Sunday April 15th is our next installment of Six & Six. We present six tastes of Wine & Roses paired perfectly with six tastes of featured wines.  This month we are featuring Harney Lane Winery.  We are taking the show on the road, as they say, to Harney Lane Winery and adding a little Moroccan flair!  Tradition with a twist; blending farming and culinary heritage.

In addition to the Six and Six tasting, Chef Didier and his team will be preparing Mechoui. (A slow roasted lamb)

Mechoui is a North African lamb dish which is frequently prepared in Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria. Each nation has its own specific take on mechoui, so several different dishes are collectively referred to as “mechoui.” In all cases, this dish takes advantage of the flavorful tenderness of lamb to create a rich, memorable dish. The Mechoui is a proof of Moroccan hospitality, the arrival of an important person.

Mechoui is the main dish at events such as engagement, marriage, baptism, or during family meals. Tradition in Morocco, is when the first child born is a boy, moreover, the mechoui is a must. This custom is found mostly in the countryside. These are the men who prepare the meat, while women talk over tea with mint. This term comes from an Arabic word which means “to roast on a fire,” distinguishing mechoui from dishes which are prepared in the oven. There are two basic ways to prepare mechoui. In places like Algeria, the lamb is roasted on a spit, creating a layer of crackling, crispy skin which many people find quite delightful. In Morocco, the lamb is roasted in the ground, much like a Polynesian pig roast, creating very moist, tender, flavorful meat. In both cases, the meat is heavily spiced before preparation.

Let’s share a Mechoui!  Hope to see you Sunday.  (For reservations, please call 209.371.6160.)

That’s right!  Tis the season for events at Wine & Roses. We are excited to announce our upcoming events, please join us in this season to celebrate.    

Easter at Wine & Roses

 EASTER – SUNDAY, APRIL 8TH

Champagne Brunch in the Garden Ballroom – Seatings at 11am to 11:30am and 2pm to 2:30pm
Adults $50, Children 5 to 12 $17, Under 5 $5  -(prices do not include tax)
Easter in the Restaurant:
Breakfast 8am to 11am, Dinner 12pm to 7pm. The Lounge is open Easter Sunday all day.  Reservations: 209-371-6160 or restreservations@winerose.com 
 

Six and Six featuring Harney Lane and Wine & Roses

SUNDAY, APRIL 15TH

Six and Six goes on the road to Harney Lane Winery!   Tradition with a twist; blending farming and culinary heritage. Moroccan tastes from Chef Didier and Wine & Roses perfectly paired with amazing wines from Harney Lane Winery.

Let’s share a Mechouï! (slow roasted lamb)
$66 per person, 5-9pm at Harney Lane Winery, 9010 East Harney Lane, Lodi

Reservations: 209-371-6160 or restreservations@winerose.com 

Join us for this Exclusive Wine Tasting Event, Spring Of The Vine

SUNDAY, APRIL 29TH

The Spring of the Vine, an exclusive wine tasting event. Celebrate the new releases at this exclusive wine event featuring 30 Lodi Appellation wineries on the beautiful grounds of Wine & Roses. 2-5pm.  Tickets are $25 per person and includes the tasting and printed program for wine tasting notes.  Contact: 209-371-6117 or sales@winerose.com for reservations. (Must be at least 21 years of age to attend)

A Decadent Affair for Brides & Grooms

WEDNESDAY, MAY 9TH 6:30-8pm. $45.00 per person. For reservations, contact sales@winerose.com or 209.371.6117

Experience a wedding at Wine & Roses with top of the line vendors, a designer wedding gown showcase, our unparalleled service, cuisine, and more! Don’t miss this extraordinary opportunity to see the region’s premiere wedding venue, meet with the finest wedding professionals for unique and creative ideas for your special day.  Signature Champagne Cocktails, Specialty hors d’oeuvres & Desserts, Wine tasting, Designer wedding gown showcase, Fun bride/groom contests, Win fabulous prizes including grand prizes.  

Grab your Best Gal Pals and Head to The Spa

 THURSDAY, MAY 10TH

 A LUXURY SPA NIGHT from 5:30-9pm including spa treatments, hors d’oeuvres, wine, friends, music, prizes, and fun!

Proceeds from the event go to Pink October Lodi, benefiting Geweke’s Caring for Women Foundation. Gather your best gal pals for a unique evening to celebrate the lives of women!

 Tickets are $125 each and include two 15-minute spa treatments from The Spa at Wine & Roses, hors d’ oeuvres, wine, swag bag, and one raffle ticket. For reservations, contact Nancy Geweke at ngeweke@geweke.com  

Treat Your Mom to flavor this Mother's Day

SUNDAY, MAY 13TH  

Champagne Brunch in the Garden Ballroom  – Seatings at 9am, 12pm and 3pm  -  Adults $50 per person plus tax and gratuity, Children 5 to 12 $17, Under 5 $5

Mother’s Day in the Restaurant:
Breakfast 8am to 10am
Plated Champagne Brunch 11am to 3pm, $50 per person plus tax and gratuity, Dinner 4pm to 8pm.  The Lounge is open on Mother’s Day all day.  Reservations: 209-371-6160 or restreservations@winerose.com

“Advocacy of food access, sovereignty, biodiversity and education in our community and, for that matter, the world over is as important as ever… If you agree that this is what we should be actively doing, and become known for, in Northern San Joaquin Valley” (-Randy Caparosa Slow Food Lodi), please  join Lodi’s fledgling chapter of Slow Food U.S.A. for our annual General Assembly on Monday, February 6 at Wine & Roses. 

Slow Food Lodi is dedicated to promoting a food system that is based on the principles of high quality, environmental sustainability and social justice, and to making the products of that system accessible to all. It is the goal of Slow Food Lodi to educate residents of San Joaquin County about the pleasures and virtues of good, fresh and locally produced food and beverages.

Slow Food Lodi is committed to:

1. FOOD SOVEREIGNTY & ACCESS – Embracing fundamental values of food sovereignty, we are committed to raising public awareness, improving access and encouraging the enjoyment of foods and beverages that are not only sourced from the San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta, but are also fresh, healthy, seasonal and sustainably grown. Through this, we endeavor to grow the culinary and cultural identity of Lodi and the greater Delta region by celebrating our chefs, farmers and vintners who espouse Slow Food’s sensible, sustainable values.

2. FOOD POLICY AND ADVOCACY – Advocating for farmers, artisans and vintners who grow, produce, market, prepare and serve wholesome foods and beverages. Enriching our community by bringing people of diverse backgrounds, cultures and ethnicities together through shared culinary concerns and commonalities.

3. SLOW FOOD IN SCHOOLS – Performing educational outreach in Lodi and throughout our surrounding Delta region; working with our students in local schools and colleges and through public programs.

4. BIODIVERSITY – Caring for our Delta agricultural community, and espousing biodiversity for the benefit of current and future generations. Identifying, promoting and protecting fruits, vegetables, grains, animal breeds, wild foods, cooking traditions, wines and any other food and beverage products associated with Lodi and the greater Delta region.

Looking for a perfect evening for your Valentine’s Day? We’ve got it!  Whether celebrating friendship or love, spend a casual evening with W&R and Big Booty Bob and The Backside Kickers enjoying classic rock and roll, blues and country standards along with fine food and exquisite dessert. Bring your sweetheart or best friend for a night of fun.

Call 209.371.6117 for reservations!  But hurry, Big Booty Bob packs em in, and bring your dancing shoes!

We, at Wine & Roses, are ecstatic about our new partnership with Peerless Coffee and Teas.

Peerless Coffee and Tea is a 3rd generation family business.  As you can see, the first Peerless beans were roasted in 1924 by John and Natalie Vukasin in Oakland, California.

With over 80 years of roasting experience, Peerless now markets more than 125 different types of coffee with choices including varietals, estate coffees, organics and flavored beans.  Peerless works hard to create the perfect coffee experience for their customers, which we are now proud to call ourselves.  

Peerless Coffee and Tea’s founder John Vukasin came to the new world with an entrepreneurial spirit and a deep desire to succeed.  Coming from the coffee cultures of Europe, he began to experiment with his own coffee once he hit land. That experiment grew into the Peerless Coffee and Tea. By spending 4-6 hours in front of the roasters and at the cupping table, John honed his craft to a near-perfect science.  He balanced tradition with a penchant for experimentation, always looking to improve on what he had developed the day before.  A constant desire to produce the world’s best coffee kept his pursuit strong.

"Start with the best coffee beans money can buy, blend the coffees using unique recipes (some are 75 yrs old!), artisan roast in small batches in order to bring out the special characteristics of each bean, package and sell the coffee immediately to ensure the freshest coffee in town."

Along with their award winning coffees, Peerless offers a full line of gourmet teas hand selected from premier tea growing regions around the world.  It’s a simple yet complex formula. While the history of tea dates back 2300 years and the history of Peerless dates only 80+ years, the devotion and expertise they have in the art of tea is parallel. For over 80 years, Peerless has sourced the world’s finest teas to be offered to their customers.  

"Our Philosophy is simple; source the best and deliver fresh."

Peerless’  attention to detail and their superior customer service is what sets Peerless Coffee & Tea apart, and has made it a coffee industry leader in the Bay Area.  We welcome Peerless to Lodi and to Wine & Roses! 

Won’t you  join us for a cup of coffee or tea?

Join us for another installment of Six and Six. An intimate wine setting in which we offer Six tastes paired with Six Wines. This time we are feturing the amazing and unique Micheal David Winery. We invite you to be our guests for delightful evening.

Looking for some great holiday house dressings?  Look no further.  From our kitchen to yours, Chef Didier and his culinary team have created these amazing, warm salad dressings that will put some magic into your holiday table.  

Citrus dressing

• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon raw honey
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons moscatel vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon black peppercorn

 House dressing

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons cabernet vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon white pepper
• 5 drops of rose water

Butter Lettuce & Warm Shrimp Salad with Fennel & Japanese Citrus

W&R Autumn Salad- Field Greens, Fuji Apple, Autumn Fruits, Lodi Olive Oil & Rose Petal Jam Crostini

We meet lots of brides and grooms every day that are planning their wedding- the details, the guest lists, the menu, the flowers- every detail imaginable that is particular to that one special day when you become husband and wife.  It is  exhilarating, this planning process, and it can be fun and at some points stressful, but nonetheless, an exciting time.  If you have followed this series, you will know that I always say that while planning your wedding is important, it’s more important to plan for your marriage.  So with that, I came across this ”guide to love” that I thought I would share with all of our brides and grooms out there planning for their wedding day, the day that will lead you into a lifetime of love with each other.

What is love?  Love can be defined as both an action and a feeling.  The action of love generates a blissful feeling called by the same name. When the action stops, the blissful feeling is replaced with pain. There is a similar feeling called lust which may be confused with love. You need to decipher between the two in order to have a healthy heart. Every person is capable of great love (and its opposite, fear, which generates all painful emotions such as hate, greed and jealousy).

While there are many different ways to define love and there are many different ways to love someone (or even yourself), the simple foundation of love is this:

Say it. When you say the words “I Love You”, they should carry with them the desire to show someone that you love them, not what you simply want to feel. When you say it, make sure you really mean it and are willing to do anything for that special person.

Empathize. Put yourself in someone else’s shoes. Rather than impose your own expectations or attempt to control them, really do understand how they feel, where they come from, and who they are.  Realize how they could also love you back just as well.

Love unconditionally. If you cannot love another person without attaching stipulations, then it is not love at all, but deep-seated opportunism (one who makes the most of an advantage, often unmindful of others).  If your interest is not in the other person as such, but rather in how that person can enhance your experience of life, then it is not unconditional.  If you have no intention of improving that person’s life, or allowing that person to be themselves and accepting them as they are, and not who you want them to be, then you are not striving to love them unconditionally.

Expect nothing in return. That doesn’t mean you should allow someone to mistreat or undervalue you. It means that giving love does not guarantee receiving love. Try loving just for the sake of love. Realize that someone may have a different way of showing his or her love for you; do not expect to be loved back in exactly the same way.

Never stop loving.  Even if you have been hurt before you should not stop giving love.

So, to all of our beautiful brides and grooms: start and end your day with unconditional, unexpected, empathetic love that you want to shout from the rooftops!  Share that love on your wedding day with your families and friends and let that love guide you through your lifetime with each other.

Invest in products and souvenirs that encourage sustainable living.

During the last century, whales, tigers, rhinoceros, and elephants reached the edge of extinction. Every day, several dozen species vanish from existence.  Half the plant and animal species on earth may disappear before the end of the twenty-first century.  Over-exploitation is one of the leading causes, because poaching- whether for meat, eggs, feathers, or skins- is very lucrative and is a strong temptation to people living in poor countries.

What can you do?

In developing countries, poaching often brings greater profits than respectable jobs in a sustainable industry.  The best way to discourage poaching is to invest in products that have been developed sustainably, for a fair wage, in equitable conditions.  It may take some extra research, but do some research on the country your are visiting and seek out sustainable cottage industries that employ native people.  Then buy their wares.

Chef Didier and Owner Kathy Munson attended a newly created Lodi Chapter of Slow Food last night held at Lucas Winery.  Slow Food?  Yes.  Slow Food is an international movement founded by Carlo Petrini in 1986.  Promoted as an alternative to fast food, it strives to preserve traditional and regional cuisine and encourages farming of plants, seeds, and livestock characteristic of the local ecosystem.  The Slow Food movement has since expanded globally to over 100,000 members in 132 countries. Its goals of sustainable foods and promotion of local small businesses are paralleled by a political agenda directed against globalization of agricultural products.

A Restaurant in Greece supports Slow Food with this placard

Slow Food is an idea, a way of living and a way of eating. It is a global, grassroots movement with thousands of members around the world that links the pleasure of food with a commitment to community and the environment.  There are two basic principles: 1-From Plate to Planet, and 2- Good, Clean & Fair Food.  In the United States, members of Slow Food USA’s 200 chapters celebrate the amazing bounty of food that is available and work to strengthen the connection between the food on our plates and the health of our planet. 

FROM PLATE TO PLANET:  Members are involved in activities such as:

• Raising public awareness, improving access and encouraging the enjoyment of foods that are local, seasonal and sustainably grown
• Caring for the land and protecting biodiversity for today’s communities and future generations
• Performing educational outreach within their communities and working with children in schools and through public programs
• Identifying, promoting and protecting fruits, vegetables, grains, animal breeds, wild foods and cooking traditions at risk of disappearance
• Advocating for farmers and artisans who grow, produce, market, prepare and serve wholesome food
• Promoting the celebration of food as a cornerstone of pleasure, culture and community

GOOD, CLEAN & FAIR:

Good:  The word good can mean a lot of things to a lot of people.  For Slow Food, the idea of good means enjoying delicious food created with care from healthy plants and animals.  The pleasures of good food can also help to build community and celebrate culture and regional diversity.

Clean:  Clean food means nutritious food that is as good for the planet as it is for our bodies.  It is grown and harvested with methods that have a positive impact on our local ecosystems and promotes  biodiversity.

Fair: The belief that food is a universal right.  Food that is fair should be accessible all, regardless of income, and produced by people who are treated with dignity and justly compensated for their labor.

Slow Food’s Vision:  Food is a common language and universal right.  Slow Food USA envisions a world in which all people can eat food that is good for them, good for the people who grow it, and good for the planet.

Slow Food is about the people who take the time to be part of it

Wine & Roses is proud to become active and involved with the Slow Food Movement.  To learn more about Slow Food, visit www.slowfoodusa.org.  If you want to get involved locally, contact Randy Caparoso at 209.642.6882

*Thank you to Slow Food USA.org for providing information for this blog. 

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