A San Joes Int’l Short Film Festival VIP Mixer & Tasting
At Vintage Wine Merchants, Santana Row
377 Santana Row, Suite 1135
Saturday, Oct 8 – 2 pm to 4 pm
Prescription Vineyards is celebrating our multi-year sponsorship of the San Jose Int’l Short Film Festivaland our recent feature article in The Somm Journal magazine. The ‘Aerating the Sun’ story and interview with Winemaker Rob Lloyd highlight why our Chardonnay makes such an excellent wine for restaurant By-the-Glass (BTG) programs.
Issei also pairs our Prescription Vineyard’s Clarksburg Chardonnay with the kitchen’s ‘Mortadell-Burrata Pizza,’ so it seemed apropos to serve up hosted bites of this delicious pie during the event. To round out the experience, we’ll also share tastes of our Lloyd Cellars Carneros Chardonnay and Sta. Rita Hills Pinot Noir. The event will be a great opportunity to pre-stock your wine cellar for the upcoming holiday 2022 season!
Hosted by Celeb Chef & Cookbook Author Bob Blumer at His Hollywood Hills Home
Inspired by last year’s exclusive ‘Friday-Eve Live’ event at Blumer’s Hollywood Hills home, Blumer, the Lloyd Cellars team, and music partners A&R Worldwide have envisioned an annual event we’re calling the ‘Surreal Showcase’ featuring artist Will Sweeny (@willsweeny). Additionally, Will’s teaser video featuring his new track ‘Missing You,’ posted below, spotlights his friend Grey Coutts (@greycoutts) artwork. Grey will be exhibiting his abstract works and painting live at the event!
This exclusive, invite-only event brings together the perfect trilogy of lux wine, culinary wizardry, and musical showcase against the stunning backdrop of the iconic Hollywood sign. If you’re in the entertainment business, culinary world, or a member of the media, email us to request an invite to attend this private one-of-kind music and culinary mash-up!
RSVP Request Required: Joel@LloydCellars.com • Invite Non-Transferable • Due to Limited Space and Food Planning, Please Only RSVP if You are Certain of Your Attendance • Must be 21 •Valet Provided
Artist Will Sweeny – U.K.’s White Eskimo Frontman – Showcases New Music from His Debut Solo Projects
Gastronaut, artist, and eight-time Guinness World Record holder Bob Blumer is the creator and host of the television series Surreal Gourmet, Glutton for Punishment, and a producer and host of World’s Weirdest Restaurants. His shows air on various networks in more than twenty countries worldwide. Follow Blumer’s culinary adventures on Instagram at @bobblumer.
Blumer will create a surreal passed-apps menu to pair with Lloyd Cellars and Prescription Vineyards wines and a musical showcase – staged rooftop overlooking Blumer’s patio – featuring singer-songwriter and rocker Will Sweeny!
The Surreal Gourmet Menu
Chicken Lollipops
Parsnip & Bacon Soup Shooters
House-Cured Salmon Sno-Cones
Grilled Pesto Pizza
Mushroom Cupcakes
Steak & Potatowich
Bob Blumer’s ‘Surreal Showcase’ was inspired by Prescription Vineyards 2021 ‘Friday-Eve Live’ event featuring artist Isra
The Will Sweeny Story
Los Angeles, 1993: Being blessed in his mother’s womb by music legend Little Richard was how Will Sweeny’s career and life began when the icon placed his hands on her pregnant stomach in a hotel lobby and shouted, ‘God bless this child, Lord!’
English through and through, but with such a life blessing linking him to the U.S., it’s no wonder Will has gone on to perform his music around the world and has returned to Los Angeles to record his debut solo venture.
Will hails from Cheshire, England, where he would spend hours hitting upturned pans with wooden spoons as soon as he was old enough to sit up. His love of music and drumming had begun. He got his first set of drums as a child and studied music in college. There, he formed his first band, “White Eskimo,” playing drums, and his music career took off in the U.K.
Will soon became the group’s frontman and went on to perform his music in England’s hottest venues, including The 02 Arena in London, Brixton Academy, and his packed and extended residencies at the infamous Cavern Club. Will has now made the exciting move State-side as a debut solo artist to fulfill! He has opened for top groups, including The Jam, and has appeared regularly across National television and radio, including The BBC and ITV. Will even brought his previous band to L.A. and entered the live scene at the top with an opening show at The Whiskey and a resounding demand for more U.S. shows…
Here’s Will’s teaser video featuring his new track ‘Missing You,’ inspired by his friend @greycoutts artwork. All of the art behind Will was painted by Grey.
He has spent his time during quarantine honing the music he has always wanted most to create and writing new songs for his album release. Will shared about his new solo music, “I want to bend marketing rules, break the usual boxes people try to tick when classifying a new artist. My influences are everything from Elvis Presley to Guns N’ Roses, and that shows in my sound and writing.” Will says about his live shows, “I like to knock people off their feet with the electricity of performing, make them want the night never to end. My stage act is all about fun, showmanship, and connection.”
Prescription Vineyards Partners with Creative Loafing Newspaper, Producer of Tampa Bay Restaurant Week!
Prescription Vineyards is excited to announce that we are the exclusive wine sponsor of Tampa Bay Restaurant Week, happening June 17th through 27th throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Our wines will be featured by the glass and bottle at select restaurants and paired with the events prix fixe menus.
“We’re so excited to be getting back to market and sharing Rob Lloyd’s wines,” said Greg Moore, Director of Sales for Lloyd Cellars and Prescription Vineyards, “The opportunity to work directly with restaurateurs and support Feeding Tampa Bay means a lot to us!”
To take advantage of Restaurant Week, all you have to do is visit any participating restaurant from June 17th through 27th and ask for the Tampa Bay Restaurant Week menu.
In our ongoing Slow Food Fast Series, we feature Italian Trattoria and wine country favorite, Cafe Citti
Cafe Citti has been a fixture in Sonoma Valley’s town of Kenwood for more than 30-years. Both locals and visitors to wine country have flocked to the restaurant for its casual roadside setting and excellent Italian food served up by owners Luca and Linda Citti. It was also the perfect pit-stop to nosh when traveling between the Napa Valley and Sonoma County wine regions.
For dessert lovers: Cafe Citti’s house-made cannoli is perfectly not too sweet
Their homemade pasta, rotisserie chicken, and salads have always been great grab-n-go dishes to bring home to a hungry family. That said, a side of Cafe Citti’s deep-fried polenta sticks dipped in their superb marinara and pesto sauces are what feed uncontrollable, visceral human cravings. And then there are the rustic pizzas that give Italian pies their good name.
Here is the announcement from the owners of Cafe Citti:
“It is with a heavy heart that after 30 years of business in Kenwood, we announce that Cafe Citti will be relocating. Our landlords have made the decision to address the stability of the building and will be making renovations that will take several months. Due to the new restrictions placed upon us during this time of Covid, the annual PSPS shut-offs, and most recently the Glass fire, we will be leaving the dining portion of our business behind and we will concentrate our focus on continuing with our take-out business at a new location in Santa Rosa….”
Due to reopen this spring at its new location in Santa Rosa, next door to Hank’s Creekside (excellent breakfast!), Cafe Citti is sure to become an even bigger hit with hungry locals looking for Slow Food Fast! We recommend pairing our Clarksburg Chardonnay with the deep-fried polenta sticks and rotisserie chicken or teaming up our Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon with a hand-tossed pizza of your choice. Note: never forget to order extra marinara and pesto sauce, or…
We felt compelled to call out Cafe Citti’s extensive offering of mouth-watering sauces!
Cafe Citti | 2792 4th St, Santa Rosa, CA 95405 | (707) 523-2690
Bodega Bay Oyster Company Grilling Day-Fresh Oysters Roadside! Photo credit: Bodega Bay Oyster Company
The North Coast of the Bay Area is Oyster Country, with Many Roadside Stops to Pick Up Some ‘Slow Food Fast’
The oyster is a roadside delicacy in Northern California’s Marin and Sonoma Counties. Take a drive along the Pt. Reyes National Seashore and Tomales Bay, and the selection of bivalve pit stops are many. Sure, you can use your navigation to find your way, or go old school and look for the long grills sending up smoke signals over picnic benches dotting the shoreline.
We chose oysters as our next feature for our ‘Slow Food Fast’ series because many don’t know that it takes two to three years to grow oysters for market. Along with the task of raising and breeding multiples varieties of oysters, these oyster farmers, and chefs, have a passion for making their secret house cocktail and barbecue sauces and mignonettes.
Locally, we can take a leisurely Sunday drive out to the Bodega Bay Oyster Company, grab a quick dozen or bag of 50 for a party, and ready to go sauces, and be back home for a late afternoon shuckin’. We make it a ritual, as we wash the oysters down with a glass of Prescription Chardonnay, to raise a toast to the aquaculturists who brave the cold waters and windswept coast.
Lombardi’s Deli & Gourmet BBQ in Petaluma, California is a local wine country favorite
Pairing Our Alexander Valley Cabernet with Smoked Barbecue Makes for Boldilicious Memories
If you’re into smoked barbecue as a personal journey, you understand the time and commitment it takes to not only prepare a single meal it’s the learning of the craft itself. Luckily, there are those so committed to the art they take the seemingly crazy jump and open BBQ joints to share their passion with others. This is when smoked barbecue becomes the ultimate slow food fast!
Our Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is sourced from a hillside vineyard 1,700 feet above the valley floor in the Mayacamas Mountain Range – $30 retail.
Before we go any further, let’s raise a glass of Prescription Vineyards to all the dedicated Pit Masters across this great country. These dedicated people are up before dawn prepping fish, poultry, and meats to serve to the disciples of the tender and smokey. Think about all the hours creating marinades, rubs, and sauces, and reducing hardwoods to embers so that they have the pit at the perfect temperature, even heat and smoke.
And then there is us, those who pull into the parking lot of the BBQ joint to pick up our order of smoked salmon or chicken or brisket – or all of the above for the family. Within minutes we’re feasting on a meal that has been in the works for days. Again, a toast to all the Pit Masters and their pit crews for taking on all the heat and smoke for our pleasure. Thank you!
For our ongoing Slow Food Fast Series, we’re singling out Lombardi’s Deli & Gourmet BBQ in Petaluma, California because it’s a local favorite for those on the go. Just an hour north of San Francisco, Petaluma is set in Sonoma County and is famous for its agriculture, including wine, dairy, eggs, meats, and poultry. Of course, it’s also famous as a set for Hollywood, noted for films such as American Graffiti, Basic Instinct, Cujo, and Peggy Sue Got Married.
On a recent Sunday drive back from the breathtaking Sonoma Coast, we picked up a full-rack of baby back ribs, Lombardi’s Small-Batch Hickory BBQ Sauce, and classic barbecue sides for dinner. The ribs were tender, with a perfect ‘slight tug’ off the bone. We paired our Prescription Vineyards 2018 Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, which layered in a dark berry component to the excellent sauce while cleansing the palate between mouthwatering bites of rib. Napkins, please!
When you’re thinking about a meal days after the experience, you feel pretty good about your money being well-spent. Barbecue isn’t cheap and rightfully so. Considering we have fans all over the United States, and the myriad of regional barbecue-styles below is a link to some of America’s greatest joints to indulge in as suggested by Thrillist!
Amy’s Drive Thru started in Sonoma County, California, several years back, and now have locations in Corte Madera and the San Francisco International Airport. They are sustainably focused and offer veggie, vegan and gluten-free burgers, burritos and pizza. Its buildings have reclaimed elements, rainwater collectors, and sod roofs layered with grasses and succulent plants. And, yes, they have indoor seating along with its drive-through window.
For those not from Northern California, you may be familiar with Amy’s organic products from grocery store shelves and in freezers. We’d equate the quality level of its drive-through food to In-N-Out Burger and Chik-fil-A (apologies to our vegan and vegetarian friends for the meat analogy).
In our house, for Friday movie night, we love the Amy Burger – a double veggie patty, double cheese, lettuce, tomato, (sans onion), pickle, with Fred Sr.’s secret sauce. When you avoid the onion, the beauty of this burger is that it pairs beautifully with both Presciption Vineyards Clarksburg Chardonnay and our Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.
Note, Amy’s fries are excellent, yet aren’t the best for pairing with wine. Our recommendation is to take another bite of burger after you eat a fry before taking a sip of wine—simple solution. And if you’re glutton free, get your veggie-on-veggie with Amy’s lettuce wrap option!
Rob and Bonnie Lloyd invite you to join uslive on Instagram on Thursday, December 10th at 4:30 pm PT for a live demo and pairing with Gastronaut & Author @BobBlumer.
Screwcaps and Food To-Go Make Life Easier While Delicious
Life moves fast for most of us, yet there are pit stops along life’s road to get slow food quickly and chill the pace. The San Francisco Bay Area has one the most reliable and delicious to-go sources for sustainable and organic meals, and it’s a diner called Gott’s Roadside.
According to Gott’s website, they offer, “California-inspired dishes and seasonal specials use locally sourced ingredients and purveyors such as Niman Ranch beef, Zoe’s bacon, Panorama Bakery breads, and Osprey Seafood.” These producers are some of the best in our nation!
Prescription Vineyards itself is all about handcrafted wines created by Rob Lloyd. They are responsibly made, affordable, and easy to sip (screwcap closure) with some of America’s best prepared meals, off the shelve bites, street food, and dishes from places like Gott’s Roadside.
From Gott’s, we particularly love pairing their Chicken-Schnitzel Sandwich with Prescription Chardonnay! This crispy fried chicken breast is topped with arugula herb salad, cucumber and pickled turnips on a toasted sesame brioche bun with harissa and turmeric spiced mayos.
Yes, we all love to cook homemade meals with our families. However, there are times when life is too crazy, and we need immediate nourishment and a good glass of wine to win the day. This reality is why we’ve decided to have an ongoing series of blogs featuring easy and delicious meals to pair with Prescription Vineyards Chardonnay.
