Entertaining with Wine Country Style

By Julie Ann Kodmur

Molly Chappellet

What do you do when James Beard and Danny Kaye are coming to lunch and your electricity conks out? If you're Molly Chappellet, Pritchard Hill's celebrated hostess whose domain — Chappellet Vineyard — extends over a picturesque hillside and meadow in the Napa Valley, you "make lemonade!"

In this case, Molly was forced to scuttle her original menu of stuffed quail with freshly picked chanterelles and a warm vegetable salad. Dispatching her children to the Chappellets' bountiful vegetable garden, she instructed them to harvest only the smallest, most pristine, perfectly ripe specimens. When her guests were seated, each found a vegetable still life at their place setting. Molly had artfully arranged a small head of limestone lettuce, miniature squash, baby string beans, baby carrots still wearing their frilly tops, baby beets, scallions and cherry tomatoes on a small cutting board. Nestled amongst this bounty was a bouquet of freshly cut herbs and a cruet each of the Chappellets' homemade olive oil and vinegar. A sharp knife and a grater provided linear contrast.

Just before lunch, the power returned and Molly's daughter, Lygia, baked fresh bread to accompany the impromptu salad course. Dessert consisted of one just-picked peach and a homemade cookie. James Beard raved about the experience in The New York Times as an example of wine country creativity and largess.

In the years since, Molly Chappellet has continued to entertain stylishly and share her expertise, having published A Vineyard Garden in 1991, the soon-to-be-released Romance of California Vineyards (Molly wrote the introduction, daughter Carissa the book), Gardens of The Wine Country and Quick & Easy Arrangements (due out in 1998). Although all of these books document her artistic vision, Quick & Easy Arrangements, with its descriptions and explanations about displays, centerpieces, table settings and so on, will appeal to those of us polishing our entertaining skills.

When she is not asking her guests to dismantle her organic still lifes for lunch, Molly is decorating tables in her signature style with outrageous vegetable centerpieces, causing a sensation with cabbages, turnips, asparagus and the like. She has an incredible knack for turning the ordinary into the extraordinary, sometimes creating dramatic arrangements with "a beautiful clump of weeds" or "a handsome branch."

Molly favors oversized objects such as charger plates placed beneath the dinner plate at each setting. She collects plates of every description in her travels.

Her favorites include some lacquer plates she found in Vietnam. She does not favor place mats — "they're too confining." She also recommends mixing up china and silverware with an eye toward harmonizing the whole.

"Think big! Do simple, outrageous things," she says. "That's what makes it fun and that's the point, anyway, isn't it?!" Another Chappellet touch is changing dinner partners for dessert: "It keeps the party alive," she chuckles.

"Set a budget, but don't skimp on the music, stemware or wine," she cautions. "Those three ingredients immediately upgrade an evening," Molly explains. "You can always serve a simple pasta dish and you can always hire an excellent, young student musician. When guests are served a great wine in a beautiful glass, they know they have been well treated."

Entertaining runs in the Chappellet blood. Husband Donn is famous for whipping up a batch of his heavenly buttermilk waffles on Sunday mornings for a tableful of guests. "And luckily for us," Molly brags, "all of our children are good cooks: Carissa's vegetarian meals are exceptional; Alexa's desserts, dreamy and inventive; Dominic's adaptations with pasta, remarkable; Jon-Mark's tomato chutney, good enough to market; and Lygia's weird, but wonderful herb dishes, sensational."

Molly's eldest son, Cyril, is another great cook. He has taken one of his mother's signature desserts, "Forgotten Torte," and added his own refinements, creating a lavish ice cream sandwich effect. He gently inserts a layer of ice cream between slices of cake, interspersing fresh berries and then "wrapping" the whole concoction with whipped cream and more berries. He has astounded friends in remote places by schlepping all of the necessary ingredients on dry ice over hill and dale. "It's a dessert to die for! If you're really making satiating food," he says, "you can't sacrifice quality and flavor for low fat." Cyril is best known, however, for throwing barbecues for large crowds (he even built his own barbecue grill from stainless steel tanks). Cyril cautions less-experienced hosts to use a caterer if they have any qualms.

Lyndsey Harrison

Another Napa Valley family with a reputation for great party-giving is the Harrison family, coincidentally neighbors of the Chappellets, who are situated on the eastern slopes of the valley closest to the town of St. Helena. Michael and Lyndsey Harrison and daughter, Jill (who lives on the property with her husband, Chris Willis, and daughter, Taylor) draw from their extensive garden as a foundation for their entertaining. They even forage locally for wild mushrooms, wild fennel and berries.

Transplanted New Yorkers, they are very conscious of the uniqueness of their lifestyle. One party they enjoy hosting is The Sometimes Annual New York Deli and Dancin' Holiday. "People are sometimes much too serious about wine and food pairings," Lyndsey explains. "Having come from the East Coast, we know that people really want to eat good deli.

"The first time we had this party," she recalls, "guests were so shy around the buffet, patiently waiting their turn in line to carefully slice a bagel or baguette. Last year, people seemed to get into the swing of things, helping themselves to pastrami, kosher dills, cream cheese schmears, four kinds of smoked salmon, turkey, roast beef and all the trimmings. The 'New York' in everyone just sort of came out. Folks were jostling for position, cutting in line, having seconds, yelling across the room to friends. Lots of fun and the best part was, of course, we served wine and beer and everything tasted terrific with the food."

How can someone from back East recreate the Harrison wine country style? "The key to having fun is the creative energy behind the party," Lyndsey says. "Themes like 'New York Deli Night' or 'Dressed To The Nines' always put people in a festive, party mood."

The Harrisons believe in casual attire when they entertain, but are not casual in terms of the food they serve. Both Lyndsey and Michael love to cook. Among her specialties is a lemon crème brûlée tart, which she flames at the table with a butane torch. Her husband is known for his "stackeys" — canapés made up of different ingredients and sauces, no two alike, stacked like tiny towers.

At a recent dinner party, Michael prepared three first courses, three main courses, a salad course, a cheese course and two desserts. "The idea," Lyndsey explains, "was to create a restaurant-type atmosphere. Everyone shared, passing their plates around, which was very much part of the fun."

Joy Sterling

Just a little further west and north in Sonoma County's Sebastopol is Iron Horse Vineyards, another family winery-vineyard-garden enclave. Founded by Barry and Audrey Sterling, the team today includes their son, Laurence, their daughter, Joy, and her husband Winemaker/Partner Forrest Tancer. Like Molly Chappellet, Joy has shared her lifestyle in two books — A Cultivated Life and Vintage Feasting.

When asked to describe the most memorable event she has hosted, Joy recalls the barrel dinner held at Iron Horse for the 1988 Sonoma County Wine Auction: "The table ran for a quarter-mile along our entry drive, which is lined with palm and olive trees — it was stunning." Five hundred people were fed by six chefs, grilling at tableside. Because there were no breaks in the table, each section had its own chef and service team. The wait staff, marching in single file, placed each course on the table and then about-faced, lending quite an air of pageantry. "It was great," Joy remembers, "there were incredible, rolling toasts proposed at one end, and like a wave at a football game, the toasts made their way along the table."

The Sterlings have also planted extensive gardens — an embarrassment of riches, which includes 216 types of tomatoes with rows named after U.S. presidents. What can city dwellers borrow from this? "Freshness," Joy booms. "Although it's common wisdom that vegetables and wine don't go together, if everything is really fresh, they do go together — beautifully!"

Joy uses wine corks for place cards, either by slipping a name card into a slit in the cork, or by writing the name on the cork with flair. Because Iron Horse makes sparkling as well as still wines, Joy has plenty of cages (the wire guards) with which to play. She twists the wires into tiny chairs, using the cap as the "cushion," and rests cards on the chair's arms.

At formal meals Joy's mother, Audrey, insists that after the main course, gentlemen move two places to the right or left, a variation of Molly Chappellet's system to keep the conversation hopping.

"Dessert is very important," Joy says, "because everyone craves a last, sweet taste. It can be a single chocolate truffle, and it doesn't have to be a major production, unless you happen to be a fabulous baker." As a summer dessert, Joy likes to fill an over-sized flute with fresh berries and pour one of the family's sparkling wines over them.

Her advice on where to skimp and splurge? "Don't skimp on the freshness of the vegetables you buy," Joy recommends. "You want everything to be flavorful. It's more important to have a delicious tomato than a fancy, three-tiered cake." And what to drink with that tomato? "Select wines adventurously," she instructs. "You can buy a top-of-the- line Zinfandel, Sangiovese or Syrah for the same money as an 'okay' Cab." "There are no formal rules," she says. "If you do everything you can to make people feel welcome and follow your heart, you can't fail."

Kate Colmery Firestone

A winery pioneer in California's Santa Ynez Valley located 40 miles north of Santa Barbara, Firestone Vineyard is family-owned and -managed. Founded by Brooks Firestone, who is presently running for Lieutenant Governor of California from his seat in the State Assembly, the winery is overseen today by his son, Adam Firestone.

Adam's wife, Kate (not to be confused with his mother, Kate), is involved in the day-to- day operation of the winery and often hosts gatherings which might include clients, friends or family.

"City folk comment on our enormous dining room table, which can seat up to 16 people," Kate says with the smile of an experienced hostess. But don't think that dining at a large table means the Firestones are stuffy entertainers. "We always serve guests buffet-style, so that people can choose exactly what they'd like to eat. It makes people feel more relaxed. You just can't be as comfortable when someone serves you," she says.

Kate urges hosts to prepare everything themselves. "This makes your guests feel special — they know that you made an extra effort especially for them."

A plentiful wine country garden provides the fodder for most of her own signature dishes. One of Kate's favorite uses for a bumper crop of zucchini, for example, is zucchini rellenos.

Her table settings bring the Santa Ynez wine country inside. A grape vine acts as a napkin holder. Fresh-cut sunflowers, clusters of grapes and loaves of home-baked bread, artfully arranged, lend a casual air. By adding some elegant candles, she turns up the volume just a notch.

A cliché which Kate tweaks refreshingly is the "rule" about never preparing a dish the first time for company. "It's really okay to experiment," she says. "If you have to try out every recipe beforehand, you may never get around to serving anything new to your guests."

She prefers casual entertaining, although she attends plenty of "over-the-top" events, such as a recent Western-themed party. The soup course arrived in a bowl nestled inside a cowboy hat. Rocks, hand-painted with each guest's name, served as rough-and-ready place cards.

What's her ideal fantasy party? "Adam and I are building our dream house now and when it's finished I'd like to have a big party — indoors and outdoors. Someone else will serve and clean up, but I'll get to spend four days cooking an elaborate meal with no time constraints or pressure!"

What if you have a limited budget? "Don't skimp on quality and keep it simple," Kate advises. "Barbecues make great parties for not much money."

Sandra MacIver

Matanzas Creek Winery is located within Bennett Valley, just east of the town of Santa Rosa in Sonoma County. Owner and President Sandra MacIver founded the winery in 1971 and has overseen its growth, adding nuances over the years such as the winery's lavender field, the largest commercial planting of lavender in northern California and home to the "Days of Wine & Lavender" festival every June.

"For us, the lavender is the centerpiece of the entertaining," she explains. "We try to include lavender in a culinary sense with the dishes, integrating the food, the wine and the surroundings — even to tying the napkins with sprigs of lavender."

What do guests notice most when entertained by MacIver? "They're struck by our setting with these spectacular gardens and the vista of mountains and vineyards," she says. "We entertain primarily in the evenings and we light pathways through the lavender fields with candles. The trees are lit up with halogen lighting that comes on as if it's sunset."

How could someone down South recreate some of MacIver's personal touches? "Let's say you're doing dinner in your backyard. You could have pots of lavender, either fresh or dried," she suggests. She describes an area for outside entertaining at the winery where a chef prepares dinner and becomes the entertainment. The meal is presented as a cornucopia of all of Sonoma's bounty, with fresh seafood, organic meat and a wide array of vegetables and fruits. She vows that you, too, can recreate that excitement and sense of freshness, whether you hire a guest chef or if you're the chef and the ingredients come from your local grocery store.

MacIver recommends rubbing an organic breast of turkey with spices, then grilling and carving it. A showy alternative is halibut. She explains that you can buy a greater quantity at a lower price and then present it in its entirety, creating some drama and spectacle. "It's a Rabelaisian approach," she says. "You can also make food do double duty by using it as decor or centerpieces, such as a country market-themed party where a farmer's crate, lined with a colorful cloth, could hold blanched vegetables and dip. Don't skimp on dishes where you can make visual statements," MacIver recommends.

She recommends making the invitations yourself, taking advantage of the wide range of attractive papers which slide right into your laser printer. "You can really make an event special by creating your own invitations and repeating that theme on the menu, even including a recipe on the back," she notes.

Her favorite party? "Sentimental Journeys, a charity auction in New Orleans, my hometown. A tent was erected out of a shimmery, crystalline-like plastic. Antique crystal chandeliers hung from the beams and the tables were dressed with antique crystal candelabras entwined with roses. You felt like you were floating through a fairyland," she remembers. Her favorite dish, which worked well for the crowd of 450 guests, was a slightly citric avocado and scallop mousse created by Chef Diane Forley of New York City's Verbena.

Rhonda Carano

In Sonoma County's northern end, Rhonda Carano, another celebrated entertainer, is dazzling guests at Ferrari-Carano Vineyards just outside the town of Healdsburg in Dry Creek Valley. Founded in 1981 by Rhonda and her husband, Don, the Caranos have just opened Villa Fiore (the House of Flowers), a 25,000-square-foot hospitality center set amidst five acres of gardens (18,000 tulips bloom here in the late spring, a tremendous visitor draw).

Rhonda's ingenuity as a hostess was called upon in June at Villa Fiore's opening festivities when it rained. How could she reconfigure the performance by the Santa Rosa Children's Choir, scheduled to be a song about butterflies, concluding with the children releasing live butterflies in the garden? She moved the choir and guests into the winery's underground wine cellar and departing guests were given the butterflies in tiny boxes to release in their own gardens.

Rhonda is yet another wine country hostess who counts on her gardens to supply the theme for her entertaining. "We always focus our menu planning around what's in the garden, such as recently offering a zucchini blossom and truffle risotto," she explains.

"I always try to come up with a theme and then follow through with the mood and the setting. Try to create an ambience which can make everything come together, whether it's with utensils, napkins or tablecloths — remember that everything you do creates an image and a feeling that becomes uniquely yours."

What about those of us who entertain without the advantage of a wine country setting? "You can entertain anywhere," she offers. "You have to want to please others, be creative and pay attention to details such as the guest list." Rhonda advocates including your guests in the actual food preparation. "They like to stir the risotto and participate," she says. "It breaks down barriers if people don't know each other. They say, 'You're not stirring right, let me show you how!'"

Rhonda's suggestions for a limited budget: "Just a few basics will do: quality ingredients, a comfortable, relaxed setting and a glass of wine. And remember that lunch can be a great piece of cheese, a fresh pear, country bread and good wine!"

Have fun with the invitations, she suggests, and carry out your theme. For the Villa Fiore opening, Rhonda sent out a blueprint of the architectural drawings, which had perforated windows that lifted up so that invitees could peek into the villa. In the style of an Advent calendar, guests could see which wines would be served, what foods Guest Chef Wolfgang Puck would prepare and which flowers would be blooming in the garden. Rhonda and Don Carano also own the Eldorado Hotel & Casino in Reno, Nevada. In her role there as director of advertising and public relations for the past 19 years, she has hosted a bevy of events, using photographs, illustrations, die-cuts, pop-ups and even simple, handwritten notes as invitations.

Her ideal fantasy party? "For New Year's Eve 1999, charter a jet and celebrate through every time zone!"

Julie Ann Kodmur is a California native who has spent the past 15 years in public relations and wine marketing.