>>Today on Un-Wine'd, we'll be at CrossKeys Vineyards with spectacular views outstanding architecture and incredible wine.

Add to that and amazing staff, and we had a great day.

So go grab your glass.

We're ready to pair with some delicious food and it's time to "Un-Wine'd."

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

(laid back jazz music) >>I had an extremely memorable day at CrossKeys with Saam and Steve.

They really have just made these wines just so delicious.

(laid back jazz music) And they even let me do the Bâtonnage on their grapes so much fun.

It was my very first time.

So on today's show, I pair up their delectable Meritage with a wonderful orzo and lamb meatballs with their Ali d'Oro, a delicious bread pudding that has cranberries and apples and the pièce de résistance, with this beautiful Viognier a baked lobster tail.

So let's head into my kitchen, but grab your glass.

We're going to go have some fun and cook.

(laid back jazz music) This CrossKeys reserved Viognier is absolutely incredible.

And when I tasted it the first time the thing that came to my mind was lobster.

I'm a main girl and I do love my lobsters.

So today we're going to be making baked lobster tail.

Now a lot of people think this is difficult to do because basically you're taking the meat out of the tail resting it up on top of that outer shell, but it's really simple.

So what we're going to do is take some kitchen scissors and just come down the back of the lobster just like this all the way to the end of the tail.

Now make sure as you're cutting it if there are any little shards of shell that come off that you remove those.

And then you want to take a spoon, just a teaspoon and kind of go under the edges because what you're doing is pulling that meat out from the shell, just so that it released as well, just like that.

And let's do the other side.

So, just stick it up under there.

You're not going to hurt it.

All right, just like that.

And then I just want to pull that shell away.

Just kind of crack it a little bit.

And then we're going to pull that lobster meat right up on top.

See how simple this is?

And then come back around it with the shell on the back and just kind of pull it together like that.

And then let that meat just rest right on the shell like this.

And then what we want to do is here on the back you see that we've got this meat that kind of comes together and you just want to pull that back so that you're really exposing all of that tail, just like that.

Let's do another one so you can see again.

So cut it with the scissors, just straight down the back And you can see this one is a little bit more tough.

So it's releasing some shards.

Again we want to make sure that we don't get those into that meat.

So just lay them to the side.

And then come over with the spoon and be careful you're not pushing those shards into the lobster meat as you go.

Pull any shards away just like this.

And let's just go under and make sure we've got all of that lobster.

Hmm.

This looks amazing.

I do love lobster and you can do so much with lobster.

All right, so let's pull this back.

Again just kind of crack it, just like that.

But not too far.

You don't want to completely break it so that when you rest the meat up it's not going to rest on the shell.

So there we go.

Just kind of pull back, pull up.

And then start tucking that meat back under the tail.

There we go.

All right.

And then again, pull that side piece off and we've got those all set.

Now we're going to make some butter.

This is simple to do.

So I have some melted butter here in a bowl.

I have about four tablespoons of melted butter.

And then I want to just chop up some parsley and because I've used this and I'm going to use it with my lobster, I don't mind shopping right there on that board.

Let's move the scissors out of the way.

And we're just going to give a really nice fine mince to this parsley.

Yeah.

Nice.

All right so you want a couple tablespoons here.

Here we go.

Just put that in your butter.

Okay, so, that butter is just resting there.

Now we're going to put in some garlic powder, a little bit of paprika because that gives some beautiful color in this, a little black pepper some salt and a little touch of cayenne powder.

And this will not really heat it up but it gives it a nice boost of flavor.

All right.

And then I want to take a little bit of lemon zest and just kind of grate in there.

Just a touch.

Okay.

Now let's take our spoon and just mix that up.

So you've got this beautiful melted butter already.

It's brushable, so you're not looking at putting a hard butter on the lobster.

You really want this to be melted so that you can brush it on.

And that way you're getting great flavor but not too much of the salt.

So let's grab a little cookie sheet.

We're going to put our lobsters right on the cookie sheet and brush all of this really, really well.

You can see that color that just immediately pops.

It's so delicious.

Hmm.

Love it.

And I usually brush these once right before I start and then once halfway through the baking process.

So I'm going to bake these at 450 degrees for about nine minutes.

No more than that.

And so at about four or five minutes I'll just brush them again, very quickly.

Oh, they're beautiful.

All right.

So I'm going to stick those in my oven I'll be right back.

(laid back jazz music) So how easy was that right?

Now let's just play it up a little bit.

And I've got some rice here a little bit of my broccoli, my beautiful lobster tail.

And this is just one of those little chefs tricks to pop the plate.

A little paprika, a little sifter spoon, super easy.

And with this wine.

Oh my goodness it's incredible.

This is the CrossKeys Reserve Viognier and it is spectacular.

I really can smell that wonderful oak aging in this, and it is incredible.

So let's head on over talk to Saam and Steven to find out how they make those great wines at CrossKeys Vineyards.

(laid back jazz music) So Sam, thanks so much for being with me and talking about this amazing facility.

>>Thanks for having us.

>>Absolutely.

Now, when did you guys get started?

What's the background there?

>>So we bought the property in 1999.

My parents were looking for about 15 to 20 acres to build their dream home.

This property came on the market and it was 125 acres.

>>Wow.

>>It was a completely rundown facility.

There was no roads, no power, completely covered with cedar trees.

So it was a blank canvas if you will.

They built the home 2000 and from there slowly kind of started clearing the property.

>>Wow.

Well, it is an amazing facility.

I love your architecture.

I think it really highlights what wine can be here in Virginia.

Is just amazing.

>>Well, thank you.

(laid back jazz music) >>So what are you doing in their Steve?

>>So, these are barrel fermenting Chardonnays and we just need to keep track of the fermentation.

These guys are getting pretty close to done.

>>How long ago were they harvested?

>>All great question.

It's been about two weeks.

>>Oh, wow.

>>Somewhere in there.

Barrel fermentation, cooler temperatures will take yeah.

14 ish days somewhere in there.

>>Okay.

So you're getting close?

>>We are.

Which makes it all the much more messy.

Trying to fill it all the way to the top.

So you can take a look here at...

So this is reading...

This is just a hydrometer density.

Zero means pure water.

And so obviously with alcohol in it being less dense a finishing line will go below zero.

So this is -1.3.

>>Wow.

>>And then you can kind of see the graph here of the fermentation.

We do this about during the high to red fermentation only about 25, 50 times a day.

>>Oh my gosh.

>>Lot's of hydrometer.

>>Now I know that you're doing a little bit with drawing some grapes in advanced to try that.

Tell us a little bit about that.

>>So the idea is, as we get later into the season especially vintage like this, where it looks like we're going to be two weeks behind certain fruit varieties just have a hard time hanging out on the vine for an extended amount of time.

And so you can always add sugar to get the alcohol you need but you're really missing that kind of last window of ripening when the skins really start to break down the seeds start to get nice and brown with a little of tan and structure you're looking for.

So the idea is we bought a old 1950s tobacco barn.

You know, this is... A few other people in Virginia do it.

So we decided to give it a shot this year.

And hopefully we can ripen up about 20% of the fruit and then kind of blend that back into the main tank and get the depth of flavor we're looking for.

(laid back jazz music) >>Our goal has always been to make quality wines and not be a mass producer if you will.

So we'll kind of see where things kind of level out how the economy does.

And then from there we have the room, we have 125 acres so we can grow more grapes if need be.

>>Fantastic.

Well, Saam, thank you so much for having me here.

>>Thank you.

Cheers.

>>Cheers.

(laid back jazz music) This CrossKeys Meritage lends itself so well to red meat.

Like most Meritage red meat is the thing.

Today I'm going to do something extra special with this particular one and we're going to make a lamb meatball with orzo.

Orzo goes really well with Meritage.

And of course lamb does as well.

So in my bowl I have one pound of a free range, grass fed lamb and it's so lean and beautiful.

To that I'm going to add about a quarter cup of a Panko breadcrumbs.

And I like to use a Panko that seasoned for this.

And then I want to take the zest of about a quarter of a lemon.

I don't want a lot of lemon in this but lemon really highlights the flavor of the lamb and without making it tart and without overpowering.

It's just what this meatball needs.

So just a little bit of zest,.

Hmm.

Smells so bright and delicious.

It just adds to that acidity adds to the brightness.

And it's perfect with this.

To that, I'm going to add about a teaspoon of salt and some freshly cracked pepper.

Now I like to use a freshly cracked pepper with this because it really highlights that pepper flavor.

And this is a nice blend of pepper and then a quarter cup of Parmesan, just freshly graded and an egg, just to hold it together.

Now I'm going to blend all this really well.

But I don't want to overmix.

When you do meat balls, don't overmix because it will make the meatball extremely tough but you just want to get all your ingredients incorporated well.

Being sure to get all that egg in all of those seasonings, that Parmesan cheese, Oh, that's beautiful.

So these meatballs are all a nice uniform size.

And as I put them out on my sheet what I want to do is just separate them a little bit so they don't roll together.

And you can make meatballs pretty much any size for this.

But I think this size meatball adds to the elegance of the dish.

It doesn't overpower the dish and you get a nice bite of meatball with every bite.

So I'm just going to continue to roll these.

And then I'm going to bake them at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes.

Now you can also saute these, that's fine, or just fry them in a pan, but I kind of like the uniformity of baking them.

And then they're all soft all the way around.

So I'm going to finish these up and get them in the oven.

And then we're going to start on our orzo.

So while our meatballs are baking we're going to make our delicious orzo pasta.

And I want to just chop one medium onion and it doesn't have to be a super fine chop.

I'm going to actually do this in a nice medium dice.

So let's remove all of that peel and then we're going to give it just a nice little medium dice, rough chop.

So in my pan I have about three tablespoons of butter and I'm going to let that melt.

And then I want to add my onion and my garlic.

And then I'm going to chop up just a little bit of parsley and get that going too.

Now let's cook this until the onion is translucent but not cooked all the way through.

Okay.

Our onion has softened and now I'm going to take about a cup and a half of orzo and just put right in there.

And I want to toast that up just a little bit.

That gives it a little bit of extra flavor and it helps it absorb all the butter.

So delicious.

So as that starts to turn golden, keep stirring and once all the kernels, and once all the grains have become a nice golden color then we'll add some stock.

Okay.

Some of those beautiful grains have started to Brown just a little bit.

That's what we want.

And then we add three cups of a nice strong chicken stock.

And I want to bring that to a boil.

And then I'm going to put the lid on it, reduce it to simmer.

And I'll simmer that for about 12 minutes.

Now, as this starts to come up to the boil, I'm just going to add about 3/4 of a teaspoon of salt.

I don't want to overdo it on the salt because the chicken stock has salt and we'll also be adding the meatballs and we're adding some Parmesan, which is heavily salted.

Okay.

That is starting to boil on the bottom.

I feel it.

I'm going to go ahead and put the lid on and I'm going to reduce that temperature to about a simmer.

So this has just gotten to where it's al dente.

And what I want to do now is add some peas.

This is just about 10 to 12 ounces of frozen peas that I've just lightly thawed.

I'm going to pour that in.

And then I'm going to add a cup of Parmesan cheese and this has been freshly grated as well.

All right.

And then I want to stir in these beautiful meatballs which we baked.

Fold in a few at a time, so I don't break them.

Oh, this looks wonderful.

Now let's put it in a nice bowl and then we're going to sprinkle it with that coarsely chopped parsley.

So this beautiful orzo and lamb meatballs with this delicious CrossKeys Meritage.

It just has such a nice way of blending with lamb and with beef.

Oh, it's going to be awesome.

So I hope you'll enjoy this recipe.

I'm going to be back in just a second with a delicious recipe for some bread pudding and Ali d'Oro This Ali d'Oro is amazing.

It's a delicious dessert wine.

And I wanted to highlight it by doing something that has apples, cranberries and a lovely bread pudding made with these beautiful croissants.

So the first thing I'm going to do is just cut my croissants in some cubes.

Now this recipe lends itself really well to all sorts of fruits.

So you can do pretty much anything but with this Ali d'Oro, I love the Apple flavor.

And I love that cranberry just that little bit of tartness that comes out in it.

It's just beautiful.

So for the topping, I am going to use apples and cranberries and I make a lovely caramel sauce that goes in the bottom of the pan.

Then when this is all over we flip it over and it's just a gorgeous presentation.

Okay, so my six croissants are all cut.

They are ready and now I want to make my custard.

So in my bowl, I have five eggs, large eggs.

Anytime your recipe just says eggs, that means large eggs.

I want to break up those yolks.

And then to that, I'm going to add a little bit of cinnamon.

Oh, about 1/2 teaspoon.

And a little bit of vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract.

I just happen to have the bean paste and I love the way that it tastes.

So I'm going to add about a teaspoon of that And always mix through really, really well so that you don't have pockets of one flavor in one spot.

Now I'm going to add a little bit of salt, just a pinch maybe about 1/8 of a teaspoon.

I can never remember if a pinch is an 1/8 or 1/16.

One is a pinch.

One is a dash.

All right, now I'm going to add a cup and a half of either a half and half or a milk.

And I'm just using a whole milk for this.

I think that's really rich enough but if you want a richer bread pudding, of course by all means use half and half or even whipping cream.

Now to this, I'm going to add about 1/4 cup of this Ali d'Oro.

Hmm.

That's gonna give it a really wonderful flavor.

All right, so let's mix this all together.

I just want to toss all that bread in and give it a stir to make sure everything is coded well.

Now, as I stir this up, it's all coated.

It's getting soft, all filled with the cream and egg mixture Oh, beautiful.

Now let's head over to the stove and make a little caramel topping that we're going to put in the bottom of our pan so that when we invert this, the caramels is right on top.

So in my fry pan, I want to make some caramel that's going to go in the bottom of my baking pan so that as I invert my bread pudding, it's on the top.

So I have one stick of butter and two that I'm going to add a cup of brown sugar and then a little bit of cinnamon.

And I'll let this simmer until all of the sugar is melted and the flavors have melded together.

I'll let this cook until all of the flavors have melded together.

The butter and the sugar are all melted and a nice syrup occurs.

So I put all of my caramel in the bottom of around pan.

Now you can use any kind of pan for this.

You can even use a casserole dish and you don't have to invert it.

If you don't invert your bread pudding, make sure that you mix any fruits through the bread so that it's cooking all the way through.

And then you'll have that instead of having people dig all the way down to the bottom to get to it.

You'll see what I mean when I flip the other one over.

So I've got an Apple here and I just want to take about half of an Apple and I'm going to take the core out.

And then I just want to slice it up.

Gotta leave the peel on.

Some nice thick slices about a quarter of an inch will do.

I love the sound of a nice crisp Apple.

All right, now we just want to put our Apple slices right in here.

There we go.

And then I want to sprinkle in some dried cranberries.

Now, I also love this with fresh fruit.

I love to make it peaches and blueberries, fresh cherries.

So good.

Sometimes I'll even substitute some rum in it instead of the Ali d'Oro and use bananas and make a banana rum.

So delicious.

And now I just want to put my bread right in there.

And gently place it on so that you don't lose that pattern.

Spread it all out.

And make sure you have all the custard and the bread out of your bowl.

Now, when I make this, I really like to let it sit overnight so that all of that bread is really soaked well but you don't have to do that.

If you can just let it sit for maybe five or 10 minutes just to make sure it's all melded all really moistened.

Then we're going to put this in a 350 degree oven for about 35 to 40 minutes and I'll be right back with a delicious finished one.

So as you can see I made this particular one in a little bit larger pan so that I had the apples on the edge on the outside and the cranberries more in the center.

This is such a delicious bread pudding and I hope you'll really like it.

So let's just give ourselves a little piece here on the plate.

Look at that.

The striation is just perfect.

It's so delicious.

You know, with just a little less sugar I'd eat this for breakfast too.

Well, maybe I'd eat it for breakfast anyway.

All right, so let's pour a little bit of this Ali d'Oro.

Look at that golden, beautiful color.

This is such an incredible wine.

Hmm.

Aw, sweet, it's like, honey, it's just beautiful.

And so delicious with this amazing dish.

(laid back jazz music) So Saam and Steven, thanks so much for an amazing day at CrossKeys.

You know, these wines are so delicious and I had the best time pairing them with some of my favorite foods.

So I hope all of you will enjoy these delicious wines and these great recipes for these recipes and a lot more go to vpm.org/unwind.

And until next time go grab that glass.

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