CleverRoot

f a l l 2 0 1 7 | 5 1 at home. We're happy to share the recipes, but it's kind of like, 'Wow, you're going to put yourself through all that work?' We like to create dishes that give our guests a reason to go out." To accompany this New American fare, Curry has curated a small, thoughtful wine list. "It's a 100-bottle list and we have 15 still wines by the glass. The restaurant sees good volume, so we can get through everything on a regular basis. We adjust it season- ally with the menu, so we change our list every three months," he says. "However, we have some core offerings on the list that don't change very often, and J. Lohr is one of them. In fact, just the other day I was doing an office clean-up and found a list with J. Lohr on it from 2004; here we are 13 years later and J. Lohr has never gone away—it overdelivers. That's kind of our ethos here too at the restaurant; we try to overdeliver. We try to provide a good value with our wine program and minimal markup. The Hilltop Cab is very reliable. Just really solid and J. Lohr is a great winery. It's so easy to support them, especially since they're so commited to viti- culture and research. I think that comes back to Jerry Lohr being the guy on the tractor, tied to the land and to the fruit—they've been doing it for over 40 years. Sometimes you meet a winery owner and you taste the wine and you get a sense of whether he or she is putting gasoline in the Porsche or gasoline in the tractor; I'd rather support the folks that are putting gasoline in the tractor. That means a lot to me. J. Lohr puts gasoline in the tractor, and then they make it easy because you open the bottle and know that your guests are going to be happy with this." Curry continues, "The Hilltop [Cabernet], for instance, just makes you wanna have another bite of food. The pairing I'd sug- gest: our oven-roasted rack of lamb with a rosemary Dijon rub, served medium rare on homemade grilled polenta with a demi- glace and fried leeks and grilled asparagus. The Hilltop Cabernet cuts through that fat in the dish really nicely on the palate. It's a real nice wine complement to the lamb." nellini beans. Simple and delicious." This and the J. Lohr Carol's Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc is one of their go-to pairings. "The acid from Sauvignon Blanc cuts through all the flavors in the dish perfectly. It's a great pairing," she adds. "The J. Lohr [Sauvignon Blanc] is so clean; it's a great way to start off a dinner and what we recommend so very often. It's a great by-the-glass-pour." "The [J. Lohr] Signature Cab we're pair- ing with the agnolotti di carne—filled with ground filet served with a brown butter sage sauce and fontina cheese. We have carried the J. Lohr Hilltop Cab for a very long time, but we added the J. Lohr Signature Cab because it's rich yet it's very well-structured, well- balanced—not too fruity, not too heavy in tan- nins. It's just a perfectly balanced wine. And when considering the richness of the agnolotti di carne with that sauce, it's a perfect match. The first time I tasted the Signature I was like, 'This is awesome.' We recommend it if guests are looking for a nice Cab that is a bit more European in style. There's fruit there but it's not overwhelming." Enjoying an incredibly well-made Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignon in a restaurant of- fering local Italian-inspired Paso Robles fare is something not to miss—a more down-to-earth, affordable version of drinking a Napa Cab in a fine-dining Napa Valley restaurant. The symbiotic relationship between Il Cortile and J. Lohr is special. Says Carole, "We catered three to four events for J. Lohr before we even opened the restaurant, and once we opened they were a huge supporter. So yes, we've had them on the wine list from day one, but we would anyway—their wines are amazing." Il Cortile's agnolotti di carne paired with J. Lohr 2013 Signature Cabernet Sauvignon. Brian Curry, owner/GM of Seattle's Ten Mercer selects the J. Lohr Hilltop Cabernet Sauvignon. Oven-roasted rack of lamb with a rosemary Dijon rub and the J. Lohr Hilltop Cabernet Sauvignon served at Ten Mercer in Seattle. ■cr

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