SIMI Winery showcases wine and rustic pizza pairings in Healdsburg, CA

SIMI Winery reopened their seasonal Landslide Terazzo Pizza Café on Saturday, May 25, 2012. Visitors enjoyed a glass of wine paired with a “housemade” artisan pizza, topped with fresh ingredients from their on-site garden and prepared by SIMI Winery’s Executive Chef, Kolin Vazzoler. Landslide Terrazzo Pizza Café is open through mid-October.

Let’s take a look at some of the pizzas they are offering and that I was able to make at home:

Housemade Pancetta, Broccoli Rabe, & Green Garlic Pizza – We tried to make the pizza dough, but it just wasn’t turning out for us. So we ended up with Boboli Whole Wheat ready-made crust since we had a party of people to cook for that evening. We didn’t have time to make the housemade pancetta and could not find a good source of it locally, so we ended up using the pork belly straight up. Also, broccoli rabe was not available so we substituted regular broccoli diced into bite size pieces. We also substituted regular garlic as we could not find green garlic. We assembled the pizzas and baked them up on the pizza stone. The crust always turns out perfect on a pizza stone. The pizza smelled fabulous when it came out of the oven. The crust was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. The ingredients worked well together, but the pork belly was a little too salty. We will definitely make the housemade pancetta recipe next time. The broccoli actually wasn’t bad, but I can see how broccoli rabe would work much better. Garlic is great with everything, especially pizza. This pizza was paired with the 2010 SIMI Pinot Noir. The wine went really well with this pizza. The slight fruit flavors of red cherry, raspberry, cranberry, plum, and black cherry balanced out the salty pork belly, making the pizza not so shocking to the palate. This wine also has well-balanced flavors all by itself with good structure and perfect acidity. Thumbs
To read more and see photos, please visit: http://www.examiner.com/review/simi-winery-showcases-wine-and-rustic-pizza-pairings-healdsburg-ca

Mahalo,

OC Food Diva