Food & Wine USA - (04)April 2020

IT WAS A SIMPLE PLAN. Take the kids to

California. Show them Santa Barbara,

drive up the coast to Big Sur and the Bay

Area, and wrap up with friends in Napa

and family in Lake Tahoe. They would

fall in love with the state by the time we

crossed the Golden Gate Bridge, just as

I did at age 10. Then we’d return every

summer thereafter.

I need not have planned so much—at

least where their hearts were concerned.

On the first night of vacation at The

Alisal Guest Ranch, with a happy belly

full of Santa Maria–style beef ribs and

ice cream sandwiches, my 8-year-old

daughter, Frances, looked up from under

the brim of a straw cowgirl hat. “Dad,”

she said. “I love California.”

Me, too, sweet girl.

By day two, my 6-year-old, Smith, was hooked on the Santa Ynez Valley as well. California

will do that to you—seep into your synapses like the scent of gardenias and not let go. My own

love for the state goes back decades, starting with my grandparents Pat and John, who met

at the University of California, Berkeley in the 1930s. When they moved east to North Carolina

in the 1950s, they became Cali-evangelists, spreading the gospel of artichokes and Napa Valley

wines among their friends, and later, their grandchildren, too. I grew up visiting family in

the Bay Area, and in 2007, I spent my last full year of restaurant work as a sous chef in Sonoma

County, cooking the bounty of coastal California, sleeping in a 1972 Holiday Rambler camper

in an apple orchard, and learning how to live and work closer to the land. The experience

only deepened my infatuation; Northern California became my France. Since then, I’ve looked

for reasons to go back as often as possible.

I’m not alone in my attachment—F&W reader surveys tell us that California is the number

one domestic travel destination for our subscribers, too.

We dedicated this Spring Wine Issue to California because, as Executive Wine Editor Ray

Isle details in “The State of California Wine” (p. 55), there’s never been a better time to drink

California wines. Or to eat its life-altering tacos, in this case from paradigm-changing San

Diego chef Claudette Zepeda (p. 98); to take exploratory road trips (try Santa Barbara County,

with destination-worthy vineyards and restaurants, p. 110); and to soak up sunshine, of

course (hello, Sonoma, p. 86).

Consider this issue your guide to a state that still elicits wonder, no matter your age—one

that has an outsize influence on what the rest of the nation eats and drinks. (This spring,

F&W will open a new West Coast bureau in Los Angeles, spearheaded by Restaurant Editor

Khushbu Shah.)

See you there this summer?

From the

Home Office

A Golden

State of Mind

WINE FINDS

Two of the most low-key

brilliant California wines

I tasted last year: a tart,

crisp 2018 La Marea

Kristy Vineyard Albariño

from Monterey County

(find more Albariños

on p. 60) and Sashi

Moorman’s restrained,

Northern Rhône–style

2016 Piedrasassi Arroyo

Grande Valley Rim Rock

Vineyard Syrah. If you’re

headed to Lompoc, be

sure to time your visit to

Piedrasassi Thursday

through Monday for

bread made with estate-

grown grain by Melissa

Sorongon, Moorman’s

wife. (See more recs for

Santa Barbara County on

p. 110.)

TUNE IN

Dinner party game: If you

owned a winery, what

music would you play to

keep the grapes happy?

I’d play 1972-era Grateful

Dead. Winery owner

Cliff Lede takes it a step

further—he’s named all

his Stags Leap District

vineyard blocks after

his favorite classic rock

songs, like Bruce Spring-

steen’s “Dancing in the

Dark” and “Closer to the

Heart” by Rush. (At the

Napa Valley vineyard, they

call them “Rock Blocks.”)

You can listen to a

vineyard-inspired playlist

(created by Cliff’s son,

Jason Lede) at foodand

wine.com/april-playlist.

WASTE NOT

If you receive your sub-

scriber copy of F&W in a

plastic poly bag, it can be

recycled wherever No. 4

plastic is accepted. Visit

plasticfilmrecycling.org to

find a convenient location

near you.

Subscription Help: foodandwine

.com/myaccount or email us at

[email protected]

or call 1-800-333-6569.

E

D

IT

O

R

ÕS

L

E

T

T

E

R

8 APRIL 2020

HUNTER LEWIS

@NOTESFROMACOOK

[email protected]

photography by RAMONA ROSALES

FW_0420_EdLetter.indd 8 FINAL 2/19/20 10:25 AM