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Friday Slide Show: Ferrari-Carano Winery
6 September 2019
While we are waiting for a new Micro Four Thirds lens to arrive, we returned to the archives to unearth these April 2000 images we shot mostly at the Ferrari-Carano vineyards and winery with a Nikon 900 (not a 990).
Those were the early days of digital photography. The very early days. We'd already been reviewing digicams since 1998 by then and bought Nikon's first offering for its swivel design. The 1.2-megapixel sensor didn't dissuade us in an era of VGA (640x480-pixel) cameras.
Despite the low resolution (and rather saturated color) of these images, they have stayed with us for their composition, for the scenes captured.
The Orchard from 2016 was a Coolpix 900 slide show that talks more about the camera. Today we want to talk about the winery.
We'd gone up to Dry Creek Valley for A Taste of Spring, "a celebration of wine, food and friends," as the winery put it. But we went all the way to Lake Sonoma first, so there are a few shots of that large body of water formed when the Army Corp. of Engineers damned up the valley.
Just to set the mood for a little wine tasting, you might say.
The winery itself is more a retail theme park than farm, like Viansa. We have nothing against that. It doesn't pretend to be anything but a recently-constructed (1995) movie set. We even suspect the painters on the grounds were employees rather than amateurs.
There were tulips everywhere. Planted, of course. And a vineyard off to the side of the impressive buildings.
At the time $10 got you a glass of wine and a pass to the tasting, which was held downstairs from the tasting room in the cellar full of French oak barrels holding the 1999 Merlot.
To its credit, the winery passed out the recipes for its various appetizers and desserts. And we're going to share one of them with you today now that the statute of limitations has expired.
Fresh Mozzarella and Shrimp Salad
Wine recommendation
- Ferrari-Carano Fumé Blanc
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup of olive oil
- 1 hard-boiled egg yolk
- 4 anchovy filets
- 2 tb. Italian parsley leaves
- 1 glove garlic
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 lb. fresh mozzarella packed in water
and cut into 1/2-inch cubes- 1/4 cup black olives, pitted and coarsely chopped
- 1 tb. capers
- 1/2 lb. peeled and cooked bay shrimp
- Parsley for garnish
Instructions
In a food processor, puree the oil, egg yolk, anchovies, parsley and garlic. Season with black pepper to taste. (Because anchovies are salty, you should not need to add salt.) Stir this mixture together with the mozzarella, olives, capers and shrimp. Garnish with chopped parsley.
Serves 4.
After our tasting, we wandered through the immaculately groomed garden before we drove back through the valley to stay overnight in Sonoma.
We've never forgotten the tasting. The small plates were divine. But we've never been back.
And we can't remember the last time we took a shot with the Coolpix 900.
