tapioca pudding.
The $85 donation to the Chef and Child Foundation is all-inclusive, meaning wines, taxes and tips. Call JP's Waterfront for information or reservations. by CNB