>>The sun is setting on the beautiful Main Street Station here in historic Richmond, Virginia, as it seems the entire city is right here for the Virginia Wine Expo.

Hi, I'm Tassie Pippert, and on this show, we'll be tasting wines from Loire Valley in France, beautiful state of Washington, and right here in Virginia.

So go grab that glass.

You won't wanna miss a second.

It's time to "Un-Wine'd".

>>Production funding for "Un-Wine'd" was made possible in part by... (mellow jazz music) >>I had a great time at the SMOKED!

event.

I had the chance to taste amazing wines from Virginia, Washington State, and the Loire Valley, and along the way, they were paired with wonderful foods.

Things like oysters from the bay, and crab, and some delicious pork from right here in the Shenandoah Valley.

It was so much fun to see people there pairing foods with beverages, and I love that.

So as I walked around the event, throughout the entire evening, I was asking people, "What are you drinking with what you're eating?"

and "What you're eating with what you're drinking?"

I love the whole pairing thing.

So today I'm gonna get to pair some fun things with you.

It was also eye-opening for me to really see where Virginia wine has come.

In the last 20 or 30 years, Virginia wine has truly come into its own.

(smooth jazz music) As I walked around the room and thought about the history of Virginia wine, I realized that 20 or 30 years ago we never would have been able to have this event.

It was so much fun to see Virginia wine in its finest.

So today on the show, I'm gonna tell you a little bit about Sauvignon Blanc the mother grape of Cabernet Sauvignon.

I'll also talk a little bit about the father grape of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc.

I was able to taste Sauvignon Blanc from Virginia and the Loire Valley of France.

They're a little bit different in acidity because of the soils and they pair so well with seafood.

So today I'm pairing Sauvignon Blanc with a smoked soft-shell crab.

And I chose two distinctly different Cabernet Francs to show you today on the show.

I pair those with some delicious smoked pork from right here in the Shenandoah Valley.

You know, I've got some great food for you so I want you to grab that glass, come on up the hill for me and let's see what we're gonna cook today.

Southern Food is the queen here today.

We're gonna have some great Southern food with those great wines from Virginia, Washington State, and Loire Valley.

So today I'm gonna make a couple of smoked soft-shell crab dishes for you.

First thing I'm gonna do, I don't know if you've ever seen one of these, it's a little handheld smoker.

It's just awesome, and it's easy to use.

You get these little chips with it and you can just put a few chips in your top right there and I'm gonna smoke one of the crabs before I cook it.

I'm gonna smoke the other after I cook it.

So show you how I do that.

Now, what we wanna do is just give that a little light and we need to turn it on, there we go.

As it lights, you can see the smoke just coming right out.

Look at that, isn't that awesome?

Now the first crab that I'm going to do is a marinated soft-shell crab that I have in some herbs, some lime zest, and some olive oil.

So what I wanna do is put a little smoke in that bag and I'm gonna let that sit for just a few minutes while I cook the other soft-shell crabs.

Now, soft-shells are awesome and they are available about April to November in this part of the country.

And when you're using soft-shell crabs, remember they're just like other crabs.

They are other crabs.

The molting season has just come and the shells are now off the crabs.

All right, now I'm just gonna turn that off and then I wanna get started with my plain soft-shell crab.

With this one, I'm gonna make a sandwich.

So what I have here is a little bit of flour and corn meal.

Now, I like to use flour and corn meal in combination, equally, on this.

I want to just make sure that that crab is dry.

Touch it down on my paper towel and then I'll put it right here.

Let's just dust it all around and then I'll put it in a nice hot pan that has some olive oil and some butter.

There we go.

It's relatively hot.

It could be just a little bit hotter, but that's okay.

It's gonna heat up on me.

Now, let me just move this one out of the way because what I wanna do is get this other crab ready.

Oh, that's smoke releases, it's awesome!

And just make sure it drips all the oil off then we're gonna dredge that.

Now with this, I have thyme, basil, a little bit of fresh oregano, some fresh parsley, a little lemon zest, olive oil.

It makes a really delicious entree.

All right, we're just gonna do that a little bit.

I'm gonna let this one sit here for just a minute until I flip over that other crab.

I don't wanna get them confused.

I wanna know which one is for the sandwich and which one is for the entree.

Get that nicely breaded, there we go.

Now, I just wanna make a little tartar sauce to go with this.

And I love a good savory tartar sauce.

What I'm doing now is I'm taking some capers with juice, I'm gonna put them in some mayo, and I like to use the capers with the extra juice because it gives a nice salty briny flavor.

A little bit of dill pickle relish, some ground garlic powder, a little bit of Old Bay seasoning, some dried chives.

I've got a little bit of cayenne and some red onion.

You can use green onion for this as well, but I like the red because it gives a little extra color.

A little bit of lemon juice and a little bit of lime juice.

There we go with the lemon, catch those seeds!

And then with the lime.

Remember, the lime doesn't have any seeds.

That makes it easy.

Just gorgeous.

Now, while these are cooking, I'm gonna set up my plates to get ready.

So, with the sandwich, I'm gonna serve that on a homemade sandwich roll that I made this morning and then we're gonna serve it with a little bit of coleslaw, just a simple slaw, and chips, and this delicious tartar sauce.

With the entree, I'm gonna serve that with the smoked grits that I put in some Old Bay seasoning and some cheddar cheese, delicious.

And then this morning I picked some beautiful Swiss chard out of my garden.

And I just sauteed that with a little bit of shallot and some bacon.

So I'm gonna clean this up, we're gonna finish these, and then I'll plate those up for you.

This smells amazing.

And I just wanna blot that a little bit, not a lot, just a little bit.

And then I'm gonna put it over on a plate because I want to smoke this.

Remember, I'm smoking both of these soft-shell crabs.

And what I wanna do now is to take my plastic wrap and just cover up as tightly as I can, leaving one little hole for my smoker.

And I'm gonna turn that smoker back on.

All right now, there we go, we've got some smoke rolling and I'm gonna stick that right under there.

Let's try to just hold all that smoke in.

I couldn't go to a SMOKED!

event without having some smoked food, right?

Delicious!

Aside from a little pop of grease on my jacket and some that I got on the tablecloth, this is just an amazing recipe and a fun one to make.

Now with this crab cake, I'm gonna serve a Virginia Sauvignon Blanc.

This one is from the Middleburg region and it is crisp, it's delicious, it's wonderful, really great regionality with this particular food.

So I hope you'll enjoy that one.

The one that I'm serving with this dish is a French.

This is a Domaine Millette from Sancerre in the Loire Valley and both are Sauvignon Blancs.

You can see by the color that they're just a little bit different.

Depends on where they're grown, where the grapes are harvested, what kind of soils are there.

So this one has a much more flinty soil.

It goes really, really well with the smokey flavor the little touch of vinegar in the greens and the smokiness and cheese and that old Bay flavor of the grits.

Now this is the mother grape of Cabernet Sauvignon.

So what I love about Southern food is family, and today I'm gonna show you the mother grape and the father grape.

So stay with me, enjoy what we're gonna show you next, and then we'll be back with some Cabernet Franc.

Hi there!

>>Want some clams?

>>Great!

>>Oh yeah!

(upbeat jazz music) It's wild.

This is beautiful!

So tell me again about that rub.

So, usually when we're Greek we do things a little differently so I never really smoked it.

Like, I was trying to Virginia-smoke a lamb.

I didn't know what I was doing.

So I showed up, I called up my friend Buzz.

(indistinct) I said, "Listen, I'm trying to smoke a lamb.

"I wanna keep all the flavors of Greece "and figure out, like," and so I went there.

He was talking to me about wood and he showed me about hickory wood scent.

Hickory's good 'cause it doesn't pick up all the flavors.

Then he told me how I have to turn the temperature up on it because you don't wanna pick up all that smokiness.

>>Yeah!

>>So we had a couple glasses of rum over there, and I learned how to smoke a lamb today.

(Tessie laughs) It was a wonderful morning!

>>You know how to do it.

>>Now I know what I'm doing!

(Tessie laughs) So we rubbed it with the Aleppo pepper and oregano, we stuck it with garlic and add little salt and then let it sit overnight and then marinate a dry rub.

And then the next day, we smoked it.

>>I love the cucumber sauce, too.

>>Yeah, the tzaziki, that's a traditional, that's made at Stella's Restaurant.

(upbeat jazz music) >>Well, I'm joined now by LaKia Davis from The Kitchens at Reynolds, and LaKia, thanks so much for being here.

>>You're welcome.

>>This is a fun event!

>>Yes, it is!

>>Yeah, and so what kind of great food did you guys make tonight?

>>Well, for the SMOKED!

event, we have two items.

We have a entree and a dessert.

We have a cherry-smoked skirt steak with blue cheese scalloped potatoes and a tarragon Chimichurri sauce and a cherry gastrique.

And then for dessert, we have a homemade, well, from scratch cinnamon marshmallow with a little brulee on top, and it's topped with Presto Graham cracker and oat crumble.

>>Oh my god!

>>With a little macadamia nuts, hazelnuts, and a caramel sauce.

Oh, wow.

>>And dipped in chocolate.

(upbeat jazz music) >>Yeah, they took us downstairs for wine tasting, and at the end they gave us the dark chocolate morsels, with the red wine >>Red wine.

>>And that's how they introduced us to it.

>>Oh, wow.

I love dark chocolate and red wine.

>>It was good.

>>Yeah.

>>So you have to be out on the hunt for that.

>>I do, and I will!

>>Dark chocolate.

What was it, chocolate rum?

>>Chocolate rum!

>>Yeah, the name of it's not very nice to say it.

It's out of the Caribbean; you can't get it very often.

It's a dark chocolate rum.

>>Wow!

>>And my cousin gets it from Curacao or someplace and mixed with a Cabernet.

It was fantastic.

>>Wow, absolutely wonderful.

Awesome, so, you like to go around to a lot of wineries in Virginia?

Yeah.

>>We do!

(upbeat jazz music) >>I'm joined by Alex Papajohn and Alex, thanks so much for, first of all, having us here for this amazing event.

>>You're welcome.

>>Tell me a little bit about it?

How did it get started?

>>Sure, so the Virginia Wine Expo started 12 years ago, actually.

I lived in Richmond and I loved wine.

I was starting to learn a lot about it but I didn't think Richmond had a really cool destination wine and food event and I was going to Washington DC for those kinds of events.

At the same time, I noticed that the convention center, which is where the event used to be held, was kind of empty.

So I put it together and I said, "You know what, let's start "an amazing destination event in the winter "when nothing's going on at the convention center."

>>That's awesome!

>>Yeah.

>>That's awesome.

Well, and it has grown from what I understand to be a huge event.

>>It really has.

So the wine expo's evolved a lot over the years.

We have layered on all sorts of events.

We started off with the walkaround grand tastings which are held Saturday and Sunday.

Those were the main events but we've added on dinners, and lunches, and other peripheral events like SMOKED!

and we've added in spirits, and ciders, and mead, and even craft beer.

We have The Ultimate Brewfest this year.

>>That's amazing!

>>But everything that happens is done at a very high level of quality.

We're a curated event.

>>Well, it's amazing, and I understand you've got the J. Sargeant Reynolds culinary students here, now how did that connection happen?

>>Well for many years, the J. Sargeant Culinary School partnered with us on events.

Their chefs were here and they made dishes for us, and finally the opportunity came up this year for them to be the overall beneficiary of the event.

>>Oh wow!

>>We partnered with them and for at least the next three years, they're gonna be the main beneficiary of the expo.

>>That is fantastic!

I love that you've mixed educational experience in with this.

>>Absolutely.

Well, you know what?

Education is the key word.

We are all about education.

We take great pride.

The event actually recruits special servers, that are here tonight, actually, who have experience pouring wine, they're comfortable talking about wine, they're knowledgeable about wine, and spirits, and craft beer.

That's really important to us.

>>A lot of great ideas came out of tonight but thank you so much.

>>Thank you!

>>All right.

>>Very much, Tassie.

Thank you.

>>Great.

(upbeat jazz music) As promised, I am going to pair the next wines with some pork and this wine is the varietal Cabernet Franc which is the father grape of Cabernet Sauvignon.

So I hope you're gonna like this.

The great thing about pork and that's what we're gonna do now is that it goes with pretty much everything from a white wine to a red.

So today I'm gonna be making a smoked pork with a classic smoked rub.

So I'm gonna start off with some sugar.

Now you can use brown sugar, you can use white sugar.

I like to use brown sugar and this happens to be a monk fruit sweetener.

I happened to have it, and I thought, "Well, I can use that up in this."

So it's nice and sweet, delicious.

I'm gonna take some paprika, and some pepper, and some salt.

I have a little bit of a cayenne pepper here and I like a cayenne in mine.

It gives it a little extra kick and it's delicious, and a little bit of dried mustard.

And I have some garlic powder, and some onion powder.

Delicious, both delicious, and they add so much to this recipe.

You can add pretty much anything you'd like to a rub and I always suggest that you create rubs that you really enjoy in your family.

Before I rub my pork, I wanna get started on my barbecue sauce.

It's so easy and it starts off with a little pre-made barbecue sauce but what we're gonna do is add some texture to it.

So I have a small can of peaches in their own syrup.

Now, this adds a lot of wonderful sweetness to this but if you can't find peaches in their own syrup, you can put in an extra little tablespoon of honey or maple syrup, if you like.

And if you don't like peaches, well, you can leave those out and just add a little honey or maple syrup.

I just like to have this peach in here because it lets me know that I have some texture and I like texture in my food.

Now, next I'm gonna add some apple cider vinegar.

This is just classic for any barbecue sauce.

And I tend to like not only the sweet barbecue sauce that comes with that Hickory smoke and ketchup but I also really like the tartness of the vinegar.

And I'm gonna put in some sriracha and you can adjust this to your liking.

If you are not one to like the heat in your sauce, you can leave that out.

I also wanna add a little bit of Dijon mustard.

So it's like having everything for your picnic all in one pot.

And then, just to add insult to injury here, I'm gonna add a little bit of red pepper flake because I like mine spicy.

So we are just gonna stir that up and let it cook for a second and then we're gonna serve it on these lovely pork sandwiches.

And I'm just going to taste that and make sure that I don't need salt and pepper or any extra sweetener.

Mm, it's really really good, and spicy!

Now, I only wanna bring this up to heat.

I don't wanna continue to cook it.

I just want to warm it a little bit.

So I'm gonna go ahead and turn that off.

And at this point, I like to use gloves when I rub this pork, simply because all those colors in all of the paprika and the cayenne just make my fingernails and my hands a mess.

And it's easier for me to then take the gloves off and have clean hands for everything else I have to do.

I've got a pork roast here.

This is just a center cut piece of pork loin and you can see why I've got the gloves and why I only pull out what I want.

I want to go from the bowl with my fingers onto this pork, and I'm gonna take a little more.

So if I had that whole big bowl of seasoning, I wouldn't be able to use any of it because of getting all that pork on it.

Now, I wanna make sure everything is covered.

Just get it all rubbed down.

Now you could see from where I had it laying the first time, the fat side was up.

Now with these, they're a little bit different because we're gonna do 'em on the side, like a regular chop, so I've cut two really nice sized chops here.

You can put the rub all over the chop or you can do just on the edge.

So I'm gonna actually do it just on the edge on one and I'm gonna do it all over on the other so you can see what I'm talking about.

So I'm just going to go down in this bowl and we're just gonna get that all over this pork.

Give a nice little dusting here, and a nice little dusting on the other side.

So you can and do these either way.

The ones that I have right now in the smoker are both done on all sides.

Now I can just take this off and I'm ready to put that meat in the smoker, which smells great.

I have it set at 225 degrees and it is just smoking like crazy.

So I've removed my pork and now it's just beautiful on this plate.

You wanna make sure that when you do the roast that you let it rest for at least 10 minutes before you slice it.

Because what happens with meat is that all the juices in the meat are nice and hot.

Think of them as boiling.

So, as things boil, that water starts to evaporate.

Think about the meat like that.

If you don't let the meat rest and cool down just a little bit, all of that moisture is going boil right out.

So you wanna let it rest and let it just kind of amalgamate with all of those amazing flavors.

Now, let's talk a little bit about a sharp knife.

You always wanna make sure that you hone your knife.

It's critical that you keep a knife sharp, and I have, honestly, never had these professionally sharpened and I've had them for 25 years.

All you have to do is just make sure that you hone them every single time you use them and it will keep them beautifully sharp.

What happens is you get these little microscopic bends in a knife, and if you don't keep it straight, it dulls.

So we want to, at 20 degrees, give a nice swipe over this steel, just like that.

And then 20 degrees on the other side, on the back side, just like this.

Always make sure that any time you hone your knife, you wipe it down and if you did it over your board, you wanna wipe that down as well because those little fibers of the metal can get in your meat.

Let's take that loin roast.

Oh, it's just so beautiful.

You can see that gorgeousness.

I just wanna cut it open.

I'm gonna cut that first slice a little bit thick.

Aw, it's beautiful.

You can see that nice little bit of smoke ring there.

And I wanna just thinly slice this because I'm gonna use this on a sandwich and you can see how thinly I'm able to slice this pork because I have a nice sharp knife.

Look at that, isn't that gorgeous?

Just beautiful, beautiful meat.

Now what we're gonna do is use that barbecue sauce and we're gonna serve this on a nice little bun with those typical sides, a little coleslaw and a little bit of chips.

Ah, isn't that just great?

I love it, I love it!

Now let's take that pork chop.

And I just wanna show you one of these pork chops on the inside.

These are just beautiful.

And you want to do your pork chop a little shorter time, for sure, because it's a shorter, smaller cut of meat.

So for the pork chop, you want it to register at about 160 to 165.

And for me, if I'm doing a pork chop like this it takes about an hour 15 or so to do one of those.

For the roast, it takes between 2 1/2 and three hours.

If you're doing a larger roast, of course, it's gonna take a little bit longer.

And if you're smoking a pork butt or pork shoulder, make sure that you give it a good five, six, seven hours to really let that fat go right into that meat, always with the fat cap up.

So, let me pull out some sides and we are gonna plate this up.

(upbeat jazz music) So, for this sandwich I've selected a lighter style Cabernet Franc from France, from the Loire Valley.

This one reminds me a little more of a pinot noir.

It has a very bold flavor about it but it's a little lighter in texture.

It doesn't have quite as much body as those Cabernet Francs that we're used to drinking here in Virginia, which tend to be a bit bigger, bolder.

It has to do with the stone in the ground, that flinty limestone that they have in the Loire Valley, and then we have a lot of places, great limestone, but we always have a lot of clay that we have to deal with as well.

Then, for this bolder meat, this delicious pork chop, I've selected our Washington State wine to honor Washington State, which was featured as one of the contributors to the SMOKED!

event and this is Sheridan Vineyard.

It's absolutely wonderful and it's a bold flavor of wine.

It's got a lot of beefiness about it.

It really works well with a grilled or smoked meat.

It's just delightful, a bit heavier on the palette, longer finish than this one.

This one tends to have a lot more fruit forward and this one has a lot more of that luxurious finish that we're used to in a Cab Franc, so I hope you'll enjoy both.

(smooth jazz music) Alex, thanks so much for letting VPM be part of that amazing SMOKED!

event, from tasting these delicious wines from the Loire Valley of France, the beautiful state of Washington, and our own beloved Virginia.

We had an amazing time and I hope I paired well with all of these wines featuring delicious foods from throughout Virginia.

So until next time, don't forget to grab that glass.

It's always time to "Un-Wine'd".

To check out the vineyards and wineries I've visited, go to our website vpm.org/unwined.

The website features unique vineyards and winemakers from previous episodes of the show.

And if you want to try your hand at cooking, all the recipes are available, from light fare to succulent desserts and everything in between.

And of course the wines are paired with each dish.

So sit back, relax, grab that glass, it's time to Un-Wine'd".

(perky jazz music) >>Production funding for "Un-Wine'd" was made possible in part by... (smooth jazz music) (gentle music)