>>On the Blue Ridge Parkway sits a vineyard that produces high-elevation wines, and the views are incredible.

Today on "Un-Wine'd," we'll visit 12 Ridges Vineyard, and I'll show you how to cook some great foods to go with their wines.

So go grab your glass.

It's time to unwind.

>>Production funding for "Un-Wine'd" was made possible in part by.

>>The Virginia Wine Board, promoting the interests of vineyards and wineries in the commonwealth through research, education and marketing.

(bright atmospheric music) There's a movement growing in Virginia's vineyards.

Discover more at virginiawine.org.

(gentle lounge music) >>And by.

(gentle lounge music) >>Shrimp and Chardonnay, they just go together like peanut butter and jelly for me.

So today, we're gonna make a shrimp dish with orzo and spinach.

It's so easy, it's one pot, and it makes a great weeknight or weekend meal.

We're gonna start with two pounds of shrimp that have been peeled, deveined with tail off, and I'm gonna put those in my nice hot pan with a little bit of the oil from my sun-dried tomatoes.

So I'm using sun-dried tomatoes that are packed in olive oil, and I just wanna take about two tablespoons of that oil, it gives amazing flavor to this dish.

And I'm gonna put that in my pan to get nice and hot and then I'll add my shrimp.

Now, I see my oil just starting to sizzle.

Let's add those shrimp to the pan.

(gentle atmospheric music) (oil crackling) Oh yeah.

(oil cracking) Now, what we're looking for is color all over the shrimp.

You want them just lightly pink, no gray, but you don't wanna cook them all the way through because we're actually going to finish them in the sauce.

(oil crackling) Now, while the shrimp cook, I want to add a little bit of a flavor profile to them.

So a little pinch of oregano, (oil crackling) a pinch of black pepper, (oil crackling) about 1/4 teaspoon of salt.

And I like to use sea salt for this because I'm using a sea food.

(oil crackling) About 1/2 teaspoon of dried basil.

(oil crackling) And how about some smoked paprika for this?

Two teaspoon.

(oil crackling) (utensil clacking) (oil crackling) Now, I'm starting to get some nice color on shrimp, at least on one side.

If you've got gray standing up, make sure you flip that over.

(oil crackling) Now, let's add about two tablespoons of garlic, finely minced.

(oil crackling) Okay, they're not quite done.

That's right where I want them.

So let's take those out, put them back in our bowl.

(oil crackling) I love this shrimp dish because it's so easy and it goes so well with Chardonnay.

(oil crackling) It also makes great leftovers.

(oil crackling) Now, it's okay if a little bit of that garlic stays in the pan.

We're going to throw in a few more ingredients, so it shouldn't burn.

Now, let's add 1/2 cup of oil-soaked, sun-dried tomatoes.

(oil cracking) Now, to that, I want to add one cup of orzo, and I want to add that to the pan without any liquids so that we can get a nice toast on it.

(oil crackling) Stir that around for, oh, about 30 seconds to a minute.

(oil crackling) Now, in my cup, I have two cups of chicken stock, and I just wanna add that to the orzo and sun-dried tomato.

And then we're going to let that sit for about five minutes over a medium high heat so the orzo has a chance to cook.

(liquid shrieking) Make sure, right after you stir in that stock, that you also pull the fond up from the bottom of the pan.

That's where all your flavor exists.

My orzo is just starting to get soft.

Now, if you find that the orzo soaks up all of the liquid, just pour in a little more water and it won't hurt a thing.

Now, let's add back in our shrimp and 1/2 pound of fresh spinach.

(food crackling) Now, if you're in a pinch, you can always use spinach that's frozen.

If you do, just use about five ounces of frozen spinach, and you'll have just enough for your recipe.

Let's just stir that spinach through, and as you do, it begins to wilt.

Now, the last thing we're going to add is one cup of heavy whipping cream.

(food crackling) Now, as soon as the cream comes to a simmer, it's all ready.

This takes only 20 minutes to fix and it's such an incredible meal.

And here we have the shrimp with orzo and spinach.

It works perfectly with Chardonnay because the Chardonnay actually cuts through the cream and the cream balances out the acid of the Chardonnay.

So I hope you'll enjoy this terrific meal.

(gentle jazz music) (gentle lounge music) So Craig, 12 Ridges, what an incredible view you have up here.

This is just gorgeous.

So tell me a little bit about the winery that sits right here on this beautiful Blue Ridge Parkway.

>>We initially sort of looked at this farm more than a dozen years ago and never really thought about the possibility of a vineyard here.

But then we started to read a little bit about cool climate wines and the possibilities that existed.

And we sort of transitioned from Christmas trees into a vineyard in 2018, and we put in a dozen acres then, we've since almost doubled the number of vines.

So we're pretty excited about what's happening here.

>>So you released you blend last fall and you released a Riesling, and now, you're up to four of your varietals, right?

>>Right.

Yeah.

>>Yeah.

So Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay and Riesling.

>>That's correct.

Yeah.

>>Wow.

That is a great blend.

And selection in a high altitude like this, those grapes, I guess, have to be ones that you can harvest a little bit earlier or later.

>>Well, it depends.

It's a challenge to get to the sugar levels that we want to get to.

I think the first harvest from the 2021 vintage was in early October, actually, so.

>>Wow.

>>October 3rd and 4th.

>>Sure.

>>So that's a little bit later, but, of course, everything's later here.

>>Yes.

>>And whether it's, you know, bloom or whatever, it's always taking place several weeks after what's happening down in the valley.

>>Yeah, well, and you've got that great diurnal shift, I guess.

So you've got nice warm days, cool nights, which is perfect for things like Pinot Noir, and you're only one of very few in the state that can grow Pinot Noir.

So tell us a little bit about Pinot Noir.

>>It's a challenge for sure.

We planted about 3 1/2 acres of Pinot Noir.

We had some early attrition as well, and we've had to do a number of infill vines since then.

>>Yeah, yeah.

>>So it's a huge challenge at this altitude.

>>Sure.

>>To survive, first of all, there are certainly what I call existential challenges to it.

That being said, the vines that have survived are actually thriving.

They're actually producing quite nicely and a yield that sort of surprised us a little bit last year.

>>Right.

>>And, of course, we had the first release this year of our Pinot Noir.

I think it's still a little young, it needs a little bit more aging, but sometimes, that can be solved just by leaving the bottle open for a little bit longer.

>>Sure.

>>And it's quite delicious.

(gentle lounge music) >>Pinot Noir and turkey are a match made in heaven.

They are so good together.

What we're gonna do is make a cutlet dish.

Now, this actually came to me as a dish from a friend a few years ago, and it was made with a full turkey breast, and it was also made with some roasted chestnuts.

But you can't always find chestnuts, and I like this dish year round.

So what I'm gonna do is take some turkey cutlets and adapt it a little bit.

So Jane, if you're out there, thank you again for that recipe, but I'm just doing it a little differently.

So what I wanna do is pound out these cutlets just a little bit.

Now, it's not necessary to pound them out.

If you don't have a meat mallet, you can use it just the way that it is.

But if you've got a meat mallet, let's just pound them out so they're nice and even.

(mallet banging) What that will do is give you a nice, even consistency of your meat.

It also helps tenderize the meat just in case the turkey is tough, which it usually is not.

You can also do this with chicken breast.

So now, I want to make some filling for this, and I have a little pan over here, I'm gonna spray it with a little bit of oil.

So just about a tablespoon of olive oil in my pan.

And to that, I want to add some slivered almonds.

Now, you can use toasted almonds in this.

You can use hazelnuts if you'd like.

The original recipe, as I mentioned, calls for chestnuts.

But I like the crunch in this recipe, it makes it very different.

And the slivered almonds for me work great.

(almonds clacking) So about 1/4 cup of slivered almonds.

And we're just gonna give those a little toast in the pan.

Now, remember that any kind of nut that you use is going to have a lot of oil.

Oil will make the ingredient burn quickly, so you want to really keep your eye on this.

Now, Pinot Noir is a grape that's usually grown in higher elevations or in cooler elevations where the overnight temperature becomes nice and cool, and it allows the grape to actually cool down so that the juice doesn't pop through.

It's a very thin-skinned grape and it's very, very fickle.

You can see that as those almonds start to get little bubbles all around them from the oil, they'll start to toast against the pan, so it's time to really give them a good stir.

And you can see that happening right in here on some of those pieces.

(utensil clacking) And they go quickly.

Once they start, they really, really go.

(utensil clacking) All right, that's pretty good.

Now, I wanna move these just to a bowl that I'm gonna use to mix up all of my filling.

(almonds clattering) Now, let's add another tablespoon of oil to the pan, maybe a little less.

And now, I'm going to add three ounces of shredded prosciutto.

(prosciutto crackling) I've cut this up really finely.

(prosciutto crackling) Now, with the prosciutto, you just wanna make sure that you kind of give it a little bit of color, a little brown.

Prosciutto has a tendency to turn a little bit gray when it hits the heat and we want it nice and toasty.

(prosciutto crackling) There we go.

Now, it's starting to crisp up, (prosciutto crackling) and we wanna put that in our bowl for our filling.

(prosciutto crackling) Now, you're getting the idea, everything individually and then all together.

So just a slight little bit more oil.

And now, I want to add a cup of breadcrumbs.

And this is just a Italian bread that I have grated, and I just wanna toast it up a little bit.

There we go.

We start to get the color on that pretty quickly.

And now, before I remove that, I'm going to add two cloves (food shrieking) of finely-minced garlic.

(food shrieking) There we go.

Now, we have a nice toast on that.

Let's go ahead and add that to our bowl.

So to this, I want to add two tablespoons of minced parsley and about a tablespoon of minced rosemary and this is fresh.

Now, let's stir that through.

And then I want to add 1/2 cup of freshly-grated Parmesan cheese.

Now, all these flavors are just so wonderful together.

It's an Italian-style turkey.

And when Jane gave me this recipe, it was a tacchino recipe, a turkey recipe that was made in a roulade style and she made it with the whole turkey breast all pounded out.

Because there are just two of us, and I like to have that Thanksgiving flavor all through the year.

For me, using these cutlets really works.

Now, what I wanna do is put a little bit of this filling right in the center and toward me for my turkey.

So, oh, about 2 1/2, three tablespoons.

And then I'm going to take the turkey and just roll it up just like so.

And you want to end this so that your seam is down.

Always have the seam down when you're roasting something like this.

Now, let's take our little turkey rolls here and put them in a pan and just use a nine by 13, or you could even use smaller in this.

And just tuck them side by side nice and tightly together.

Now, let's take just a drizzle of olive oil on the top just a bit.

You can brush the olive oil on, or you can just give it a little drizzle, either one is fine.

And a sprinkle, just a light sprinkle, of salt and pepper.

Now, I want to take a cup and 1/2 of white wine and just pour in the bottom of my pan.

Now, of course, I'm going to have more turkey in this pan.

I'll actually fill it with all of the turkey that I'm making up.

Cover it with aluminum foil.

And then let's pop it in the oven at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.

Uncover it based well, and then let it roast for about another 12 minutes and you're ready to roll.

I took all the drippings from my pan and I warmed it up and added just a little bit of parsley to give it some color.

And then took a cornstarch slurry and just mixed it until it was nice and thick like gravy.

And there you go.

This is the turkey roulade served with Pinot Noir.

Thanksgiving can be every day at anyone's house, and I hope you'll enjoy this recipe with a little bit of Pinot Noir.

(gentle jazz music) (gentle lounge music) So we have a beautiful Riesling here.

This is just a gorgeous color.

Tell me a little bit about your Riesling.

>>I think that the beauty of it is that it's a dry Riesling.

>>Yes.

>>Which I happen to really like, but this is not sweet at all.

This is very European and- >>I love it.

>>Obviously, a little bit lower in alcohol, about 11, 11.7%.

Very high acid as well.

It's probably a wine that you could put down for a couple of years as well and come back to it and say, "Oh, this is really exceptional."

>>Yes.

Well, I can imagine a lot of food pairings with this as well.

>>Oh yeah.

>>Because of the acidity, it's really going to pair well with food.

Now, I love a Riesling, and one thing that I really enjoy about a dry Riesling is just the variety of foods that it goes with.

So I'm anxious to try this.

I enjoy the apple in that and that intense acidity.

Very crisp.

Really nice.

>>Yes.

Yeah.

>>Mm, mm.

(gentle atmospheric music) So, you also grow a lovely Pinot Noir I'm seeing.

It's gorgeous color, just gorgeous color.

>>Cheers, nice bright.

>>Oh.

>>Nice bright color.

>>Very.

Very.

(gentle atmospheric music) And I get that little bit of cranberry, maybe a little strawberry on the nose.

Oh, I can't wait to taste it.

>>Hmm.

(gentle atmospheric music) >>Hmm.

(gentle atmospheric music) That really drinks well.

It's so smooth.

>>So smooth.

Yes.

>>Yes.

So when you're growing your Pinot Noir up here, I know that that's a very difficult grape to grow.

What kind of conditions are really best for it up here in this area?

>>So, you know, ideally for us, we would love to see temperatures at night in the 60s and, you know, rising up to 80 degrees in the daytime.

But those are rare days in September really.

So it's a challenge.

It's a real challenge to get there.

>>Well, it's very well developed.

>>Yeah.

>>I think it has a nice body, it has a nice bouquet.

And I think you've done quite well.

(laughs) >>Well, thanks.

And, by the way, I think you can put this down for years.

>>Yes.

>>And come back in a decade and it would be even better.

We'll be releasing our new 2022 Riesling in about a month or so.

>>Okay.

>>And then next year, again, we'll start rolling with the Chardonnay and the Pinot Noir and the Pinot Gris again.

>>Wow.

>>And we have also a barrel of 2021 sparkling that two more years though.

>>Great.

>>On that traditional method and- >>Chardonnay?

>>Chardonnay, and yes, it's a blend, actually.

>>Oh, wonderful.

I can't wait to try that.

>>Yeah.

>>You know I'll be back.

>>Good.

(chuckles) (Tassie laughing) >>Well, Craig, thank you so much for sharing part of this beautiful day with me.

>>Well, thanks for coming.

>>And here's to you.

>>Yeah, here's to you.

(glasses clinking) (gentle lounge music) >>Pinot Gris is a lovely high-acid wine.

And usually, you find a clear or white Pinot Gris.

This one actually uses the entire grape.

So Pinot Gris grapes are really a very light red.

So I thought it would be really neat for you to see what a Pinot Gris can look like when the red is actually used.

For this recipe, we're gonna do a simple salmon patty, but we're using fresh salmon instead of canned salmon, and I love it.

We're gonna start off with two teaspoons (gentle atmospheric music) of parsley, (gentle atmospheric music) a teaspoon of dried dill weed.

Now, if you want to use fresh, use a tablespoon, and about 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder.

(gentle atmospheric music) (teaspoon clacking) (gentle atmospheric music) Let's mix all that together.

And then I want to put in about 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper.

And since I have them mixed one for one, I'm just gonna put in about a teaspoon.

(gentle atmospheric music) Mix all that together.

And then we're going to sprinkle it over two pounds of salmon.

Now, I have salmon that was cut in portion sizes, but I really like to also use it in a full filet if I can find it that way.

But for right now, this is gonna work.

I'm gonna pop this into a 400 degree oven for five minutes.

Once your salmon is out of the oven, just flake it really well in a bowl because you're gonna mix it all through.

And you want all that flavor from the dill that comes out in the salmon and the garlic.

So let's just flake it.

And then we're gonna add a few wonderful ingredients that makes it taste great.

So let's start off with a cup of panko crumbs.

And I like to use seasoned panko crumbs.

I think they're just a little bit better for adding flavor to this dish.

And then I wanna take about two to three tablespoons of capers.

And I love capers, so I go more toward three tablespoons.

(bowl clacking) Three tablespoons of mayo, (bowl clacking) the zest of one lemon, (fork clacking) (bowl clacking) a tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce.

See, this is gonna have a lot of flavor.

(bowl clacking) And a tablespoon of Dijon.

(fork clacking) (bowl clacking) Now, let's add a little bit of egg to just make sure it binds together.

I'll do two large eggs, one at a time.

That way, we make sure that our ingredients are good to go.

One and two.

Then let's mix all of this up really well and make some patties out of it.

Now, before I get this all mixed up, I want to add one more flavor component, and that's my vegetable aromatics.

So let's add six scallions that have been thinly sliced, and about 1/4 to 1/2 of a red bell pepper.

Again, this is personal preference.

I used about 1/3, so right in between.

And you can see the beautiful color this gives.

Now, I'm gonna take a little pan, and I love to use my burger press for this because it's so easy.

And then I'll take some of my salmon and I'll just make a little patty.

And this will make about four to six patties, depending on how big you want to make them.

If you don't have a press, no worries.

Just use your hands.

I'm gonna press through.

And there we go with one patty.

So I'm gonna make a pan of patties, and I like to chill these for about an hour before I stick them in the oven to roast.

It just holds together better.

So I let these roast in the oven for nine minutes at 400 degrees.

Right before they went in, I put about a teaspoon of butter on the top, and sometimes, I even squeeze a lemon juice on.

But this time, just the butter.

Now, let's just put one on our plate with a little bit of rice and peas, that's my favorite combination with this.

And then I want to take one little wedge of lemon and give it a good squirt.

And then I'm gonna take a little avocado, this is just a nice fresh avocado, and I wanna take two or three slices and just put it right across the top of the patty.

This really sets this particular salmon patty off.

I love the avocado with it, it's just amazing and it goes so well with this wine.

Sure hope you'll enjoy it.

(gentle jazz music) Many thanks to my friends at 12 Ridges for having us visit them for a lovely morning.

And I hope you'll enjoy all of these foods that I've paired with their wines.

You can find all these recipes and a whole lot more on vpm.org/un-wined.

And until next time, I'm Tassie Pippert saying, "Go grab that glass."

It's always time to unwind.

>>Production funding for "Un-Wine'd" was made possible in part by.

>>The Virginia Wine Board, promoting the interests of vineyards and wineries in the commonwealth through research, education and marketing.

There's a movement growing in Virginia's vineyards.

Discover more at virginiawine.org.

(gentle lounge music) >>And by.

(gentle lounge music) (bright atmospheric music)