The Omaha Metro Food & Wine Gazette January 2025

The Omaha Metro

JANUARY 2025

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Event Report: Event Report: An Evening Exploring Wines from the Oldest Family Ranch in Napa Valley’s Stags Leap District!

IWFS Rhine Cruise: A Taste of Amsterdam in the Jordaan District Upcoming Events

My superpower is holding onto junk for years and throwing it away a week before I need it.

IWFS Rhine Cruise: A Taste of Amsterdam in the Jordaan District.

Written by Tom Murnan. Photos by Tom Murnan

Sunday 8/25/2024. One of the optional tours was A Taste of Amsterdam, for cheese and apple pie. Our first stop was Henri Willig, who founded a cheese empire established in 1974. They now have 30 locations and an online shop. His specialty is Edam Cheese. There were pictures of Henri and his wife making cheese the traditional way while the children watched. Named after the city of Edam in the Netherlands, the cheese uses cow’s milk and is a semi-hard cheese that resists spoilage. Put into a press, it comes out as a ball with opposites ends cut flat, then covered with paraffin wax. Various colors of paraffin are used to identify different flavors. As it ages, it becomes sharper to the taste.

We had numerous samples of Edam to taste. Next was the Eetcafé Sonneveld. Now a cafe, it was the former home of Wim Sonneveld (1914 to 1974), a cabaret artist, musician, actor and comedian. The cafe belongs to a Dutch charity that gives artists financial support for affordable housing. Inside, there were musical instruments on the ceiling and walls, photos and artwork of Sonneveld. A kind of comfort cafe/bar, traditional Dutch menu items were offered. We all tried the apple pie, which was delicious.

Event Report: An Evening Exploring Wines from the Oldest Family Ranch in Napa Valley’s Stags Leap District!

Written by Tom Murnan, Photos by Tom Murnan

Oak Hills Country Club has a new chef, Tyler Daniels. He has worked in a two-time James Beard Award nominated restaurant in Oxford, MS, named St. Leo. I was looking forward to his food. Plus, we were having hard-to-find wines from Regusci Winery in Napa, CA. Brent and Susan fell in love with Regusci wines, the oldest family Ranch in Napa Valley’s Stags Leap District. Built before prohibition, the Regusci Ranch is home to one of California’s Ghost Wineries. The term “Ghost Winery” was given to the few remaining early Napa Valley wineries that were in existence between 1860 and 1900. Very few of these Ghost Wineries remain as the vineyards of most Napa Valley wineries were decimated by the phylloxera infestation of the 1890’s. The economic depression of that decade and later Prohibition (1920-1933) was the final blow for many others.

Gaetano Regusci purchased the parcel that is now the heart of the home ranch in 1932. The ranch contained a winery built in 1878, originally for the Occidental Vineyard and Ranch. The three-story building was constructed with local stone and designed to take advantage of gravity for winemaking operations. The top floor was used for sorting and crushing grapes hauled in by horses, the middle level for fermentation and the bottom floor for wine storage (cooperage) with original permits showing a winemaking capacity of 250,000 gallons. Occidental winery was eventually shuttered by Prohibition and became a ghost winery. In the 1960’s, Angelo Regusci took over farming from his dad, and fortuitously added vineyards featuring Bordeaux grape varieties to the family’s agricultural pursuits. In 1996 Jim, the youngest son of Angelo and Mary, partnered with his dad to introduce winemaking and the rest, as they say, is a work in progress. Today, 5 generations of Reguscis have lived on the ranch. Production is small and limited. Zinfandel, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec are all made in small quantities. Patriarch yields 700 cases, while Angelos gives 200 cases.

I enjoyed all the dinner wines! A Butternut Squash did well with the 2020 Stags Leap Arcadia Chardonnay. In an unusually brave move, a 2018 Zinfandel was paired with the Roasted Beet Salad with Dried Cherries that had the texture of raisins. It’s hard to marry watery salad with a white wine, let alone a red, but it seemed to work. Truffle Ravioli with Cheese and Brown Butter had the 2020 Brave Night Red Wine as its mate. The truffle taste was subdued by the cheese, but the ravioli was nicely made. Lamb Lollipop was next. Double thick, it seemed a bit tough, and some variation in cooking doneness was noticed. The 2017 Patriarch Red Wine was a good match. The biggest disappointment was the Wagyu Sirloin, which came out tepid. Sirloin is tough, whether it be Wagyu or not, and this was pretty chewy. None of the plates were preheated all evening, which would have gone a long way to keeping the food warm. Despite these quibbles, the Wagyu was very beefy in flavor, pairing well with the Angelo’s Cabernet Sauvignon 2017. We finished with Pumpkin Mousse Sauternes Sorbet. A Louis Roederer Champagne accompanied the dessert. As gorgeous as the Champagne on its own, its dryness didn’t pair well with the sweet dessert. Despite the small criticisms, overall, the meal was enjoyable.

2025 UPCOMING OMAHA METRO EVENTS JAN

09 08 30 FEB

MAR

V. MERTZ

Matt Brown Picks Everything Event Producer: Tom Murnan

OMAHA PRIME

Valentine’s Day Theme Joint Event with the Omaha Branch Producer: Dave Thrasher & Todd Lemke

CIBO VINO

Wine theme: TBD

Event Producer: Tracy Tylkowski

HOSTING AN EVENT?

Let us know when, where and a little bit about what’s going on!

We would love to include YOUR event on the calendar!

Email details to: iwfs.councilbluffs@yahoo.com