>>On today's "Un-wine'd," "New River Winery" in Southwest Virginia you won't wanna miss a second of great food and great wine.

So go grab your glass, it's time to unwind.

>>Production funding for Un-wine'd was made possible in part by... (gentle music) >>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.

(gentle upbeat music) >>And by... >>Today, on the show, we'll be preparing food that goes with wines that we've never used before including a raspberry wine that's tea infused and a lovely Leon Millot.

And then we'll also pair up with a Vidal blanc.

So this Vidal blanc is just really nice and light but it's not as sweet as some of the Vidal blancs we've used on the show before.

So it's a little bit drier and it goes really well with spicy food, particularly, this black bean burger with a beautiful salsa.

So in my bowl, I have two 14 1/2 ounce cans of black beans, and I just wanna mash those up.

Now I'm using a pastry blender because I don't wanna make them smooth and gooey.

What I really want to do is just to break up about 2/3 of them and leave about a 1/3 whole.

This seems to work well.

If you don't have a pastry blender, use a fork.

(gentle piano music) So let's just smash away.

And what I did with these beans, I didn't rinse them but I did drain them.

So just drain them out of the can, put them in your bowl, but don't rinse them because if you do, the burgers get too dry.

Now, I love black bean burgers, just served themselves with some salsa.

But you can also, of course, use them on a bun.

This burger is very versatile and you can do it either way.

(black beans sploshing) All right, now I've got those beans mashed up.

So here I have about 1/2 cup to 3/4 quarters cup of breadcrumbs.

If you're using this as a main course and you're using just the salsa, you can go with a little more breadcrumb.

If you're using it on a bun, you want slightly less breadcrumb and that's because the juice from the salsa will give it a nice moisture.

If you don't use the salsa, make sure you have just a little bit less breadcrumb in this recipe.

Now 1/2 cup is what I'm using.

And then I'm gonna use two tablespoons of minced up red pepper, two tablespoons of jalapeno pepper and about two tablespoons of red onion.

There we go.

I also want to add some Ancho Chili powder and some cumin.

So I'm going to use 1/2 teaspoon of each of those to a teaspoon, depending on what kind of flavor you like.

Start off with 1/2 teaspoon and then you can always add more flavor.

Now let's just mix that up a little bit.

I don't wanna put in my wet ingredient, which is my egg, until I have all of this mixed through.

If you add the eggs too quickly then you might end up with a pocket of cumin or a pocket of Ancho Chili powder somewhere in a bite.

And if your grandmother's eating these she might not like them.

So let's take two eggs.

(egg cracking) These are large eggs, and I'm just gonna drop them right in.

The other thing that you can use to control the dryness is one egg or two.

(egg cracking) I like two eggs and a little bit less on my breadcrumb.

Okay, let's get that all mixed in and incorporated.

You don't wanna see any of that strand of egg white lingering in your burger mixture.

(burger mixture sploshing) And I have my oven set at 350 degrees because I'm actually going to bake these.

It makes a much lower fat burger.

And for those of you who are really health conscious or looking at your gluten content you can also use a gluten-free breadcrumb for this.

I've had this little burger maker for years and I love to use it because then everything is uniform (spoon clanks) and I know exactly what I'm serving everyone and they're all perfectly shaped for a bun.

So I'm gonna put a nice scoop in there.

This will make four to six burgers depending on how big you want them.

There we go.

Just gonna twist that off and load that one up again.

I'll make the rest of these burgers on this pan and then I'm going to stick them in my oven for 20 minutes at 350 degrees and just let them bake.

So while those bean burgers are baking let's just make some yummy salsa.

So in my bowl, I have about a cup and a half of fresh tomatoes, and these are just outta my garden and I love fresh garden tomatoes.

Now to that, I'm going to add about, oh, two tablespoons, three tablespoons of red bell pepper and a 1/2 of a jalapeno all minced up.

(bowls clattering) And I'm gonna add about two tablespoons of red onion again.

And a cup of frozen corn that I've just allowed to thaw.

(bowl clinking) And some of them are still a little bit chunky and cold but that's okay.

As we mix up that lime juice, we'll have nice thawed corn.

So I'm gonna just stir all that together.

(bowl clinking) And then I wanna put in about a teaspoon of salt.

It takes quite a bit of salt for this because you have a lot of vegetables.

And we're gonna take two limes.

Make sure that you really rub those limes and scrunch 'em up so that they give all the juice they can.

We'll cut them in two.

And remember, limes don't have seeds so we can just squeeze to our heart's content and not worry about seeds dropping in there.

(lime juice gushing) Mm oh, it smells so good.

The oil from those limes as you squeeze, oh, just fills the room.

Now we wanna add just a little bit of olive oil about two tablespoons, and then as I test it to see if it's wet enough, I'll add more if I need to.

You don't want your vegetables to swim in olive oil but you also don't want salsa to be dry.

(bowl clinking) (food sloshing) Mm It smells great.

(bowl clinking) But my favorite is still to come.

Avocado.

I love avocado, so I wanna take an avocado, and remember, if you pull out that little tiny stem at the top of the avocado and it's green, in all likelihood your avocado will be green cutting into it.

If it's brown, it's started to go.

(knife scraping) Perfect.

Now let's just cube that up.

And I'm just gonna very carefully cut just down to the peel.

(knife scraping) There we go.

(knife clatters) And then let's scoop that out.

(spoon scraping) (Tassie groans) I love avocado.

I could just sit down and eat it with a little salt and pepper for lunch.

It's one of my favorite things.

And then let's cut the second half.

(knife scraping) (knife clatters) All right, we'll scoop that in.

Okay, now let's give it a good stir.

(food sploshing) Mm this is so delicious.

And the avocado starts to become a little bit creamy and it just adds to almost a thickening in that sauce.

So between the avocado and the olive oil, it's just perfect.

Got a little piece of peel in there.

Now let me give it a taste.

Mm really good, spot on.

So let's get our black bean burgers out of the oven.

Plate it up with our wine.

So let's look at these beautiful bean burgers all plated up.

I just love these.

And I could have them three or four nights a week.

I just love black beans.

They're so healthy, and there's nothing about this that's just not good for you.

(spoon clatters) Here we go.

Now let's take some of our salsa.

We're just gonna put it on top.

Just kinda let it go down the side.

And always make sure that you get some of that great juice that wonderful blend of the lime, the olive oil and the tomato juice.

Oh, it's so great.

There we go.

We just need to see that we've got a black bean burger under there.

And then what I usually do for a full meal is to stack them, just like that.

There we go.

And just a little more of the juice over top.

It's awesome.

So Vidal blanc is actually a hybrid grape.

It's from a grape called Ugni Blanc and then another French hybrid.

So it's a hybrid of a hybrid, which is really unusual.

It has a beautiful golden color, and it's very winter hardy.

It's fruity, kind of floral, lots of that green but peachy at the same time fruit, really nice stone fruit and apple kind of thing, pear, all blended together.

It's just got a very unusual flavor.

Mm (gentle piano music) Oh yeah, high acidity and high sugar is what makes this grape so amazing.

(drawer grinding) (cutlery clanking) (gentle piano music continues) So let's taste the bean burger with the wine.

Mm Mm so good.

(gentle piano music continues) Oh yeah.

(glass clatters) The peppers work with this, the avocado works with this, the jalapeno works with this, and all of it together just really makes a nice combination in your mouth.

So I hope you'll enjoy this.

(gentle piano music) (upbeat music) So I'm here today at the New River Vineyard and Winery with the owner and winemaker Christy.

And what a pleasure to just drive down here today through the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains.

Just gorgeous.

>>Thank you.

Thank you for coming up.

>>Absolutely.

>>Really appreciate it.

>>So tell me a little bit about this amazing winery.

>>Well, we've been open for six years.

We started growing grapes about 12 years ago.

>>Oh, wow.

>>In 2012, I guess.

(mumbles) yeah, 2012.

And basically, this is kind of a funny story.

I went home for a school reunion and I'm not talking high school reunion.

It was an elementary school reunion.

>>Oh, I love that.

So I grew up in Ohio, and went home for a reunion and a friend of mine has a very large winery there.

And we got to talking, we were looking around and he's like, you know, you have 25 acres.

You ought to do something with the land.

Why don't you grow some grapes?

And my husband and I talked it over and I thought, well, that's not a bad idea.

So we started growing grapes and my friend subsequently showed me how to make wine.

>>Wow.

>>And of course I've been reading about it and studying and a lot of trial and error, to be quite honest.

(Tassie laughing) But yeah, making wine now for 10 years solid.

So it's been an adventure.

So, we were the first winery to open our doors in Pulaski County >>Yes.

>>that had a vineyard on site and open to the public with the tasting rooms.

>>Now what kind of grapes do you grow here on property?

What variety- >>We have 10 varieties of grapes.

(laughs) >>Wow.

>>Yeah.

We've got Sauvignon blanc, we've got Traminette, Vidal blanc, >>Wow.

>>Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, we have a Leon Millot.

>>Yes.

I'm not sure if I just said it again, Frontenac.

>>Oh wow.

>>And I started a little batch of Malbec, so I'm gonna try to grow Malbec as well.

>>Wow.

>>But we have American varieties too.

We have Catawba, Niagara, Concord.

So yeah, we've got quite a variety.

(chuckles) >>Oh, that's pretty cool.

So you have an ability then to do some cool blends >>Yes.

>>That others won't have.

>>Exactly.

And we do a variety of dry, off dry and sweet wine.

And of course, nothing dessert sweet at this point.

>>Right.

But yes, we have a lot of different varieties.

So it works.

>>And then you also infuse some with fruit.

>>Yes.

Yes, we have the fruit blends that we do have.

I'll use our Niagara grape and we'll make a peach wine and I'll use our Sauvignon Blanc and make a pear wine in the fall.

>>Oh wow.

>>And my daughter makes an iced tea wine that has a raspberry finish.

>>Oh my goodness.

>>That's a very unique wine as well.

>>That sounds fantastic.

Well, I'd love to try this peach wine, >>Okay >>that I keep hearing about.

>>Yes.

Now I've got three laid out for you.

>>Okay.

>>Now, we can try the Vidal blanc first, since it's not as sweet.

>>Oh, lets do that.

Let's do that.

>>Yes.

We'll do that one first.

>>Yeah.

>>So this is our Vidal blanc and it is off dry.

>>Okay.

>>So it has some nice citrus notes, but it also has some just real subtle fruit notes as well.

>>Oh yeah.

Nice.

I love that aroma.

>>It's very clean, very crisp.

>>Mm so often Vidal is just overly sweet to me >>Yes.

>>This is beautiful.

>>So this is our Niagara.

>>All right.

>>With white peach.

>>Ooh.

Now, are the peaches local as well?

>>They are from Virginia.

>>Okay.

>>Yes, I get the juice from Virginia.

>>Ooh.

>>Yes, ma'am.

>>Wow, that just came right up my nose.

That is beautiful.

>>Thank you.

And it is light, and it's not overly sweet.

>>No, really nice.

>>Thank you.

Ooh.

>>Yes.

(laughs) >>Wow.

I just- >>Thank you.

>>I love that.

>>Thank you very much.

>>I love that flavor of peach and it just reminds me of summertime.

>>Yes.

Definitely.

>>Yeah.

>>It's got a nice, like I said, it's not overly sweet, but it has a nice balance of the fruit with the grape.

>>Yeah.

>>So it balances really well with each other.

>>Oh, it really does.

And Niagara has this reputation of being overly sweet.

>>Yes.

Yes, it does.

>>It's just perfect.

>>Thank you.

(chuckles) >>Oh yeah.

>>Thank you very much.

>>This is really, really nice.

>>Awesome.

>>I like the acidity in it.

>>Mm-hm.

>>Mm-hm.

Mm (gentle music continues) >>Last but not least, we're going to do Leon Millot.

It was developed in 1911.

So it does have a lighter body, like a Pinot Noir but the flavor is very different.

>>Yeah.

>>So, it's very unique.

I'll let you taste it >>Yeah.

>>and tell me what you think.

>>It's a little smokey.

>>It is.

Now, I use Hungarian oak.

>>Wow.

That is really different.

>>It's very different.

>>Yeah.

>>And as far as I know, we are the only winery in Virginia that grows Leon Millot.

>>This is really different.

>>It is.

It's very different.

>>Wow.

But it's so good.

>>Thank you.

>>Different is good.

(laughs) >>Yes.

That's awesome.

(laughs) Thank you very much.

Mm Thank you.

>>So where do you see your winery going?

>>I hope to grow.

Yeah.

>>We told each other, my husband and I had a five-year plan.

After five years, we'd start building a separate facility at the end of our property, which actually looks down the New River.

So in the next five years I'm hoping that we can build a separate facility and actually have a bigger tasting room.

>>Well, Christy, here is to New River Winery.

>>Thank you.

>>and Vineyard.

>>Thank you.

>>I so enjoy it here.

>>Thank you very much.

>>And this feels like home to me.

>>Thank you.

>>It's up on the mountain and beautiful.

>>Yes.

Thank you so much.

>>So thank you for having us.

>>Oh, thank you for coming.

>>Yeah, and for letting us taste these amazing wines.

>>Thank you very very much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

(gentle upbeat music) >>This next recipe is one of my favorites because I really love white chocolate.

So I'm making for you a white chocolate blondie, which is a brownie but just made with white chocolate, and it's so good.

And then I'm going to add extra white chocolate to it to make it even sweeter.

But it goes so well with this tea infused raspberry wine.

So in my bowl, I have one stick of butter and I want to put in eight ounces.

So a 1/2 pound of just a white chocolate bar, just any kind of white chocolate bar or you can use white chocolate chips if you'd like.

But the bar actually does work a little bit better in this recipe.

So let's just break all those up.

And then I'm gonna stick this in the microwave for about two minutes stirring every 15 seconds until it's all melted through.

And I'll be right back.

So I have my butter and I have my chocolate all melted, and it just looks like butter in here.

So to that, I'm going to add 1 1/2 cups of sugar.

(gentle music) Let's just mix through.

(batter sloshing) Mm just that classic creaming recipe that you do with all brownies and cookies.

And then I wanna add a couple of eggs, (egg cracking) one at a time.

There we go.

(gentle music continues) Nice, rich egg.

Let me go ahead and break this one so it's ready.

(egg crackling) (bowl scraping) (gentle music continues) All right, just break up that yolk.

Really whip it in.

(batter sloshing) And then let's add the second one.

Now, as you add these cold ingredients, everything's going to seize up just a little bit which means that it's going to get tighter.

(bowls clattering) You can kind of see that because it gets a little chunky in there.

Just keep whipping that in, and the chunkiness will go away.

But that's what happens when you add cold to hot batter.

(batter sloshing) Okay.

Ooh, that's beautiful.

Now it almost looks like lemon, like a lemon curd.

Now we wanna add about a 1/2 teaspoon of salt to this.

And I like to add a little cinnamon.

And the reason that I add cinnamon is so that it actually detracts from all the sweetness that comes with white chocolate.

Even though we're trying to make a sweet dessert, just a little cinnamon can really balance out that flavor.

So just sprinkle that right over top.

And let's go ahead and whip that in before we add anything else.

(whisk scraping) And then how about a teaspoon of vanilla?

Mm I love the smell of vanilla.

And then I've gotta add some flour, little bit at a time.

There we go.

And this is about 2 1/4 cups.

(bowl clatters) Now the great thing about this is it can be made in thin, almost wafery kind of brownies in a cookie sheet, or it can be made in a 9x9 pan.

You can also put it in a 9x13 and it's gonna be thinner.

But I like mine kind of gooey in the middle.

So I go by the 9x9.

Okay.

Let's get all that mixed in.

And I'm gonna go ahead and finish mixing with my spatula here, so I can get all of that flour out of my whisk.

Now at this point, if you want you can put in additional white chocolate chips.

But this is just so rich the way it is, I can't imagine it with more white chocolate.

(whisk clatters) (bowl scraping) All right, we've got it almost mixed in.

And you can see now that it's come to the consistency of a brownie batter.

It's not super thick, but it's not thin.

It's not like cake batter, but it's not like cookie batter.

So brownie batter is kind of in between that cake and that cookie.

(bowl scraping) Now let's put this in our 9x9 pan and then I'm gonna put it in the oven for 45 minutes.

I'll take it out of the oven.

Put another eight ounces of white chocolate right over the top.

Pop it in for 30 seconds so it melts, pull it out and spread it around.

This is so delicious.

So I let it cool for a while and then you just cut it into squares.

But I have a really cute presentation I wanna show you because you can do different things with different recipes and make them your own and kind of make them fun.

So here's what I did.

I took my blondies and I cut them in circles so that I had these big circles and then I just dipped it in white chocolate and I'm serving it here with a little raspberry because this is a beautiful raspberry wine.

But it's different than other raspberry wines.

A lot of raspberry wines are very sweet.

This particular one actually has tea infused in it.

So it has a touch of Tannic acid in it, which makes it very, very different.

So let's give it a taste.

(wine sloshing) Remember, this is a dessert wine.

(Tassie sniffs) Wow.

Powerful.

Very much packs a punch.

Mm so good.

So you wanna sip that in little quantities.

Let that bottle last for a while when you get a raspberry wine, it's just really yummy.

There we go.

Now let's just take our fork and just cut through that wonderful white chocolate.

I don't wanna chip it all the way off.

Trying to cut it very gingerly.

Here we go.

You can see the blondie, the texture is just like a brownie.

It's very moist inside.

So good.

(gentle music) Mm Wow.

The first thing I thought of when I toasted raspberry wine was I have to pair this with white chocolate.

Mm (glass clatters) What a combination.

So good.

And I hope you'll enjoy it.

(gentle music) I hope you enjoyed my visit to New River Winery and got to know all the folks down there.

I enjoyed pairing up wines today with some amazing food including this meatloaf, diner-style, that's served with Leone Millot.

And then I had a raspberry tea infused wine that I paired up with a white chocolate blondie dipped in white chocolate.

And of course, let's not forget this wonderful black bean burger with salsa that I paired up with something that goes always very well with spice, and that's Vidal blanc.

So you can always get these recipes on vpm.org/unwined.

And until the next time I see you, I'm Tassie Pippert reminding you to go grab that glass.

It's always time to unwind.

>>Production funding for Un-wine'd was made possible in part by... (gentle music) >>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 (gentle upbeat music) >>And by...