- Hi, I'm Tassie Pippert here at Keswick Vineyards in the Monticello AVA of Virginia, where there's love in every single glass of wine.

So, go grab your glass right now.

It's time to unwind.

- [Narrator] Production funding for "Un-wine'd" was made possible in part by.

- [Announcer] The Virginia Wine Board, promoting the interests of vineyard and wineries in the Commonwealth through research, education and marketing.

There's a movement growing in Virginia's vineyards, discover more at virginiawine.org.

- [Narrator] And by.

(jazzy music) - I had so much fun today talking with Stephen.

We sat there at the picnic table, just talking about the great years, the lean years, the years of frosts, the year of COVID, all of the things that you have to come out of to be a successful wine maker.

Back in the kitchen, I'm going to pair up his wines with some delicious food, including a wonderful baked scallop with lemon butter paired with a delicious white wine, lasagna d'Italiano with a beautiful Cabernet Sauvignon.

So, go grab your glass.

Let's head to my kitchen.

Right now, it's time to really relax and unwind.

(jazzy music) I love seafood with Chardonnay, and this Chardonnay, this reserve, is so beautiful.

I love a good reserve Chardonnay that's buttery, and yet still has that wonderful acidity.

So, I'm going to pair up some scallops today with a lovely reserve Chardonnay.

Now, what you wanna do when you get scallops ready, we're gonna bake these today, and I'm going to just blot them like this to make them nice and dry.

Now, to get them ready, you have to blot them, and then just make sure that the little muscular tissue is not laying there because it's tough.

It's just kind of ugly to eat.

It looks like this, and it's just a little tiny tissue that you just have to take off.

And it's sort of like silver skin on a beef.

You wanna make sure that that is off, and everything is nice and cleaned up.

So all of these others, I've already taken off that little piece, except this one.

There we go.

Just wanna pull that right back.

Always blot these.

If you can find dry pack scallops, that's wonderful, but anytime you're going to bake or saute or do a quick butter braise on a scallop, you wanna make sure that they're nice and dry, or else you just end up with a white kind of ugliness.

All right, let's pull these all together, and I want them just to barely touch.

Now in my bowl, I have a little more than a stick of butter melted.

What I'm gonna do is four of these containers.

So, this recipe actually serves four people.

You want about 24 scallops for this recipe.

So, I have about a stick and a quarter to a stick and a half of butter.

And then I'm gonna add to that some Panko crumbs and some freshly minced parsley.

That gives it great color.

I want to add just a little bit of cayenne pepper and a little bit of garlic powder.

Now, I'm not using whole garlic for this, because sometimes, that's just a little bit obtrusive for scallops.

So, what we wanna do is add, oh, a pinch or two of garlic powder.

That's plenty.

It's not even a quarter teaspoon, maybe closer to an eighth.

Now, let's just mix this all up, and I'm gonna give it a little stir with my fingers.

So the butter is not fully melted.

I put it in the microwave for about 20 seconds so it would really start to soften and partially melt.

That way, I have a little body in it.

All right, now, the last thing I wanna add is some lemon zest.

And I'd like to add this lemon zest last.

I wanna be able to really see how much I have in there and just get this nice zest, fresh lemon, oh, there's nothing like it on scallops.

So, just zest off all of the zest from one really nice sized lemon.

If you have small ones, use two, because this flavor is gonna be something you really want to have lots of.

Okay, now I have most of the yellow off.

I don't want to go into the white because that just doesn't taste very good.

Okay, now I wanna take just a little bit of this and put on top of each one of these scallops, and then I'm gonna bake these at 450 degrees for about 12 to 15 minutes.

You don't wanna over bake scallops because they can get really, really tough and rubbery.

All right, now, I have the rest to do the other three quarters.

So let's pop those in the oven.

And here they are, sizzling and beautiful out of the oven.

I just love scallops and all of this lemon flavor, this butter, really works well with Chardonnay.

You know, when you're trying to cut through something that's acidic, something buttery really works well.

Mm.

So delicious.

Let's give it a little taste.

So while I taste this, let's head on over to Keswick and meet up with my friend, Stephen Bernard.

He's one of the most amazing people I've ever met.

So positive, so wonderful, and I know you'll enjoy talking with him as well.

(relaxed music) Well, Stephen, tell me a little bit about being here at Keswick.

How did you get started in the wine industry?

- Oh, well, I like wine.

- [Tassie] Yes.

- I drink wine.

You know, I got paid in wine, and that sounded like a great start.

I was studying something else, and I got a job in South Africa at the oldest winery, just working in the tasting room, just pouring wines for people, and then it sort of went from there.

I got to work in the cellar and do all the menial stuff.

Studied wine making, and then I wanted to travel, and the plan was to go to every country and make wine.

And then I came here and I met a girl, and all of that went out the window.

And 20 years later, I'm making wine in Virginia.

And I can't say that I'm disappointed 'cause I love it out here.

- Oh, that is fabulous.

Well, and you can tell by your wines.

You could tell by your attitude.

I love that.

- Well, I had two glasses of wine before you walked up this morning, so that's just buzzing.

No, I mean, why not?

I mean, you make a product that people enjoy in an area that is so vibrant and new and collaborative.

You know, we're all healthy and well.

You know, what's not to be positive about?

- I love that.

I love that.

Well, tell me a little bit about how the winery is coming out of COVID right now.

- Sure.

- And any practices that maybe you started then that you plan to continue.

- Yeah, certainly, you know, the bigger picture is obviously the health and wellbeing of people that work here and people that visit.

And we gotta look at what we do in terms of worldwide.

So, you know, I would say this though, we closed incredibly early.

I believe we were the first winery to shut down and take pause and stock and figure out how we could still pour wine, serve wine, make sure, but do it in a way that was respectful of what was going on.

So, curbside pickup, online ordering, that was like everyone did, but we started a social media thing.

We do something on Tuesdays called Tasting Tuesday.

We've done it for 17 months now, and we pretty much do it every Tuesday.

It started off with let's focus on Keswick wines.

You can buy the wines preemptively.

You know, we'll talk about the wines on Facebook, live, which is scary when you're live, and then it, and it evolved into, well, let's get other people involved.

So, we've done with Veritas and Barboursville and Kings and Blenheim and 53rd.

And we've had their wines and brought people on.

We've worked with restaurants and Bowerbird Bakery and chocolatiers, and trying to get people to support local and drink local, especially when, you know, people are hurting, especially in hospitality.

You know, now that we're moving out, we're doing so cautiously.

You know, we still don't do tastings per se.

You know, we do flights and glasses and bottles, but we've also pivoted, which is the word for 2021, pivoting, I guess.

- [Tassie] Yes.

- [Stephen] But QR codes so you can link up and have a video where someone will talk you through the wine.

So you can have a tasting experience at the comfort of your table.

And you know, we're optimistic that we'll one day get to be to the point where we can welcome people in again, but doesn't mean we can't make sure you get some fabulous wine in your glass.

- Exactly, and do you plan to continue doing your Tasting Tuesdays online?

- I'm running out of content, you know.

There's just so much stuff you can do and repeat.

- [Tassie] Oh yeah.

- I'd like to, I, you know, I think social media is such a great avenue in which to reach people.

It's interesting where people are commenting live, and they've pulled in from the UK, and we've had people from Australia and from South Africa.

So, I wanna say thank you to Mom for watching because that's the South African one, but, yeah, hopefully the intention is to promote Keswick, but the greater intention is to promote Virginia.

- Well, it's been amazing because I think, in doing social media the way that it's been done during all of this, we've been able to reach so many more people who might not have a chance to travel.

- Sure.

- [Tassie] And I think it's been great.

- Yeah, and youngsters, I mean, they are social media savvy.

I mean - - Oh, yeah.

- You know, we want to get 25 year olds and 23 year olds drinking wine because they represent the next 40 years of wine consumption in America.

So, how do you resonate with them?

Is it philanthropic?

Is it charity based?

Is it environmentally based?

I think they just want good, honest story told wines.

And I think Virginia does that, but more importantly, we want them to drink local, go to local, support local, instead of go to a grocery store and buy a fabulous New Zealand or Sancerre Chilean wine.

Right now, let's really support the local economy and wineries and beers and distilleries and cideries, and then, at least for the short term.

- [Tassie] Absolutely.

- Yeah.

But this is our special Cabernet.

This is also Cabernet.

- [Tassie] All right.

- You know.

Nothing but the best, a 2.99 plastic thief to pull it out.

Nothing curved and stuff, but - - [Tassie] That's right.

- You know, I'm gonna spill over everything.

And this will be bottled in, that's Cabernet.

That's a little bit bigger and a little bit more complex, and - - Yeah.

- And that's why I'm pretty big on this varietal at Keswick in given years.

- Yes.

- Now, if we track like we have with as dry as it's been, and as ripe as it's been, we can even make better wines this year, so.

- Ooh, nice.

And you know, it's funny, the other one almost drank like a Merlot.

- Oh, okay.

This is quite soft and plus.

- Yes, yes.

- This one's certainly a bit more grippy.

- Yeah, yes, I love it.

- So, that wine had no new oak whatsoever.

- Okay.

- Because it'll go and released on the market really early.

So, it's all about fruits and acidity.

This one is wine that you like, you can drink it, but it's better to put aside for a couple years.

- Oh, yeah, yeah.

- [Stephen] And this will reward patience and time.

- I love patience and time.

Let's just drink at all.

- Well, they're not going to appreciate it.

- Let's just open every barrel and just put a straw in it.

- Well, that's just it, you know, drink wine, have fun with it.

There's always another bottle.

There's always another vintage, right?

So.

- That's right.

- Cheers.

- Cheers.

(jazzy music) I absolutely love Italian food, and I really love it with all sorts of wines.

But when I have a nice beef course, I love to have Cabernet Sauvignon.

So, I'm pairing up a lasagna d'Italiano with a Cabernet Sauvignon.

First thing I'm gonna do is brown some ground beef, and we're gonna make this in a really simple style.

What I found when I was in Italy, a lot of the ladies in Italy just love using their hands when they cook.

So I'm gonna use my hands a lot as I make all these things today.

So, I'll let that ground beef just kind of go for a little while.

I want to render out the fat.

This is about an 85%, 15% fat.

So, while I'm letting that render and brown up just a little bit, I'm gonna make some sauce and I'm gonna make some filling.

Let's start off with some filling.

I love to use a nice ricotta cheese.

Now this is a full fat ricotta, and it's one of the 15 ounce containers that you can buy in the grocery store.

Easy to find.

You can use a lower fat if you like, but when you're building this lasagna and you see how much cheese, once you have that fat, you might want to just have that fat.

So, the next thing I need is just a couple handfuls, nice handfuls, of mozzarella cheese.

Then, some Parmesan.

Gotta have some Parmesan.

It's Italian, after all.

And then I wanna put in some vegetables.

This is going to be a little bit heavier than a standard lasagna d'Italiano where you have just the cheese as your layer.

I'm trying to incorporate some great vegetables in here.

So, we're gonna start off with a little bit of red pepper.

Anytime I can add vegetables to my dishes, I do.

A little bit of grated zucchini, and this is about one medium zucchini.

I have a 10 ounce box of spinach that I've squeezed out from all the water.

Just thaw it and squeeze it.

You can also use fresh spinach and just steam it up.

Just make sure that you steam it and then squeeze it because it would have too much liquid in it if you don't.

And I love a little carrot, so this is just one grated carrot.

This was a small to medium carrot.

It gives it a little extra sweetness, and I really like that.

And then, some parsley and some fresh basil, a little dried oregano because my fresh oregano has died.

And just a hint of salt.

I've got about a half teaspoon in here.

Now, let's give it a nice mix.

We're gonna get down in there.

We really want to get all of those vegetables incorporated with all the cheese.

The ricotta is just gonna be this beautiful, nice layer.

And with those vegetables, it's meatier, it's just fuller.

It's got a great flavor.

Remember, the mamas in Italy love to do everything farm to table because they don't have a lot of refrigeration.

They don't have a lot of freezer space.

So, everything that they do is either going to be dried or fresh or preserved.

Let's give our ground beef a stir so that we can brown it on all sides.

You can also do this with ground chicken.

You can do it with veal.

You can do it with a meatloaf mix, which is usually one third ground beef, one third pork, and one third veal or one third lamb.

Any of the combinations work great.

Once again, let's get our hands in it.

So, I have one can, this is 28 ounces of San Marzano tomatoes.

These are whole grape tomatoes that are more in a plum style.

They're a little bit like a julienne tomato, and I love them because they're really thick.

They don't have a lot of moisture in them.

So, we're just gonna squish those with our hands.

No need to use the blender on this.

You want a little texture with this sauce.

I want to add a little bit of red wine.

This is about 1/2 cup of red wine and about 1/4 cup of water.

That's gonna thin it just enough to cook the noodles because I'm using an oven ready noodle, and with a little extra moisture, they cook beautifully.

Now, let's go with just a touch more salt.

This is about a teaspoon of salt, a little red pepper flake, because I do like just that little bit of flavor in the sauce.

You can always leave those out if you don't like the heat, but it doesn't really give you a lot of heat, just a good flavor.

This is some dried oregano.

And then, again, some fresh parsley, fresh basil, and another minced clove of garlic.

Now I'm gonna go ahead and just stir that up a little bit.

And then I want to add a 28 ounce can of tomato puree.

Now, this is a little bit thicker than tomato sauce, but it's not as thick as tomato paste.

And it gives a lot of body to the sauce.

That's why we want to use that little bit of extra moisture with the red wine and the water.

You know, when you're trying to match up meat, think about the fat in meat and think about the tannins in the wine.

So, red wines are going to have tannins.

White wines don't have tannins.

The tannin comes from the seeds, the pits and the stems.

So, if you want something to really fight against those tannins and match those tannins, just really meld with those tannins, go with a nice red meat or with something with a lot of cheese that has a really good butter fat.

Now, we are just about completely cooked through.

Don't worry about browning the meat.

You're really just trying to create a nice sauce here, but if it browns up a little bit, that's okay.

You're not going to ruin it.

And I wanna just kind of chop through so there aren't huge chunks of meat, and I'm gonna add just a little bit of my sauce to that.

And then, let's take a ladle and put three ladles of this sauce into my meat.

Now, this is about an eight ounce, so, three cups.

Now, if you want to continue to cook this down to get rid of all the excess moisture, that's fine, too, because we're going to layer this up with a little bit of extra sauce.

So, if you want to continue to cook it, thicken it, that's fine, but it's not necessary.

Now, let's go build that lasagna.

Okay, so, let's get this started.

Now, this recipe makes enough for a 10 by 14 lasagna pan, a nice deep dish lasagna pan.

This is a little bit smaller, so what I usually do is make the whole recipe and then I use about two thirds for this, and the other third, I make a smaller lasagna.

I stick it in the freezer or I give it to a friend.

So, we're gonna start off in the bottom of our pan that I've sprayed lightly with olive oil.

Just one scoop of that sauce, and let's just kind of spread it around.

The reason that I do this is because if you start with the noodles on the very bottom, those noodles can burn, and you want to be able to get under that lasagna, lift it without any problem.

Now, let's lay in a layer of lasagna.

Don't worry if these noodles break, that's not a problem.

And if you prefer using cooked lasagna noodles, then by all means, do that.

So, it's your choice.

Now, let's put in our vegetable mix the next, I just love this.

And it works so beautifully as that layer with the ricotta, the cheeses, the vegetables.

Mm.

So good.

And I like to just kind of drop little dollops all over.

And then I pat it down.

So again, about two thirds of this.

(jazzy music) You want a nice layer, but you don't want it to be so thick that that's all you get in your lasagna because you want to really layer it up with the meat, with the noodles, with the cheese.

Ah, perfect.

All right, so, I've got a nice little layer there.

So, let's put another layer of noodles, and this time, I'm gonna go opposite direction.

And I do that so that I know everything is covered with noodles at one point or another, hopefully at two or three points.

There we go.

Now, I wanna take some of that meat mixture, again about two thirds.

And I just wanna ladle that all over.

And I'm draining this just a little bit because I still have a lot of liquid in it.

At the end, I can always pour that sauce into this sauce and mix it all together.

Now, let's put on a little more cheese.

So, this serves as our sauce layer.

So, let's throw in some cheese.

Nothing like a cheesy lasagna, especially on a winter night.

Nice glass of Cabernet Sauvignon.

All right, let's layer up a little more.

Again, the opposite direction.

I love these lasagna noodles because it just makes sense for me.

Sometimes, when I'm cooking lasagna noodles, I end up with just kind of a glob in the pan.

I'm not very good at that.

So, these are great for me.

I guess everyone has their thing that they're really great at and things that they just don't do quite as well.

Okay, now, there's another saucy layer.

Let's top that with some cheese.

And we're gonna do one more layer.

Just with noodles, sauce and the last layer of cheese.

All right, and then, let's lay this Parmesan on.

This is what's gonna give that brownish crust on the top.

Now, I want to set my oven for 350, and I'm gonna bake this for about an hour.

Doesn't this look great?

I just love lasagna, and when I make it, it just takes me back to times with family when we had lasagna, times when I traveled and I had lasagna, times with my students when I make them lasagna.

I always did that when we had dessert day, and they always looked forward to having lasagna because then they had something to eat before all that sweet stuff.

All right.

So you want to just cut this in about two and a half to three inch pieces.

And I like to use a serrated knife for this.

For me, it cuts the best when I'm doing lasagna, because I know that I'm cutting through all the layers, and I can kind of give it that little saw method if I have to, and then, let's see if we can get a nice piece out.

There we go.

Let's just look at all these beautiful layers.

Oh.

Isn't that amazing?

(jazzy music) Beautiful lasagna d'Italiano.

So, let's try this with a little bit of our wine.

Now, I let this sit for about 30 minutes.

So, it had the chance to just sort of blend in the pan.

If you try to take it out too soon, all of the cheese just runs everywhere, and it's an absolute mess.

Okay, so let's try it with this Cabernet Sauvignon.

Ah, beautiful.

I get a lot of black cherry, chocolate.

It's just gorgeous.

Mm hm, and with this lasagna, it's gonna be perfect.

Oh.

(jazzy music) Mm.

So good, so cheesy.

It works so well with this amazing Cabernet, and I know you're gonna love it any night of the week.

(jazzy music) So, thanks so much for joining me today for more delicious recipes, these wonderful scallops, this delicious blue cheese paired up with honey and walnuts.

And of course, the lasagna d'Italiano.

So, a special thanks to my guest, Stephen Bernard, who just entertained us with wonderful stories today.

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

And until next time, grab that glass.

It's time to unwind.

- [Narrator] Production funding for "Un-wine'd" was made possible in part by.

- [Announcer] 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.

- [Narrator] And by.

(jazzy music)