[announcer] Smyth County, Virginia, located in the mountains of Southwest Virginia, offering outdoor adventures and small-town charm.

Details online at visitsmythcountyva.com.

[uplifting music] [Chef Missy] Spending time on farms is a remembrance of agricultural common phrases.

When are we planting?

When will it rain?

And of course, when will we bear fruit?

One of the earliest culinary innovations in human history is wine, which necessitates a thorough understanding of domestication and handling of grapes.

Today there are 18 million acres of vineyards across 60 countries with 110,000 wineries.

Who knew that fermenting a bunch of grapes, squeezing them, and pouring them into a bottle, would result in the most complex and delicious liquid?

And, with the exception of religion or politics, is one of the most discussed and beloved subjects in the world.

A vineyard is a type of kingdom with practices, rituals, and principles.

And if you know anything about kingdom principles, all life flows from the vine.

A grape's identity is dependent on the vine to provide essential nutrients for the branch to survive and thrive.

As long as the vine remains inside the branch, and the branch remains inside the vine, then it will indeed bear fruit.

Apart from the vine, the branch exists, but can do absolutely nothing.

The symbiotic union between the vine and the branch produces a pressed liquid history with a heavenly destiny for tomorrow.

[♪♪♪♪♪] Hi, I'm Chef Missy, and I'm the French Magnolia, a true-blue southern gal with French ancestry running through my veins.

My husband, Thomas, is a wine expert and hospitality veteran.

Throughout our careers, we've worked for some incredible restaurants and hotels, from Atlanta to New York City to Charleston, South Carolina, to the edge of a mountain at a five-star Relais & Chateau.

But pretty soon, the French Magnolia, a luxury movable feast company, was born.

We pour into your home and set an elaborate stage for a multi-course culinary and wine experience.

We settled in Bristol, Virginia, a good place to live.

And when we're not working, we love connecting with local farms and Appalachian culture.

From farm, field, garden, and stream, to Chef and Somm, to the table, all in one day, this is the French Magnolia Cooks.

Hey!

Today we're in Abingdon, Virginia, about 20 minutes from Bristol, where we're catching up with Loren Gardner, who owns and operates Abingdon Vineyards.

Loren is a seventh-generation Napa Valley guy, turned Southwest Virginia farmer, and boy, are we blessed to have him as a friend and neighbor.

Loren, we are finally here at Abingdon Vineyards in Abingdon, Virginia.

Thank you so much for letting us be here.

This is spectacular.

-Welcome to the winery.

It's a pleasure to have you here.

-Now, Loren, you were born and raised in Northern California, right?

-Yeah.

-And your background comes out of Napa.

-Specifically, Napa.

My family settled there in 1818 before it was a state.

My father developed a vineyard management company and a heavy earth-moving construction company in the '50s.

A lot of the infrastructure in Napa Valley from the ponds, irrigation ponds, the roads, the vineyard prep is done with heavy equipment.

So that's some of my earliest memories are the smell of diesel and dirt, and walking through a vineyard that is being developed.

-A lot of people think they're just going to buy a lot of land and plant grapes and watch them grow and then drink great wine.

But there is so much infrastructure that goes in to just grading the land and preparing it for the planting.

-Grape growing is one of the hardest farming practices in the world.

There is so much that can go wrong, from disease pressure to climate change to late spring frost.

Everything on the planet wants to eat a grape, from bees, birds, bugs, deer, bears, everything.

Especially here in Southwest Virginia, where the biodiversity is so vast.

We also have to protect the crop from a lot of potential damage.

-What brings an educated wine grower to Southwest Virginia to do what you're doing here?

-Pretentiousness in the engine of the wine country in California has just gotten out of control.

Price points are so high, the land values are unapproachable, and the cost of the grapes, the raw material for the wine, is so expensive that there was no chance that I'd ever be able to own a winery in Napa Valley.

I found this little slice of heaven here in Southwest Virginia right along the river with a creek that runs through the middle of the winery property.

I just couldn't have asked for something better.

When I drove across the bridge the first time, I knew that it had heart, and that I could make it my own.

You've had the wine, it's very rewarding in the end, and something that is iconoclastic and so historic, and the beauty and the history and the science and everything that evolves to create art, and that's why I love the industry so much.

-We want to be part of things that are ancient.

-The inventors and the creators and the artists, if you will, that create this product, are making a product that they know will outlive them.

-Ultimately, we want to leave things better than when we found them.

[Loren Gardner] We have a huge responsibility to the vineyard and our farming practices to not contaminate the water.

South Holston River is one of the purest water sources in the country, and clean at this elevation.

So this vine is between 15 and 17 years old.

So it's my belief, in my practice here in Southwest Virginia growing grapes, that we want as much time as possible to develop the sugars and the phenolic quality within that grape.

The vine wants to produce a lot of this cane per year.

We only need seven to ten leaves per cane in order to develop the structure in the grape that we're looking for.

So we hedge this cane and try to keep it at the top of the trellis wire in order to keep it vertically shoot positioned.

And that allows for the maximum exposure to the leaves and to the grapes and produces the highest quality fruit.

We come in after the berry set has happened.

We'll pull the leaves off from around the tiny little cluster to expose it to the sun.

After today's harvest, the grape vine has done its job.

We just leave it alone until February when we're going to come back and prune prior to bud break in spring.

-And you want the vine to struggle a little bit because it's going to naturally go deeper and deeper and deeper in search of water.

-Absolutely.

My philosophy is to plant on as steep a slope as you can to get the water to drain off as quickly as possible.

[Chef Missy] The deeper the struggle, the more intense the struggle, the more intense the character in the wine.

-I could say the same about humans, right?

-Right.

That's right.

-You know.

You develop character throughout your experiences in life and similarly with the grape vine.

It's a very symbiotic relationship.

[♪♪♪♪♪] I own and use a Antonio Carraro Mach 4 tractor that is developed in Italy for very, very steep terrain.

[♪♪♪♪♪] The juice is going to bed.

[Thomas] Night-night.

[♪♪♪♪♪] -And that is fantastic.

-We are back here in the French Magnolia Culinary Center.

And Thomas and I have had a beautiful couple of days with Loren Gardner of Abingdon Vineyards.

And Loren and his adorable girlfriend Katy are joining us for dinner tonight.

Okay, macerating fruit is really fun.

And in this situation, obviously we're working with grapes, but the maceration process will soften the fruit and it will amplify the flavor, and it will create a liquid syrup that's very flavorful.

That's wonderful to use with desserts, with cakes, with pies, with muffins.

Just having it over ice cream is wonderful.

Anything that you would use fruit for, you can use the macerated fruit for.

Macerating fruit involves sugar, acid, and some kind of liquid.

Today we're going to be using a French orange liqueur.

I have set aside four quarts of organic seedless grapes.

You're going to add four tablespoons of sugar for every quart.

That's one tablespoon per cup of fruit.

And then, just give it a good stir.

Okay, final quart.

And a final stir.

And we're going to set this aside and let it sit for one hour.

These grapes have been sitting in that sugar for about an hour.

We're going to zest four lemons.

And, we're going to use the juice of all four lemons.

And the final step, to add the French orange liqueur.

Get your lids on nice and tight.

I'm going to give it a good shake at the end.

These macerating grapes are ready for the refrigerator.

These want to chill for a minimum of four hours.

This is a wine lover's grape cake.

And it has lemon zest and orange zest and our beautiful organic seedless grapes.

Okay, the first thing you want to do is get your oven preheated to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Step two, beating your eggs and sugar together.

We're going to use two organic eggs.

Two-thirds of a cup organic sugar.

And then whisk together.

Then add a third of a cup of whole milk and one quarter cup organic extra virgin olive oil.

Four tablespoons of melted butter.

And a half a teaspoon of good quality Madagascar vanilla, times two.

And then whisk together.

Okay, now for the flour, salt, and baking powder.

A cup and a half of good organic flour.

Then just take your hand and just tap the side of the sieve.

A generous pinch of salt.

And just shy of one teaspoon of baking powder.

Now, we're going to add the zest of two lemons and two oranges.

Now add the juice of one whole lemon.

Now, just gently fold in the wet batter into your flour.

I can hear our dogs going nuts outside, which leads me to believe that maybe our guests are early.

I want to quickly get this in the oven.

And after I smash and mash the flour, I'm just going to give it a good whisking.

Just to make sure that everything is generously blended together.

I'm using a 9-inch non-stick springform pan.

And then, I like to do just a little light dusting of flour inside the springform.

I'm going to go ahead and add one cup of grapes to our batter.

Now pop this in the oven at 350 for 15 minutes.

Okay, it's been 15 minutes.

I'm going to take a few more grapes and scatter them on top.

Okay, the grape cake is back in the oven for 40 minutes.

Okay, if there was anything more delicious than homemade whipped cream, it would be Chantilly cream.

This is so simple and absolutely spectacularly delicious.

Here it is.

Sour cream, confectioner's sugar, and vanilla.

That's it.

Sour cream in a bowl.

This is about four cups.

We're going to sprinkle two cups of confectioner's sugar into the sour cream.

The Chantilly cream is going to be your new favorite thing.

You're going to be looking for excuses to have it.

And then, finish it off with a heaping tablespoon of fresh Madagascar vanilla.

[♪♪♪♪♪] Perfect!

We're going to wrap this, set it in the fridge.

It's all ready for us for tonight.

Okay, our wine lovers' grape cake is done.

[♪♪♪♪♪] -[Chef Missy] Hey!

-[Thomas] Hello!

Hi, how are you?

-Hi, good to see you.

-Hi!

-Good to see you.

-Welcome.

-Thank you.

-Good to see you.

Hi.

-[Loren Gardner] I'm so excited.

-[Thomas] Hi.

[excited chatter] -[Chef Missy] We made it.

-[Katy] I know.

[Chef Missy] Yeah, come on in.

[♪♪♪♪♪] -So I brought a little treat, if you want some.

-Yay, treats!

Yay, treats!

-As long as it's wine, right?

-Exactly.

-So this is Alsatian French wine, so from the region of Alsace in France.

And it's a small little place.

It's on the border of France next to Germany, just right above Switzerland.

So there's a mountain range on this side of Germany.

And it kind of, the hill slopes down to a river Rhine, the Rhine River, okay.

And on the hillside is Alsace.

A lot of people think of this area, and they naturally think Riesling.

-Wait, I have a question.

-Oh, you do, already?

-Is Riesling a grape?

-Riesling is a grape.

-Gotcha.

-Right.

So is Gewürztraminer, right.

Both of those grapes are in this wine.

Most of the wines in this area are blends.

Almost all of it is white.

The style in the Alsatian region is dry.

In addition to Gewürztraminer and Riesling grapes in this bottle are Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, and Muscat.

Part of the regulation for a Gentil label is that it has to be 50 percent those grapes.

And those are noble grapes, okay.

They are of their own classification because those grapes are only grown in Grand Cru vineyards.

That means you're experiencing a place and time through a living organism into something living right now.

-[Chef Missy] Cheers!

-[Loren Gardner] Salud!

-[Thomas] Salut!

-[glasses clinking] -I'm so happy to be here with you guys.

This is so awesome.

[Chef Missy] Yay!

For our main course, we are going to do a grape and blue cheese stuffed venison loin.

Grape and blue cheese are flavors that were born to go together.

So these are the venison loins.

They have been air drying in the refrigerator for three to four days.

Now the reason I want to do that is so that all of the rest of the blood has an opportunity to drain out and away from the meat.

I'm going to show you a very easy method for butterflying the tenderloin.

With your knife, a very sharp knife, at the fat end, just give it a nice score down the center, okay, all the way to the tip.

And then run your finger kind of down there.

See how deep you got it.

And then just kind of keep slowly making a score.

Running your finger down, and then making another score.

Running your finger down, making sure that you don't cut all the way through to the other side.

And if that happens, it's okay.

It's not the end of the world at all.

Starting on the left side, I'm going to just run my knife along this section.

Now to the left, opening it up like an envelope.

Again, moving a little centimeter over with your knife, coming down.

Then run your finger along the edge.

So see how this is opening up like an envelope?

And then, just keep working it.

The stuffing is going to end up in these wonderful little pockets of the envelope.

And then we're going to flip it and work the other side.

I'm going to give this a quick olive oil drizzle.

Rub it down.

Olive oil.

A little salt.

Cracked pepper.

Okay, these venison loin have been cleaned and butterflied.

Salt, pepper, ready to go.

I'm going to set those aside for just a minute while we make our stuffing.

Two sticks of organic salted butter.

Two cups of good, high-quality blue cheese.

And just get this working together, mashing the blue cheese in with the butter.

Half a cup chopped fresh garlic.

Garlic is in the onion family, okay?

And when we use garlic raw, it's going to produce a sharp, pungent, almost horseradish type heat to the dish.

And then, when we sauté garlic, because it's in the onion family, it's high in sugar.

Those sugars are going to start releasing out of the garlic, and it's going to become sweet.

Half a cup chopped shallots.

Smash and mash it.

Two cups of chopped seedless organic grapes.

[Loren Gardner] I've been eating venison my entire life, and this is unique to me right now.

And I'm very, very excited.

[Chef Missy] Really?

-[Loren] I'm very excited.

-[Chef Missy] Wow!

Okay, we almost have these venison loins trussed.

But I left one to show you what I did and how I did it.

I'm going to start to just run my kitchen string or twine down nice and tight.

We're basically just sealing up the envelope.

Then I'm just going to measure the length of the tenderloin.

Now I'm going to come up under.

Under...

Pull it tight.

Give it a little knot at the end.

I think this skillet is ready to sear these off.

We're going to brown the outside of these venison loins in the skillet, then put them back in the casserole dish.

and cook them at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

Hard rest, slice, plate up, eat.

[♪♪♪♪♪] [Thomas] This is a Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

1308, Pope Clement V changed his residence from Rome to Rhône.

Then a guy named Pope John XII, he moved in and he was there.

And the Pope was there in that residence for about 70 years.

Châteauneuf-du-Pape, by the way, means Papa's new house, right?

They started introducing wine to new regions as they conquered and developed new areas.

Now, this particular winery has been around since 1340-ish, okay, family from father to son ever since then.

It was run initially as a fief.

So, a fief is a plot of land granted by royalty.

Nobility still owned it, but you were able to run it and manage it as your own.

The family didn't actually take ownership until much later.

Along with the fiefdom, they were granted the right to carry a sword, which was a thing, right.

-[Loren Gardner] All right.

[Thomas] Primarily, it's Grenache, right.

Grenache Rouge, to be specific, because there was a Grenache Blanc.

And this particular one is 80 percent Grenache, 20 percent Syrah.

It is a lot of limestone.

It is a lot of fossilized sea creatures.

And being on the slope, you're going to get the water runoff.

And you're also going to get the roots going deep into these particular soils, which helps get character into the wine.

It does get warm there, so you get a lot of development in the grape.

So that's going to come through in the wine.

And as it pulls the nutrients from the soil, you're going to get a lot of character.

And that is what makes Châteauneuf-du-Pape, across the board, such a spectacular choice of wine from their own region of France.

-[Loren Gardner] Right.

Salud!

-[Chef Missy] So cheers!

-[Katy] Cheers!

-[glasses clinking] [Chef Missy] Heavenly Father, we come before You with humble hearts.

In Jesus' mighty name, amen.

-Amen.

[♪♪♪♪♪] -Wow.

[♪♪♪♪♪] -It's fun and playful and bright and surprising.

I love it.

-I'm so pleased with how tender the venison is.

-The Châteauneuf-du-Pape brings out the butterfat quality in that blue cheese.

-Let's lift our glass to all the farmers and the winemakers.

Yay!

-[Thomas] Yes!

-And to Southwest Virginia!

-[Loren] To Southwest Virginia!

-[Thomas] To Southwest Virginia!

[Chef Missy] Branches are nourished and strengthened while inheriting their identity and purpose from the vine.

The communion of the grapevine makes it hard to see where the vine ends and the branch begins.

Branches that don't bear fruit get pruned.

Even branches that do bear fruit sometimes get pruned so they can bear even greater fruit.

Built into every bottle of wine is the soul of a farmer's kingdom.

Their money, knowledge, wisdom, and time.

A glass of wine captures and preserves a farmer's identity.

And like other art forms, we marvel at its creation.

Returning from the ancient, it embodies a spirit of creativity and generosity.

Wine elevates food, accompanies conversation, and ushers in a legacy.

[♪♪♪♪♪] [announcer] Smyth County, Virginia, offering a business friendly environment, with partnerships like Smyth Strong, fostering entrepreneurship and growth.

Details at smythcounty economicdevelopment.com.