Secrets of a Winery's Grill Master
Rosenblum Cellars’ Sid Stafford mans the grill at the Alameda winery, where red Zinfandels and barbecue go together like bees and honey.
By Irene Lacher 07/01/2010
If you’ve ever suspected that heaven is actually a winery, you’re probably right. Most people in the wine business are passionate foodies, and pleasures of the palate are part of their everyday life.
When Sid Stafford joined Rosenblum Cellars in the Bay Area 15 years ago, the boutique winery’s employees happily savored a tasty tradition — sitting down together for a home-cooked lunch and a glass of wine. The Alameda-based winery had a kitchen, so each Monday, every worker would chip in $15 to fill the refrigerator with that week’s meals, which one or another of them would prepare. Eventually, the local health department got wind of the fact that they were, in essence, operating a commercial kitchen without a license. So lo and behold, they took the cooking outdoors. Stafford was so naturally savvy about barbecue that he kept getting asked to do the cooking.
Now Stafford is king of the grill at Rosenblum, where he works as the facilities manager and maintains the winemaking equipment. Over the years, the company has outgrown its homey lunches, but Stafford still does the honors when there’s something special to celebrate, like a quarter with no injury-related work losses. With more than 600 injury-free days behind them, winery employees have enjoyed quite a bit of Sid’s barbecue. “In September, after two years of no work-loss injuries,” he says, “we’ll probably cook a pig.”
Why is barbecue held in such high regard at Rosenblum?
Because the winery’s specialty is red Zinfandels and Rhône varietals, and its 25 different Zins and food prepared on the grill are indeed a match made in heaven. “Barbecued meats and vegetables are smoky and can handle a big, fruity wine,” Stafford says.
The winery’s founders, veterinarian Dr. Kent Rosenblum and his wife Kathy, launched the company in 1978, and during the next decade, red Zins were out of style; most Zin grapes grown in California were used in blush wines, says current winemaker John Kane. Rosenblum sourced grapes from mountainside, head-pruned, old vines planted by early immigrants in Napa, Sonoma, Santa Barbara, Paso Robles and beyond, and he paid for the extra labor involved in making his Zins red.
“He likes fruit-forward wines,” says Kane. “Zinfandel can be drunk young. It has vibrant acidic red fruits, dark fruits, spiciness associated with it. It really pops in your mouth. It’s not something you lay down for 20 years. You can drink it three to four months after bottling, and it’s a nice fresh, clean wine.”
Rosenblum’s quest to fine-tune the winemaking process has resulted in an arsenal of barrels from 55 different coopers in the U.S., France, Russia, Hungary and Australia and more than 30 strains of yeast from around the world. And with his top sellers scoring more than 90 points in wine reviews, he sold the company for $105 million in 2008 to Diageo Chateau & Estate Wines, one of the world’s largest beverage makers.
Highlights include Rockpile Road Zinfandel ($35), made from grapes grown in volcanic red soil above Lake Sonoma; Rosenblum’s flagship wine earned 90 points in the Oct. 21, 2009, issue of Wine Spectator Insider, which said, “Ripe and lush, this is loaded with zesty lingering flavors of licorice that follow aromas of black raspberry, pepper and toasty sage.” Also noteworthy is the Monte Rosso Reserve Zinfandel ($45), which is made with grapes grown on the Sonoma side of Mount Veeder; Wine News declared the 2006 vintage one of the “Top 10 Zinfandels of the Year” for 2008.
The winery, a few steps from the Alameda-Oakland Ferry terminal, opens its doors periodically to wine club members and the public for fetes filled with wine tastings, music and barbecue. For the upcoming schedule and online shopping,
visit rosenblumcellars.com.
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