>>I'm here in beautiful Loudoun County, Virginia, on a historic dairy farm, where the wines are amazing and the truffles are delicious.

So go grab your glass.

It's time to Un-Wine'd!

>>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.

>>And by... (relaxing jazz music) (relaxing jazz music) >>There's nothing quite like a wonderful, relaxing day of wine-tasting in Loudoun County, Virginia.

I had the chance today to sit down with Nancy Deliso, to talk a little bit about her wonderful wines, her beautiful winery, and the chocolates that she pairs with those wines.

That led me to one of the recipes that I'm going to make today: a white chocolate peppermint cheesecake with a lovely crust.

And, back in the kitchen, I'll make a delicious wild mushroom risotto.

And, as a tribute to all the art that Nancy said they love to do here at the vineyard, I am going to pair up with a beautiful, artistic charcuterie platter.

So go grab your glass.

Let's head to the kitchen.

It's time to Un-Wine'd.

(relaxing jazz music) I love to make artistic charcuterie boards.

And when you're looking at a charcuterie board, you want to have several elements on it.

So meat and cheese, of course, but then how about some dried fruits, some crackers, some nuts?

A little sweet, a little salty makes it perfect.

So what you wanna do when you're doing a charcuterie board is to start with all of your fixed items.

So the meat will be a fixed item, the cheeses will be a fixed item.

Anything that you have in a bowl that needs to be served that way, it's a fixed item.

So I'm gonna start here with my cheeses and my olives.

And I have three really great cheeses, and I just want to make them kind of that centerpiece for my board, just a nice little display.

Then, I'm gonna take a bowl of olives.

I love to use a little bit of green and a little bit of Kalamata, and just kind of put those on the board.

The next thing I wanna do is take some meats, and I'm gonna use some prosciutto.

And I just like to ruffle that a little bit.

I think it's prettiest that way.

(jazzy piano music) And I'm gonna make a little pile of meat, maybe right here.

(jazzy piano music continues) You don't have to use it all.

And remember, you can always go back and put a little more on as your guests are taking these things off.

Just make it as decorative when you repair it as you do when you build it.

Then, let's take a little bit of just a hard salami.

When you have meats like this, don't just throw them out all stacked like that.

You want this to be easy for your guests.

So give them a little roll, separate them a little bit.

Now, the reason that charcuterie goes so well with wines, and particularly we're serving this today with a Cab Franc, is because the fats in the meat really cut down on that tannic structure in the red wine, and it just sort of makes a mellow flavor in your mouth.

And then the salt in the food will reduce that bitterness, and it makes everything just extremely good to work with together.

All right, maybe another different kind of salami or sobrassada.

Let's put those right back here.

And I'm gonna fan those going the other way.

(jazzy piano music continues) Just a few... And don't have your items touching, not the base items.

The other items will roll right over to them.

But these base items just give you a nice line.

And then, let's do a few of these.

(jazzy piano music continues) When I spoke with my guest today, she said that at their winery, they really liked to enhance the wine, nature, and art.

And I think a charcuterie board is very artistic.

All right, let me just move these out of the way, and then we'll build the rest.

So I have two more base elements I want to put on here.

I need something that's a little bit sweet.

And you don't know which angle your guests are going to come at this.

If it's on a table, make sure it has two sides.

If you have it on, let's say a sideboard, then you want it to have one side.

You want it to face your guests.

For this one, I'm just gonna put a little bit of fig jam here, and then a little salty, bitter, with some delicious mustard.

And I like to use a deli mustard.

There we go.

We'll just kind of put those there.

Always make sure that you have the right tools with you too, some little spoons, some little forks that you can lay to the side.

And I like to always put out a plate that these will rest on, so that if somebody uses one and then they don't know what to do with it, stick it right on that plate, works great.

And then, some great cheese knives.

So there's a cheese knife for every cheese.

And if you get a nice little box of cheese knives, it will show you exactly which knife to use for what occasion.

(silverware clinks) Now, let's make some pretty.

So I've got apricots here, and I just want to kind of put a few around.

Okay.

And then I've got a selection of crackers.

I just want to kind of lay those crackers.

And these are kind of behind that cheese, but that's okay.

I'm building mine, really to be a two-sided board.

And then, let's put a couple right here.

And then, I like to use two different crackers.

So use something that's nice and long, and then use some little cluster crackers, these little tiny squares that can fit on there just perfectly.

All right, then let's take some almonds.

What you're looking for now is just to kind of fill the holes, the gaps, and to fill the flavor profiles.

(jazzy piano music continues) Little dried cherry...

This is going to make a little bit of a color pop, right up against that white.

And they smell so good.

I love the smell of dried cherries.

It's okay if they touch your cheeses, that's fine.

Then, I'm gonna finish out with just a few more apricots back here in the back, and a couple more cherries.

Isn't that pretty?

So just remember, make it artistic, make it something that you want to eat with your eyes first, and then with your mouth.

So who wouldn't want to be a guest at a party with this beautiful board, some delicious wine?

Again, this is Cab Franc, and Cab Franc is a grape that grows really well in Virginia.

It's a little more medium-bodied, and it's beautiful with this food.

Mm.

(jazzy piano music continues) Oh, that's delicious.

Paired with this cheese and meat, it's a winner.

Now, we're gonna head over to 868 winery up in Northern Virginia, to talk with our friend Nancy, as she tells us a little bit about the history of the farm and all of her wonderful wines.

(lively music) Tell me a little bit about this beautiful 868 vineyard.

I can't get over just the glory of it.

>>Well, we've owned the vineyard for about 10 years.

We started in 2011, and it's three families who came together to put together our vision of this beautiful place that really focuses on wine and nature, art and music.

And that's what we're all about here.

And it's 120 acres with about 22 acres under vine.

>>Wow.

Well, it is just so beautiful, and just the setting with this gorgeous old home... Tell me a little bit about how this property came to be and how you acquired it.

>>So the house, that is its own property, is original to the 1840s, and it's been a family farm for many years.

We bought it from the family that owned it since 1952.

And what's been really fascinating for me is there have been three other families who have come back as elderly people, to talk to me about when they were on the farm and what their farm chores were like when they were this big and this big.

So we've really had this great connection to history, which makes this place just even more special.

(lively music continues) So the house is original to the 1840s.

The stonewalls are all original, and the dairy barn is also equally as old.

And so, we really struggled with the name for a long time, and then it occurred to us that one of the defining features of the property here is our hilltop out there.

And so from the tasting room, you see some of our vineyards, but not really very many.

And if you walk up to the hill, which is at 868 feet above sea level, so there's the 868, you can look out over a carpet of 39,000 grapevines.

(lively music continues) >>Well, Nancy, I love that you serve these chocolates with your wine.

So tell me a little bit about the chocolates, about the wine that you're pouring.

>>Absolutely.

We've been doing our chocolate truffle tasting since we opened, because what is there not to love about chocolate paired with wine?

>>Absolutely.

>>And it's been a lot of fun over the years 'cause we change flavors.

And as our wines have evolved, our chocolates have evolved as well.

And they're all made here in-house.

Our staff makes them.

>>Nice!

>>So it's a lot of fun for our team as well.

So what what I chose today for us to taste was our Petite Verdot.

>>Mm.

>>So Petite Verdot is a really jammy grape.

>>Yes.

>>And it's a dry wine, but it's full of fresh fruit flavors.

And we've paired this with our milk chocolate truffle, rolled in Oreo crumbs.

>>Ooh!

>>So we're gonna pair it with this chocolate right there, and so I'll pour some in your glass.

And it's got that beautiful dark purple color.

>>Oh, yeah.

>>That's just so evocative of the flavors that you're gonna experience in there.

So it's gonna be a lot of deep plum flavors and some blackberry.

>>Oh yeah, yeah.

>>And the flavors are really gonna enhance that chocolate.

So what we tell our customers to do is to try the wine, so that you taste the wine by itself, and then to try the chocolate, to take a bite of the chocolate, and then another sip of the wine.

So you get the experience of the wine without the chocolate, and then the amplified experience of the wine with the chocolate.

>>Love it.

>>So, yes.

>>All right, so let's try this wine.

>>Uh-huh.

>>Mm.

>>I love Petite Verdot.

>>I do too, it's one of my favorites, absolutely one of my favorites.

(lively music continues) (wine swishes) >>Oh, yeah.

>>So it's gonna have all of those wonderful dark fruit flavors that are really gonna enhance the chocolate.

>>Oh, well I love it.

All right, so milk chocolate with Oreo crumbs.

>>Yes, exactly.

>>Mm.

(lively music continues) Really good.

(Nancy laughs) >>And, of course, the Petite Verdot could be served with things other than chocolate, but the chocolate is really one of my favorite things.

>>Oh, nice.

>>The other thing that I pair the Petite Verdot with is a fire pit because, to me, this is a conversation wine.

So after dinner, you might go outside, and maybe you've got a little jacket on 'cause it's fall, and the fire pit right there, and a glass of Petite Verdot, and that's a beautiful pairing as well.

>>Oh, I love it.

Mm.

(jazzy upbeat music) I have a fabulous blend of Nebbiolo and Merlot.

Well, with Nebbiolo and Merlot, those earthy flavors, wonderful flavors, what's better with that than a nice wild mushroom risotto?

So I'm gonna start right now with a little bit of risotto.

I have in my pan, just a little bit of olive oil, and I want to turn that to about a medium, medium-high heat.

Now, the first thing I'm gonna start with is an onion, and I just want to start to saute that just a little bit in the oil.

And notice that I didn't put it in hot oil.

I kind of want to coat that onion with my oil.

I'm going to start with my mushrooms in the other pan.

So I have this other pan here that is just right for sautéing a little bit of vegetable.

You can do anything with risotto.

You can make it with peas and ham, you can make it with vegetables.

I love it with wild mushrooms.

So here, I have a couple tablespoons of a nice butter.

And I usually use salted butter.

And the reason that I use salted butter, I know a lot of chefs say use unsalted so you can control the salt, but in all honesty, there's not a lot of salt in there, and I feel like I can still control the salt.

And butter that has salt in it actually lasts a little longer in your refrigerator.

(butter sizzling) All right, so let's get that melted, and let's add a chopped shallot.

(shallots sizzling) Now, shallots will be a little sweeter than the white onion.

So there's a juxtaposition here with a little bit of sweetness in that red and the nice, bold flavor of the white onion.

(onions sizzling) And my onion is just starting to get slightly translucent.

(onions sizzling) Let's stir it around the rest of the way, and then I'll add my risotto.

All right, so I have my risotto in there, and I just want to start to almost toast it.

I'm not really looking for color.

What I'm looking for is coating.

(mixture sizzling) (relaxing jazz music) And my shallot is getting nice and translucent, so now I want to add my mushrooms.

Now I have about four cups of mushrooms here.

I have maitake, shiitake.

I have a little oyster and some baby bellas to kind of give it a little more body.

And I'm just gonna start sauteing those.

Okay, at this point, I want to add, oh, two to three cloves of garlic, chopped, to my risotto.

(mixture sizzling) Now, the key to risotto is putting in only a little liquid at a time.

So I have some nice hot chicken stock here, and I'm gonna take it about six ounces (steam hisses) at a time, after the first addition.

So the first time, about 12 ounces.

(steam hissing) And that's about a cup and 1/2, right?

Cup and 1/2.

So let's just stir this through.

And what you're doing is getting the rice that wonderful Arborio to just soak up all of that liquid before you add more.

And those mushrooms are looking absolutely amazing.

And at this point, I want to add a little seasoning to those.

Now, I'm going to add a little bit of dried parsley to this, and a little bit of rubbed thyme.

Now, if you're making this in the summer and you have a little thyme in your garden, use a little fresh thyme.

(mushrooms sizzling) And you can also use dried thyme, but I think the flavor really is dispersed so much better with rubbed thyme, so that's what I like to use.

All right, now to that, I'm also going to add one scoop of my stock.

And the reason I want to do that is because I don't want to bring that temperature in the rice as it's cooking down.

It will make the risotto extremely sticky.

As the risotto starts to get a little bit thicker, you want to make sure that you're really stirring toward that center so it doesn't burn as you get to the stage where you only have a couple of cups of liquid to add.

You don't want to overcook this, but if you under-cook it, it will definitely be hard, so just check it for that al dente.

You just want it to the tooth.

So what I want to do before I add the last little bit of liquid is put in a little more wine, a different liquid.

Now, when you're making this, you can use red wine or white wine, you can use a Rose.

I think it's much prettier with a white wine because it makes the risotto so much more creamy looking.

So the last thing I want to do is season it with a little salt and pepper, and I want to add some freshly-grated Parmesan cheese.

(upbeat funk music) Now, this is a Nebbiolo and Merlot combination, and I love it with this risotto.

Hm, let's give it a little taste.

(upbeat funk music continues) Mm...

So perfect.

Mm...

I love it.

(jazzy music) Oh, such a nice combination.

So I hope you'll enjoy this recipe.

I'm gonna be back in just a minute with a delicious cheesecake.

(festive sleigh bell music) I love a good cheesecake, and this one is wonderful all year round, but I particularly think about it during the holiday season because it has white chocolate, and peppermint, and coconut.

It's so delicious.

And it's great paired up with this wonderful wine.

So we're gonna start off by making our crust.

I have some coconut cookies that I've just ground in the food processor.

You can also put them in a Ziploc bag and just beat them with a hammer or a meat mallet until they're just crushed beautifully.

Now, what we want to do is add a little bit of coconut to this.

This is about 1/4 cup of coconut flakes.

And then, I'm gonna add about two tablespoons of sugar.

Now, you can make this with all sorts of cookie crumbs, including the classic Graham cracker, but today, I want to make it just a little bit special.

And there, I have about 1/2 stick of butter, maybe just a little bit more.

I go, not quite five tablespoons, but just a little bit more than 1/2 stick.

And then, I want to just mix this up really, really well, and put it into a spring form pan.

(festive jazz music) And I've lightly sprayed this so it won't stick.

And of course, with all the butter, it's probably not gonna stick anyway.

Now, let's just take that crumb mixture and press it out in the bottom of our pan.

And you want to press it down so that it doesn't come up in the cheesecake itself.

So just press, press, press with the palm of your hand.

You can also use the bottom of the glass if you want, to make it uniform and not get your fingers in there.

But I like to get my hands dirty when I'm cooking.

It's the only time I liked messy hands, could never stand making mud pies as a kid.

Okay, now, let me just wash up and we'll make this cheesecake.

Now in my mixing bowl, I have three packs of cream cheese, so three eight-ounce packages, 24 ounces of cream cheese.

And I want this at room temperature so that when I mix it, everything mixes in really, really well.

If it's not at room temperature, you're going to get a really soupy kind of cheesecake with lots of lumps in it.

(mixer whirs) And to that, I'm going to add about a cup of sugar.

(mixer whirring) (bowl clinks) Now, it's important the whole time you're making cheesecake, to really scrape down those sides of the bowl because everything can get hung up, and then all of your ingredients just don't mix in well.

You'll get lumps in your cheesecake, you'll get holes in it.

(festive jazz music continues) So let's make sure it's all mixed really well.

And I don't want to turn this up too high.

If I incorporate too much air into my cheesecake, then what happens is it rises in the oven, and then it falls in the center.

You don't want that to happen.

A little bit of rising and falling is fine, but you don't want a crater in your cheesecake.

(mixer whirs) Now, let's add some eggs, one at a time, also at room temperature.

I'll break each one in a bowl separately, and that way, if I get any kind of egg shell in there, I can pull it out.

And I'm just gonna break it right into the sugar bowl.

(mixer whirring) (egg cracks) And you always want to mix it well through after each addition of the egg.

Now what I want to do is add four whole eggs, and then I'm gonna add an extra yolk, just to make it a little richer.

(mixer whirring) And then, I'm gonna add about a teaspoon and 1/2 of peppermint extract (mixer whirring) and 3/4 cup of sour cream.

Now, what I like to do at this point, after I've incorporated the eggs and the sour cream and the wonderful peppermint flavoring, I like to take a little cornstarch and just sprinkle it all over the top.

(festive jazz music continues) This will keep your sour cream from separating during baking.

And then, let's mix it in.

(mixer whirs) And the last ingredient for the cheesecake is going to be some wonderful white chocolate.

Now, I've melted about 1 1/2 cups of white chocolate chips.

You can use a better quality chocolate, that is great.

I just could not find it, so I used just the chips alone.

All right, let's scrape the last of that chocolate right down in.

(festive music continues) (mixer whirs) Now, let me tell you, another way that you can put peppermint into this cheesecake is to chop up some great peppermint candies and just pour them in.

If you have a nice white and red peppermint candy, you can just chop it up and put it in, but I'll tell you what, your cake will turn pink.

It's not going to be red and white shard anymore.

It turns pink, but like that great pink peppermint.

It's a beautiful pink.

So if you like a pink cheesecake, you can always do that.

Okay, now this is mixed really, really beautifully.

And now, I just want to pour it over and into my pan.

(festive jazz music continues) Now, I'm just gonna make sure that as I pour, that I stir down from the bottom, to make sure that everything was mixed well, (mixture sloshes) just in case there's any residual sugar, cream cheese, white chocolate.

(festive piano music) Now, I'm going to put this in a 350-degree oven for about 55 minutes.

Then, I'm gonna turn the oven off, slightly open the door, and then let it rest for at least an hour.

This cheesecake is just so good and it smells wonderful.

Now with this one, I actually used some white chocolate chip cookies and some of my coconut cookies, so it really just gave that little extra boost.

Now, let's try it with this wonderful wine.

This is a blend of Chardonel and Vidal Blanc, which is just a lovely, lovely combination.

Just a hint of sweetness, and it really, really goes well with this dessert.

The peppermint brings out the flavors, the coconut brings out the flavors.

(festive piano music continues) Mm, always one of my favorites.

(upbeat jazz music) And with the wine, so delicious.

So I hope you'll enjoy this amazing recipe.

(upbeat jazz music continues) So from this beautiful, artistic platter, to this delicious risotto with wild mushrooms, and this wonderful white chocolate cheesecake, I hope you've enjoyed all the recipes from today's show.

For these and a whole lot more, go to vpm.org/unwined.

So until next time, go grab that glass.

It's always time to Un-Wine'd.

>>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.

>>And by... (upbeat jazz music) (bright piano music)