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Tina and Brett
Five Vines Wine Bar is a cozy wine bar nestled in quaint San Juan Capistrano. The owner, Randy, focuses on boutique winemakers but also serves some top-notch craft beers. One of the things we love about Five Vines is that they appeal to the full spectrum of wine drinkers, from the serious wine lover who blind tastes with their friends, to those who are just starting to learn the difference between pinot noirs and cabernets.
Five Vines has a lot of clout in the wine community. When they host winemaker dinners, they’re always able to get the winemaker or the owner to host the event rather than a winery representative. For this dinner, they were able to get none other than Caren Hatton herself to present the wines!
Our experience at the Five Vines Arietta Winemaker Dinner was stellar, and we’re excited to share the experience with you.
Arietta is one of the few Napa Valley wineries that remains a family-owned and operated organization. Despite the demand, they are a deliberately boutique brand, making just around 3,000 cases a year.
If you’re interested in a deeper dive into our thoughts on Arietta Wine, take a look at our review of the 2019 Arietta Quartet Red Blend. Arietta wines are bold but approachable, and they provided the perfect canvas for Chef Omar to show off his culinary skills while paying homage to Caren and Fritz Hatton’s ultra-premium wines.
Five Vines Wine Bar’s Arietta Winemaker Dinner experience unfolded over five terrifically executed courses.
The evening kicked off with Arietta’s 2021 One of the White Keys, which is a blend of sauvignon blanc and old vine Semillon. The wine has fantastic aromas that are earthy, citrusy (grapefruit), and some slightly sweeter fruit notes like pear.
Randy and Chef Omar paired this lighter white wine with a Winter Salad with Avocado, Pomegranate, and Almonds. What we love about this pairing is how it elevated the wine. The lemon and shallot dressing, mixed with the little gem lettuce, fragrant fennel, avocado, and pomegranate, took a wine we initially scored as an 86 to an 89.
The second course had us moving into a Basque Garlic Soup. Picture this: an entire head of garlic is roasted and cooked down to create just four bowls of rich, smoky, roasted garlic chicken broth soup. This beautiful soup has wisps of egg and is thickened with toasted bread before a splash of sherry vinegar is added to heighten the flavors.
At first glance, we were skeptical of how this umami-like dish would pair with the 2019 Quartet ($65, 92 PTS); again, see the link above for our review of this wine. But, the smooth richness of the wine really stood up to the sweet roasted flavors in the soup.
The entire Arietta winemaker dinner at Five Vines was superb. Still, the real bright spots were the next two-meat based dishes, a Polenta with Italian Sausage Bolognese and Grilled Skirt Steak with Shishito Salad and Charred Lemon. We imagine Chef Omar and Randy tasting the 2018 Arietta Merlot and the 2018 Arietta H Block Hudson Vineyard and saying, we know just the dishes for these Napa Valley gems.
For the 2018 Arietta Merlot ($75, 94 PTS), Chef Omar and his right hand, Letty, really outdid themselves. The Polenta with Italian Sausage Bolognese was rich, delicious, and hearty. We’re talking Italian sausage sautéed with carrots, onions, and garlic and then simmered in an herbed tomato sauce. The rich and creamy polenta was topped with shaved parmesan that quickly melted into all of the gorgeous flavors on the plate. This merlot was tremendous with the decadence of this dish. Right out of the bottle, you’ve got depth, richness, and all kinds of dark fruit, spices, and herbs. This is a bottle worth seeking out.
The 2018 H Block Hudson Vineyards ($140, 95 PTS) is Arietta’s creme de la creme bottle. The blend is 56% Cabernet Franc and 44% Merlot (which are co-fermented), and wow, the palate on this one is intriguing. You’ve got cherry, spice, tobacco, cloves, and a strain of black currant. Totally balanced, with nice acidity and tannins that provide structure but don’t overwhelm.
Of course, Chef Omar pulled out the heavy hitter for this dish: tender grilled steak in the form of Skirt Steak with Shishito Salad and Charred Lemon. Does anything go better with steak than a big, bold red wine? Nope. And this preparation did a lot to bring out how good this wine really is.
Every winemaker dinner includes a dessert course, but because Arietta doesn’t make a dessert wine, Randy selected the Quinta do Vallado White Port ($30, 92 PTS) as the wine to pair with the Pears in Honey and Pine Nut Caramel with Goat Cheese dessert. And, not surprisingly, it was excellent. Fresh on the palate, with strong fruit notes, just the right amount of sweetness, and a long and delicate finish. A great pairing with dessert and is now a personal favorite with a cigar.
Omar always comes up with an interesting dessert, and this was no exception. The tartness in the goat cheese really made the wine pop.
Wine bars can be hit and miss: some go all in on their wine selections and neglect the importance of quality food, and others serve top-notch food with meh wines. We love Five Vines and the events at Five Vines because the entire food and wine experience is top-notch. Chef Omar never fails to disappoint, and you get the sense that he and Randy, the owner, really work hand-in-hand to create unforgettable experiences for their guests.
Each dish is explained in detail when you attend one of these dinners, as well as the thought process of how they arrived at the pairings they did. Always an entertaining evening for $85 to $95 a head.
