Dolce’s New Location is Sweet Dining

by Frank Mangio

About 5 years ago, old world Italian wines and cuisine came to Rancho Sante Fe with the romantic name( for Italian sweet bread and wine), Dolce Pane Y Vino.  Success was immediate, so fast forward to 2016 and the newest Dolce at the Highlands has come to Carmel Valley in the new Pacific Highlands Center .

Like its parent restaurant in the ranch, the new and vivacious Dolce treats its guests with an expansive dining room, and a bar that seems endless from the front door to the kitchen.  It has both community tables and tables for two or four, with views of very large and comprehensive wine racks, created by the GM for both locations, Steve Flowers. The wait help on my visit was Gwen Blome, who was quick to point out her favorite wines.  She was particularly excited by the showcase

Dolce at the Highlands is the new Italian style restaurant in Carmel Valley with delicious new Mediterranean style cuisine served up with gusto by table servers  like Gwen Blome.

Champagne chosen for the meal, the Nicolas Feuillatte Brut NV from France. The shimmering gold bubbly has an enticing fruity nose showing savory texture and refined bubbles. This is a lively dry Champagne for appetizers, or a long happy party. ($34.).

Other wine menu whites worth noting were the B Cellars White Blend 2012 and the Arneis “Barola Bianca” white from Piemonte Italy .

Chef Rhoelle Gabriel came to the table and spoke about her California influenced style of Mediterranean-American farm fresh food.   Her favorites included a “Regiatelle” pasta dish with Calabria style meat sauce, and a “Branzino” Italian style Sea Bass fish dinner entrée with potatoes and greens. This was washed down with a bottle of Napa Valley Laird Meritage “Jilian’s Blend” Red, 2013. ($44.)

The prized dish at Dolce at the Highlands is The “Branzino” Italian style Sea Bass.

Come prepared for a wine and dine experience at Dolce’s.  The atmosphere is perfect, with a wide choice of wines and menu entrees. Reservations are recommended at 858-847-2740, or visit dolcephr.com.

Quality Wine Dinners Excel at Vittorio’s
Back to back wine winners, world’s apart, have been on the marquee at Vittorio’s, also in Carmel Valley .  Last month, the popular Italian restaurant featured Chateau Montelena Napa Valley wines with  a five course dinner. Thursday May 26th at 6pm, one of the south of France ’s finest wineries, Gerard Bertrand, will open their best from the Languedoc District. The main course will live up to consistently great supporting menus Vittorio’s is known for:  Roasted Lamb Chops with Hazelnut Crust and Grilled Asparagus will be served with a 2013 Chateau de l’Hospitalet La Reserve Rouge. Cost will be just $49.50 per person.

A favorite at the Chateau Montelena dinner was the 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon, a luxurious vintage, rich in flavor. ($50.) RSVP Vittorio’s for the May 26th date at 858-538-5884.

Wine Bytes
Capri Blu in Rancho Bernardo has a Roth wine dinner Wed. June 1st at 6pm.  This Sonoma winery is family owned and makes only full flavored wines. Classic Bordeaux style wines are on the menu. Call for details at 858-673-5100.

Meritage Wine Market in Encinitas is planning their annual Oysterfest for this year on June 11, 2016, from 4 to 7pm. Call for more details at 760-479-2500.

South Coast Winery in Temecula is presenting a Celebrity Chef Dinner Fri. June 17th from 6 to 11pm.  Claudia Sandoval, a master chef winner, will direct a champagne cocktail hour, 7 course dining journey with South Coast and Carter Estates wines, live music and a copy of Claudia’s cookbook.  $195. per person.  Visit store.wineresort.com for more details and tickets.

Reviewing 2012 and the Top Ten Tastings

by Frank Mangio
In 2012 America solidified its position as the world’s largest wine consuming country in the world (beating the French, again).  Sales at COSTCO, the number one seller of wine, reached 1.4 billion dollars as the membership discounter amped-up its square footage with more premium wine offerings.

The West Coast had it finest harvest of wine grapes in over a decade in 2012.  We predict that when the red wines are showing on the shelves starting in 2014, buyers are going to buy them by the case (cheaper by the dozen).  Another prediction:  Francis Ford Coppola, the movie director turned winemaker in Napa Valley, will remake the old, cheapened Inglenook wine name into one of the most favored wine brands in the world.

My Top Ten Tastes include three from Napa Valley, one of the world’s best growing grounds for red wine, at the best prices I could find.  Other areas are: Sonoma,  Italy, Germany and Spain. The ten are treated equally on an excellence scale from 1 to 5, weighing flavor, body and value.  The list is alphabetical, all were rated excellent and does NOT indicate rank.

Alto Moncayo Garnarcha, Borja Spain.  2009.  $52.  Bold, ripe and ripping with muscular texture.  Bursting with ripe berry flavor. This old vine Garnacha, a twin to the French Rhone Genache grape, is elegantly laced with a smoky white pepper accent.  www.wine.com

Angelini Agricola Sangiovese, Marche Italy. $17.  A rich landscape of farming northeast of Tuscany, Angelini captures the essence of the Sangiovese grape, a full-bodied, dry red.  Hints of cherry. leather, vanilla, oak and tobacco. Aged a minimum one year. Perfect pasta wine. www.angeliniwine.com.


B Cellars Sangiovese Napa Valley 2010.  $45. Remarkable minerality normally found only in Tuscany, Italy.  Ripe Strawberry with hints of vanilla.  Not as acidic as some.  Bolder skins of Syrah are integrated for skin color and tannins.  www.bcellars.com.

B Cellars Napa Valley owner Duffy Keys, left, lives in Rancho Santa Fe  and appears at wine dinners at Dolce Pane E Vino, welcomed by General Manager Steve Flowers.

Dr. Loosen Riesling Kabinett, Mosel Germany 2010.  $20. Found at the newly remodeled Rancho Valencia in Rancho Santa Feand The Grand Del Mar, this Riesling has stunning fruit forward, perfectly proportioned sweetness of peach, to balance citrus qualities. Harvested from the steep slate slopes of the Mosel District. www.drloosen.com.

Ferrari-Carano Tresor Blend Sonoma CA. 2009.  $52.  Mostly Cabernet in a Bordeaux Blend from “dry” farmed, low-yielding vines on higher elevations, Tresor produces a dense, black well of color, with vanilla and cedar tones.  Aged in French oak for 19 months.  www.ferrari-carano.com.

Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon, Sonoma CA.  2008. $52. An Estate Cab with start to finish high quality control, matching the best of Bordeaux.  Silky and elegant with ripe plum accents.  www.jordanwinery.com.

Keenan Merlot Napa Valley CA.  2009.  $36.  Winemaker Michael Keenan’s favorite wine…”goes with everything I eat.”  From the Spring Mountain area of Napa Valley, above the fog.  Intense black cherry, blackberry and cassis.  Coffee bean notes.  A BIG Merlot.  www.keenanwinery.com.

Lewis Alec’s Blend Napa Valley CA.  2010.  $60.  All mountain blend of 70% Syrah, 25% Merlot and 5% Cabernet.  Big high horsepower wine with chocolaty finish.  High octane 15.5% alcohol nicely balanced.  www.lewiscellars.com.

Selbach-Oster Kabinett Riesling Mosel Germany. 2010. $18.99.  The lead white wine for the upscale restaurant chain Seasons 52 Fresh Grill, and hand selected by their Master Sommelier George Miliotes

Miliotes describes this discovery as fruity to slightly sweet with a perfect baked apple finish.  As in most Rieslings, only 9% alcohol guarantees to bring out the juicy  refreshment as only a German Riesling is capable of doing; like a kiss of a wet stone. Slate soils high on Mosel banks inject this layered-in minerality.

Miliotes added: “I was drawn to the Mosel River district of Germany.  This Riesling is my poster child for our old world wines.”  www.winesearcher.com

A Seasons 52 Fresh Grill appetizer is the Artichoke and Goat Cheese Flatbread with two Selbach-Oster Kabinett Rieslings from Mosel Germany, a Top Ten Taste.

Tomassi Amorone Valpolicella Classico Verona Italy. 2007. $79.  The Tomassi family has been making this timeless wine for 112 years. Includes Corvina, Corvinone, Rondinella and Molinari grapes from the region. Grapes are dried for 4 months prior to pressing, then aged for 3 years in large Slavonian Oak.  www.tomassiwine.it.