>>Hi, I'm Tassie Pippert, and on today's show my special guest Richard Leahy, the author of "Beyond Jefferson's Vines".

>>Because he was the first one to introduce Viognier to Virginia, and not only that, but he took it to the Rhone Rangers meeting in California, where Dick Airwood told him "Dennis, I think you've cleaned our clock with this wine."

And it became the most award-winning Viognier in North America >>In the kitchen, I'll share some delicious recipes brought back from Europe, by Thomas Jefferson.

You won't wanna miss a minute on today's "UnWine'd".

>>Production funding for "UnWine'd" was made possible in part by.

(upbeat music) >>Everyone should have the opportunity to spend the morning in their garden with Richard Leahy.

He is just a plethora of information about Virginia wine food, and of course, Thomas Jefferson.

We had so much fun talking about the foods that Jefferson brought back from France to the United States.

Things like fries, mac and cheese, and even ice cream.

So on today's show the Italian cousin to ice cream, gelato, truffle fries, and some delicious bacon and ricotta mac and cheese.

So grab your glass and let's head to the kitchen, see what we're gonna make.

(classical music) It's said that when Thomas Jefferson brought a recipe back from France, everyone wanted to try it.

Well, this is one that everyone wanted to try, everyone has adapted, and we all still love today, macaroni and cheese.

But this is not an ordinary macaroni and cheese, it is extremely rich, delicious, and loaded with lots of bacon.

So here's what we're gonna do to start.

I have a pound of, I use farfalle, I like to use farfalle, you can use macaroni, you can use any kind, any shape of pasta you'd like.

But I wanna take one egg and just whip it up a little bit, and then I'm gonna stir it through the macaroni for the mac and cheese, right here.

Now this is still nice and hot, so it accepts the egg, but it doesn't clump and I really liked that.

Let's just stir through.

This really coats the macaroni just enough to give it a nice thickness and body in the sauce, without making it that egginess that a lot of times we see in macaroni and cheese.

Now, the next thing we're gonna do is render some bacon.

Now I love to use bacon in this recipe, you can also use ham, you can use prosciutto, pretty much anything is great.

I've even used ground beef in this and it a wonderful mac and cheese and such a substantial meal.

So I'm just going to cut the bacon in some nice little strips like this.

Now, a lot of times when we're cutting bacon it gets a little bit unwieldy.

So particularly when we're cutting fat it tends to go all over the place with this, just like that.

What you wanna do, if you have trouble with it, stick it in the freezer for about 10 minutes, not enough to freeze it but enough to really solidify that fat, then you can cut right through it, you don't have any trouble at all and start to render this bacon fat.

(soft music) So I've rendered about my half pound of bacon, and it's nice and crispy.

Now, the next thing I want to do is add some onion, and I use about a cup of onion, that's kind of a small to medium onion chopped and you can adjust your onion based on how much onion you like in a recipe.

I love the flavor of onion in this and I think it really brings out that bacon, it melds everything together, and it's just wonderful.

Now I want to stir that around for about oh a minute or so.

Now let's talk about the cheeses that we're going to use today.

So I have a mascarpone cheese, this is an amazing cream cheese style of cheese, it's just wonderful, it's really thick and rich.

If you can't find a mascarpone no problem, use cream cheese, and you can use either a full fat or a one-third fat, whatever you like.

Then I have some ricotta, and you can use any level of fatness in this as well.

I am using actually a double cream because I want this to be thick, rich and amazing.

So I'm just gonna stir this around a little bit more, and then I have a cheddar, I had two cups of cheddar, about eight ounces of cheddar cheese.

All right, this is starting to get nice and soft, starts to turn just a little bit translucent.

Now you don't wanna over cook the onion but you also don't want it hard when it goes into this recipe, because as it bakes through, you don't want it to release a lot of liquid, you want that liquid to be released here in this pan.

And you can see in the pan, I have a lot of what's called fond.

This is the dark coloring that you see, that simply comes from the bacon fat.

Anytime you brown meat you're going to get that because it's just all of that delicious protein coming out and sticking to that pan.

Now I wanna add a little bit of flour, and I'm also going to add just a little bit extra fat.

I know, it's hard to believe, more fat, but a little bit of butter just to give that flour enough fat to cook up.

We want to make sure that the is flour cooked, so it doesn't release an uncooked flavor in your macaroni and cheese.

And believe me, if you've had uncooked flour in your products you know what that tastes like.

All right, now I wanna add to that about two and a quarter cups of milk.

A lot of people like to use a heavier cream or half-and-half for their mac and cheese.

I like to just use milk, and frankly, a lot of times I'll use skim milk to cut down on the fat because I want the fat from the cheeses, but not necessarily from a cream.

All right, so I'm gonna stir this around a little bit.

Now, the next thing I wanna do is add my cheeses, and I'm gonna start with the mascarpone because it's the thickest.

And as I add that, I just want to kind of stir through, let us start to chop.

This cools down the milk, so it's going to take just a few minutes for all of this to truly thicken, that's not a problem.

Then I'm gonna add my ricotta.

And this is 15 ounces of ricotta, eight ounces of mascarpone, and then again, eight ounces or about two cups of cheddar cheese.

You can use a sharp cheddar, mild cheddar, whatever you and your family like.

Always adjust your recipes, so that it's something you will enjoy.

Now, we're going to simmer this until it gets just wonderfully thick.

(upbeat music) And I'll tell you, I love this macaroni because it is so creamy and rich.

My husband tends to not like his macaroni quite as creamy as I do.

So if you're one of those people just add a little bit more macaroni to the pot.

A pound and a quarter to a pound and a half for this recipe works just great, but for me, this is perfect.

All right, so the next thing we're gonna do is make a little topping for this, and I just use a corn flake topping, it makes it just beautifully crispy when it comes out of the oven it's just delicious.

So I'm gonna take about a tablespoon of melted butter and two cups of corn flakes.

And then I wanna take about a teaspoon of a chopped dry chive.

I love to use this because it gives me a little extra, just a little extra flavor.

And then the last thing that I wanna do is just taste this and make sure it's got enough salt.

Remember, you have a lot of salt in cheese, you have a lot of salt in bacon, but you also have that macaroni that because you salt the water doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be salty.

So you might wanna just stir through just a little more salt.

I want to take about a half teaspoon for this, but you can use up to a teaspoon without damaging the recipe, just make sure you check it for what you like because you might be using different cheeses all cheeses have a different salt level, so check those.

All right, I think that's gonna be just great.

I'm gonna pour that into a pan, I'm gonna bake it for about 20 to 25 minutes at 325 degrees.

Take it out of the oven, and top it with that corn flake mixture, so let's see what it looks like.

Now with this mac and cheese, because of the richness, I wanted something that would really cut through that, something that had a nice, bright sparkle to it, so I chose this Pollack.

This is a wonderful Viognier, it has hints of a creaminess and apricots on the palette, it's just wonderful, fantastic with this mac and cheese.

So I hope you'll enjoy this.

We'll be back in a little bit with two more of Jefferson's favorites.

But right now I wanna take you to my garden and spend a little time with my friend Richard Leahy.

(soft bright music) (Tassie clapping) (Tassie chuckles) (upbeat music) >>I'm joined by one of my very favorite wine authors, Richard Leahy.

And Richard, thank you so much for being here.

This is just an incredible honor for me to sit across from you with a bottle of wine, some nice cheese and just chat a little bit about the history of American wine it starting with Thomas Jefferson.

>>Thank you, Tassie.

It's an honor to be here and a pleasure.

>>Yeah, thank you so much.

So tell us a little bit about what got you into this writing and just what drew you into this historical perspective?

>>Well, I had come to Charlottesville in 1989 to get a master's degree in History, and at the time I was becoming interested in the growing Virginia wine scene.

And after I got my Master's, I came back to Charlottesville and decided to start writing about the new evolving winery scene.

And the first article I did for the Charlottesville Business Journal was on Horton Vineyards, and this was in 1992 no '93, and it was on his Viognier, because he was the first one to introduce Viognier to Virginia.

And not only that, but he took it to a Rhone Rangers meeting in California where Dick Airwood told him, "Dennis, I think you've cleaned our clock with this wine."

And it became the most award-winning Viognier in North America.

And that put Virginia on the map for making the European style wines.

So, a lot of people didn't know what we'd done with Cabernet Chardonnay, Cabernet Franc were low, but the Viognier, it's like a white version of Pinot noir, it's very difficult to make.

>>Yes.

>>And we have an ideal climate where we can ripen the grape to where it produces the floral, delicate notes but it doesn't get too hot like it does in California where it really burns away the delicate esters and a fruit character.

So my background as a historian came in handy to do the research about Jefferson and also going back to the 1619, because we're just past the 400th anniversary of recorded history of Virginia wine, that goes all the way back to that point.

So the book is called "Beyond Jefferson's Vines" and the third edition was, this is just coming out now, a hundred new wineries have come out in the five years since I did the second time.

>>That's incredible.

Just in Virginia, a hundred new wineries in Virginia, wow.

>>That's right, and it shows you how dynamic the industry is.

But it's called "Beyond Jefferson's Vines" because it goes back to 1619, and then it comes up to the present.

and he's kind of in the middle, >>He is.

>>on that continuum.

But he did, he was kind of the visionary for fine wine as something that people could make money from as farmers, but also would be a healthy alternative to strong beverages, strong drink, like whiskey.

which was, he said, "Was a bain for the farmers in his day."

>>Wow!

Well, we go back to Acte 12 where we were sort of commanded to have vines in our yard so that we could produce our own wine, right?

>>Yeah, the Jamestown Assembly in 1619, this is when the Crown took over this the Jamestown Project from the Virginia Company.

And they mandated in Acte 12 that householders should plant at least 10 European grapevines a piece or a suffer a punishment that the governor would decide.

And that was because this was the very beginning of English settlement in the new world, they have a middle-class with money to spend on wine, and England has a pretty cold and wet climate much of the time, but the traditional sources of wine, from the Mediterranean, from France and from Spain, they weren't able to get them because they were at war with France and Spain and the Turks had cut off trade from the Mediterranean.

So they were looking for a native wine industry in America that could then be sent back to Britain to supply people that way, but it took a couple of hundred years for that to work.

>>Exactly, well, and then we come to Jefferson.

So I know that you said one of the wines that Barboursville produces, the Vermentino, is very similar to something that he would have consumed during his time, So I thought I'll pour us a little bit while we chat.

>>Oh, thank you.

>>So tell me a little bit about the wines that were available during Jefferson's era.

>>A very good question.

So the first thing, and I'll refer to some notes here, >>Sure.

>>is that the during, before American independence, the colonists were pretty much stuck with port and Madeira, >>Yes.

>>and these are fortified wines, and at that time, when you think of a delicate wine at 12% alcohol to bring it across the Atlantic on a ship that was sloshing around constantly, with temperature changes all the time it wouldn't have worked.

So the only thing at that point that would survive the journey would be fortified wines at around 20% alcohol, and Madeira also has its own special chemistry that makes it almost indestructible.

So, but Jefferson did not like drinks with high alcohol content.

He also preferred the very delicate fresh fruit flavors and balanced acidity of table wines.

And what happened was when he became ambassador to France, he traveled around France and other neighboring countries tasting the wines, and it was an epiphany for him because he had never been able to taste delicate table wine in America.

>>Right.

>>So when he did, he said, "Well, this is amazing stuff, "and I've got to plant some at Monticello."

And what's interesting is that in the Governor's Cup competition in the last seven, eight years, the Vermentino I think has placed in the Governor's Case more often than any other Barboursville's wines.

So it just shows you how consistent the quality is for this and how much it is mired by.

>>it is, it's beautiful, it has a nice acidity, but a great fruit in it, it's just lovely, mhmm.

>>It's elegant, but it has sort of lemon peel and spice quality.

>>Yes.

>>Not heavy but, just enough of sort of a Lamborghini version of a Pinot Grigio, if you will.

>>Exactly.

>>It starts sort of light but then it has more finesse to it.

>>Yes, and it has a great finish, I think.

>>Jefferson's what he did was an interesting custom, he had food at Monticello, and then after they finished eating the food, he would then have the table wine, as sort of a way to cleanse the palate.

(soft bright music) >>Another of Jefferson's favorite recipes, pommes frites or what we call here in the United States, French fries.

So these are delicious fries, and I wanted to make them something a little special.

So I really love a truffle fry with a little Parmesan, and I wanted to add some fresh herbs to it.

So with this, I'm gonna do a chardonnay, this is a typical grape of the Burgundy region of France, so hopefully you'll enjoy this.

So I have a couple of potatoes here and I just, whenever I cut potato, you wanna cut one piece off first, turn it over, so you got a nice flat surface to work with, it makes it so much easier as you start to cut.

Now, I want to cut these in just a nice one half inch-ish fry.

The more consistent you cut, the more consistent your fries will be.

So let's go with one half inch, all the way around, just like this.

So I've got all of these fries cut, and then I just want to put them in a nice basket.

And this is just a truffle oil sauce, it's so simple.

I'm going to use a little mayonnaise and a little either crème fraîche or sour cream, whichever you have.

Sometimes you can find crème fraîche sometimes you can make it, of course.

But if you don't want crème fraîche you can always use sour cream, if you trust that a little bit more it's pasteurized, of course.

So I'm gonna put in the juice of about oh, half of a lemon.

And then I wanna put in a little bit of truffle oil A little garlic, 'cause who doesn't love garlic.

And then I want to season it with a little bit of sea salt and just fresh ground pepper.

There we go.

Let's just stir that up a little bit and make it nice truffle sauce.

Now to season those fries, I love thyme, basil, a little bit of parsley, those are my favorites on this.

And what I wanna do is just peel off some of this and I'm going to chop it just a little bit.

Your fries should be about ready, I am draining them just for a second, so they get rid of that excess grease.

And then I just wanna put them in a nice mixing bowl.

I love to use sea salt when I'm cooking, it's nice and fine, and the flavor is so much more intense, I think.

A little bit, of course, ground pepper, I'm gonna put on some Parmesan cheese, some of our herbs.

And then we just want to douse this with a little white truffle oil.

And I say douse, tablespoon, tablespoon and a half, you don't want to make them a wet.

And then let's give them a little stir through.

Uh, it smells so good.

(upbeat music) So lovely truffle fries with Parmesan and great herbs.

Oh, these are so good, and especially with that fresh sea salt and cracked pepper.

I'm serving this with Saddleback Chardonnay from Veritas.

This is a lovely Chardonnay.

It is done in neutral oaks, so you don't get that oaky flavor.

It's crisp, it's wonderful.

And because this is a Burgundy region wine, it really goes well with these truffle fries, and I hope you'll enjoy them.

I'm gonna be right back with a little bit of Jefferson's favorite dessert.

(soft music) Ice cream was one of Thomas Jefferson's favorite desserts.

Now remember ice was not readily available, so this was a very special time to get something so wonderful, like ice cream.

Well, today I'm gonna show you not an ice cream, but actually ice cream's cousin, gelato, and I'm gonna tell you what the differences are.

First, we're gonna head over to the stove top.

We're going to warm up some cream, some sugar and a little bit of vanilla, put in some cherries, and let's see what happens.

(soft bright music) I love gelato.

And the reason that I've decided to do gelato instead of ice cream, well, for a lot of reasons, it goes better with the wine, but also gelato is lower in fat.

You know, gelato only has between 4% and 9% fat, where ice cream has about 15% to 24% fat.

So I just wanted to kind of cut down on the fat, I've already given you plenty of that with the truffle fries and the mac and cheese.

So in my pot, I have milk.

Now, gelato also calls for milk and not cream.

I'm going to add sugar.

So a lot of people have told me, "Tassie, I have so much trouble making ice cream "because my eggs just tend to scramble."

Well, that's because you're using eggs and eggs do scramble, and if you don't temper the cream just right you're going to have scrambled eggs.

So gelato is so much easier just for the everyday person to make.

Now, we're just going to cook this for just a minute until the milk comes up to a simmer, the skin start to pop just a little bit.

Now, while that's happening, I wanna add a little bit of vanilla, about a teaspoon is perfect.

Now, I added about a half teaspoon of salt, you want a little bit of salt in that.

And then as this comes to a simmer, it's really important that it simmers, and then we drop in our chocolate.

Now I have about four ounces of semi-sweet chocolate, which is between 50% and 60%, and then I also have four ounces of unsweetened chocolate.

So really you're getting about 75% to 80% cocoa.

This is beautiful.

Now, as that starts to melt the chocolate, here's my little thing that I do.

I like to take out a little bit of this cream and mix it with my cornstarch, so that I can get the thickening that I want.

Just mix in three tablespoons of corn starch for four and a quarter cups of milk.

And just stir that through, make sure that you really stir it through, get it nice and dissolved because if you don't, you're gonna have lumps in your gelato and nobody wants lumps in their gelato.

So this is thickening just beautifully.

And what I wanna do now is to put it in a bowl and cool it before I put it in my ice cream maker.

Now you might ask why I have this little contraption, my potato masher sitting here.

If the cherries don't pop, or if you don't cut them you might want to go through and just smash them a little bit, so that cherry splits, and then you don't end up with a huge chunk of cherry in one bite, but instead, maybe about a half a cherry in a bite, so that's great.

Now, I've got a cool batch in my ice cream freezer, and what I wanna do is turn that on.

And at this point, I'm going to add some toasted macadamia nuts, and usually I add it about midway through the process.

So I'm gonna process this for about 20 minutes and then we're gonna have something scrumptious to eat.

(soft bright music) Right now, I want to just scoop out that gelato.

Now remember that gelato is served 10 to 15 degrees warmer than actual ice cream is easier on the taste buds, it doesn't give you that terrible head freeze, and it also doesn't burn your tongue from cold.

Now let's look at our wine.

I selected another wine from the Monticello region, the AVA.

And I love this wine, it's from the King Family Vineyard, it's called Seven, it's their polo label and I love this.

It's rich, it's fantastic with dessert, and it's a wonderful after dinner drink, so I hope that you'll like this.

The reason that I chose this is because when I tried to pair ice cream with wines, a lot of times that cream is just a little bit too much, that cold is a little too much to go with the wine.

It brings out the nuttiness in the wine, it brings out the cherry flavor, and it's just incredible.

So I hope you'll love this and all the other recipes from today.

(upbeat music) I hope you enjoyed these delicious truffle fries, one of my favorite things that I ate in France, and this delicious mac and cheese with bacon and really creamy cheeses, and of course, don't forget the ice cream's cousin, gelato.

So I hope you will join me again next time, until then I'm Tassie Pippert, go grab that glass it's always time to "UnWine'd".

>>Production funding for "UnWine'd" was made possible in part by.