Dungeness Crab Season is Finally Here!

Dungeness crab season is finally here and we're ready to celebrate with our annual White Wine Release and Crab Feed. As much as we love Dungeness crab at Andis we're also excited to celebrate the opening of our new event facility located next to the tasting room. The perfect venue to enjoy vineyard views in a contemporary setting while cracking into fresh crab.

Details about the crab feed, held on Saturday, February 15th may be found on our event page - /CrabFeed

For those unable to attend the winery event we've come up with an easy recipe for you to enjoy at home. A bottle of our slightly citrusy Semillon is the perfect accompaniment to this buttery, spicy dish.

The following recipe was adapted from Bon Appetite with the slight variation of using Meyer Lemons, a California favorite. CLICK HERE to see the original recipe.

Oven-Roasted Dungeness Crab Recipe

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon minced shallot
1 1/2 teaspoons dried crushed red pepper
1 large Dungeness crabs*, cooked, cleaned, and cracked (about 4 1/4 pounds)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme, divided
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, divided
1/4 cup Meyer lemon juice
1 teaspoon finely grated Meyer lemon zest

RECIPE PREPARATION

Preheat oven to 500°F. Melt butter with oil in heavy large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in garlic, shallot, and dried crushed red pepper. Add crabs; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon chopped thyme and 1 tablespoon chopped parsley over crabs. Stir to combine. Place skillet in oven and roast crabs until heated through, stirring once, about 12 minutes.

Using tongs, transfer crabs to platter. Add lemon juice and zest to same skillet; boil until sauce is reduced by about half, about 5 minutes. Spoon sauce over crabs. Sprinkle with remaining 1 tablespoon thyme and 1 tablespoon parsley and serve.

Wine Paring  - Andis 2017 Semillon, Bill Dillian Vineyard

Jan 9, 2020 at 2:55 PM Permalink

California Welcomes Schioppettino (It only took 737 years)

But we’re glad it did!

Behind the Cellar Door is here again! And as a rare treat, we’re doing barrel samples of our limited production Schioppettino [skioppet’ti:no] I know it’s a tongue twister, but it’s delicious.

Schioppettino is from Northeastern Italy, near the Slovenian border.  Its known for its ruby color and traditionally makes light to medium bodied wines that are fruit forward, spicy and earthy. Meant to be consumed young like Beaujolais and some Barberas, this is an excellent food pairing wine.

Historically, it has been used in wedding ceremonies as far back as 1282 AD.  The name itself translates roughly to “gunshot” or “little crack.” The varietal almost died off in the Phylloxera outbreak in the early 1900s. At that time, many vintners decided to replant in favor of other popular varietals, which brings us to current time here in Amador County where Andis is one of a handful of wineries growing and making wine from the grape in California.

We welcome Schioppettino into our wine portfolio with open arms and we hope you do, too!

Cheers! See you at Behind the Cellar Door.

Rebecca and Team Andis!

Mar 1, 2019 at 6:00 PM Permalink

Spanish Style Meatball Recipe

Albondigas – Spanish Meatballs
(makes about 20 – 1 oz meatballs)
 1lb Lean Ground Beef
 ⅓ cup Plain Breadcrumbs
 1 Egg
 1 teaspoon Ground Cumin
 1/2 teaspoon Ground Coriander
 1 teaspoon Dried Oregano
 1/4 teaspoon Red Chili Flakes
 ¾ teaspoon Salt
 Freshly Ground Black Pepper

For the tomato sauce
 2 tablespoons Olive Oil
 one large Red Onion, diced
 1 -2 Garlic Cloves, minced
 1 teaspoon Ground Cumin
 A heaped teaspoon Smoked Paprika
 ⅓ cup Andis Zinfandel Wine
 1 x 400g Canned, Chopped Tomatoes
 1 x 400 Pureed Tomatoes
 2 teaspoons Brown Sugar
 3 Bay Leaves
 2 stems Fresh Oregano
 2 stems Fresh Thyme
 1 small stem Fresh Rosemary
 Salt and Pepper, to taste

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Place all the ingredients for the meatballs in a large bowl and mix together until
well combined. Roll into evenly sized 1oz balls and rest in the fridge to firm up
for about half an hour. (Meatballs may be frozen at this point and used at a later
date)
2. Heat the olive oil in a large based pan. Brown the meatballs on all sides, shaking
skillet so meatballs roll to brown on all sides. Remove and set aside. In the same
pan, sauté the onions until soft and translucent. Add the garlic and cook for a
further 2 minutes. Add the spices and stir through. Deglaze with the wine.
Reduce down by half. Now add the tomatoes, sugar, bay leaves and oregano,
thyme and rosemary. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Return
the meatballs back into the pan and simmer on low heat for about 20 - 25
minutes until the meatballs are cooked through and the tomato sauce has
thickened.
Meatballs and sauce may also be transferred to a Crockpot to finish simmering
on low.
3. Remove herb stems and bay leaves. Spoon meatballs into serving bowls and serve
with crusty warm bread and butter.

May 16, 2018 at 2:45 PM Permalink

Winter Winemaking

What do winemakers do with themselves outside of harvest? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been asked this question. The truth is that we keep busy with the different cycles of vineyard and cellar work. As soon as the last 2017 barrel is put down in the cellar after harvest, we start breaking out the 2016 wines to work on our blends. Both the Atelier Melka and Andis teams are very excited about the 2016 Zinfandels and Barberas that we will be bottling in April.

When I’m not crawling through stacks of barrels or working on blends, I’m walking through our Estate vineyard. A lot of exciting changes are happening this year. If you’ve visited the winery recently you would have noticed that the vines closest to the parking lot were removed. These were some of the original Zinfandel vines planted on their own roots in 1978. Unfortunately, nature had taken its course with these vines and they were starting to succumb to the pest Phylloxera. After years of declining yield, we decided to remove the vines to pave the way for something new. The team and I are very excited to be planting Cinsault (pronounced Sin-So). This varietal is prominently featured in red and rosè wines from Southern France’s Languedoc-Roussillon region.

For the few who were able to try our small lot bottling, you may be excited to hear that we will be expanding the Schioppettino (pronounced scope-a-tino) vines in our vineyard. In the coming weeks we will be grafting our Malbec block over to Schioppettino and Cabernet Sauvignon. 

The second most common question I’m asked in the tasting room this time of year is about the cold weather’s effect on the vines. In the last two weeks we’ve had freezing temperatures and even snow in Plymouth! However, this time of year the vines are dormant and totally unaffected by the cold, unlike the bundled up winemakers and vineyard managers. Luckily we finished pruning before the coldest weather hit.

In a few weeks we will start to see budbreak throughout the valley. Budbreak is when the vines wake up from their dormancy and begin to push little green shoots from their buds. This event will mark the beginning of the 2018 growing season.  To add to our excitement, 2018 will be the first year we are harvesting Sauvignon Blanc, Syrah, and Petite Sirah from our Estate vineyard. Stay tuned, more news to come!

Mar 17, 2018 at 12:01 PM Permalink

Heat Wave! Harvest 2017

Sep 9, 2017 at 3:18 PM Permalink