Did you know that it was Chinese immigrants that first planted the vineyards and built California’s wine industry? They made up 80% of the workforce that first put Sonoma vineyards on the map—they built roads, cleared land for farming, planted, pruned and harvested grapes, and literally, even dug the caves by hand. Unfortunately, these voices aren’t heard when we talk about the history of wine country. This is why J Vineyards & Winery, a female-founded (by Judy Jordan) and women-run (led by head winemaker Nicole Hitchcock) winery launched the “Shifting the Lens” program.
“Shifting The Lens” is a three-part chefs-in-residence dinner series, created with the goals of helping pave the way for equitable conversations and representation in the food and wine industry via food and wine exploration, changing the way pairings are traditionally understood by focusing on distinct ingredients, flavor combinations and techniques. Dinners took place at the vineyard’s Bubble Room.
In July, Los Angeles-based Chinese-American chef, food writer and founder of the community-based non-profit Studio ATAO, Jenny Dorsey took over the kitchen, and for the month of August, Oakland-based Indian-American chef Preeti Mistry, twice nominated by the James Beard Foundation for Best Chef of the West, was the chef in residency. (Mistry is also a consultant for the program.)
I attended the final dinner of the series by chef Shenarri Freeman, executive chef at Cadence in New York, known for her cruelty-free, vegan Southern cooking. (Her residency runs until October 9.) “It’s all vegan, it’s all soy-free, organic, lots of local produce. We’re doing some West African, a little bit of Southern, a little bit of Caribbean,” she says of her menu.
Collared green wraps, one of Freeman’s signatures, were filled with shiitake mushrooms, leeks, onions, cooked off in a chickpea miso broth, and and served with poached pears. This was paired with the limited edition non-vintage Shifted Lens Brut rosé from Russian River Valley, created specially for the series.
Trumpet mushrooms laced with maple black garlic, on roasted red pepper pesto and topped with pickled mustard seeds were paired with J Vineyard’s Edition No. 2 Pinot Noir, from the Sonoma Coast (2017). Okra gumbo served with chickpea miso, Cajun seasoning and basmati rice was served with J Vineyard’s Canfield Pinot Noir from the Russian River Valley (2018).
The switch back to sparkling was made on the main course of fried jerk oyster mushrooms served with farro, berbere, pine nut ricotta and pickled radish (Vintage Brut from the Russian River Valley, 2014), and dessert of a layered plantain pudding with turmeric and coconut cream, inspired by the banana pudding Freeman’s mother would make.
I’ve been wanting to visit Cadence *forever* and this special evening allowed me the opportunity to try Freeman’s excellent plant-based dishes (I left swooning!) crafted with so much heart and soul, while remaining 100% vegan, soy-free and without refined sugar, paired with J Vineyards’ beautiful portfolio of wines. In addition to the food and wine pairings, the thoughtful conversations I had with the people I met and the post-dinner Q&A session between Freeman, Hitchcock and marketing director Joyce Chen… I, as a Chinese-Filipino now living in America, left Healdsburg with newfound knowledge, and much more inspired.
“Shifting the Lens was born on the idea that we can help make the industry more inclusive,” shared Chen. “We want to honor the future of what the wine industry should look like today… making room for each other at the table, and learning from each other.” Amen.
