Left to Right: Nissa Pierson (Ger-Nis), Katie Madigan (St. Francis), Chef David Santos (Um Segredo), Jonathan Cristaldi (aka Jonny Cigar of The Noble Rot) and Paul Gatti (Millbrook Vineyards & Winery).
On a recent Wednesday in June, The Noble Rot hosted an evening featuring two wineries separated by 3,000 miles of U.S. Terroir. A six-course meal set the stage for a pairing of three east-coast wines with east-coast inspired cuisine alternating with three west-coast wines paired with west-coast inspired food. The Ger-Nis Culinary & Herb Center, run by Nissa Pierson is a true gem in the Park Slope (4th Ave and Union Street) area. The space is a beautiful professional kitchen, outfitted for shoots or dinner parties for up to 40. Nissa hosts classes and the center is meant to evoke conversation, revelry and discovery – all the ingredients important to a successful Noble Rot affair.
Photos of the evening, courtesy of Guest of a Guest can be viewed here.
The winemakers in house were Katie Madigan of St. Francis Winery (Sonoma, California) and Paul Gatti the assistant winemaker at Millbrook Vineyards & Winery (Hudson Valley, New York State). Hit em up on TwitterLand: @millbrookwinery @stfranciswinery
Katie’s path to winemaking came from her love of science and a desire to apply her skills toward a hands-on profession, and nothing is more hands-on than winemaking! She started her wine industry career at St. Francis and has since worked her way up to winemaker. She’s particular to Burgundian style wines, and so under her direction St. Francis’s Chardonnays and being re-routed away from the typical California chardonnay we all know and love/hate. Katie’s Chardonnays are cleaner, less oaked and present a more fruit-forward style of wine. You will be surprised. I also want to say that it’s only a matter of time before we no longer can refer to Chardonnay that’s undergone malo and been given the full oak treatment as “typical” to California. Nearly every time I sit down to write about Chardonnay from California my sentences begin something like, “Straying from the typical California Chardonnay style of oak and butter…”
Then there is Gatti: Paul Gatti. No relation to the crime family, (note the spelling difference) though I pried him for information. Paul hails from Westchester where his father was making wine in the family garage – a true garagiste! Paul’s early child-hood experiences around his dad’s renegade production inspired him to pursue a professional full time career in making wine. He landed at Millbrook under the direction of John Graziano, who has been making wine at Millbrook for 27 years and is arguably the most knowledgeable person about Hudson Valley terroir and growing seasons – only second in authority to John S. Dyson, the proprietor of Millbrook.
It was a pleasure to host both Katie and Paul – both passionate professionals who have different styles and approaches to the process. Paul’s interest in the technical, factual aspects of the wine were evident as he talked about bric levels and temperature swings in harvesting whereas Katie’s science and passion blended into conversations about style and her efforts to enforce night picking (because the flavors are more concentrated in the cooler, harder evening-set grapes).
The menu was prepared by the rising alternative dining star, Chef David Santos (Um Segredo Supper Club), a former Per Se and Bouley alum. The 35 guests who attended were inspired by the marriage of wine and food and made sure to say so, loudly and with mouths full of east+west-inspired brilliance. The menu and pairings looked like this:
