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Tag: Ehlers Estate

Laura Díaz Muñoz is making changes at Ehlers Estate.

Tasting With Laura Díaz Muñoz at Ehlers Estate

October 5, 2019 / / 0 Comments

I have been drinking wines from Ehlers Estate for a good number of years, and this week was finally able to visit the winery, which is located in St. Helena on an historic property that was developed by Bernard Ehlers in the 1800s.

Cabernet Franc, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Rosé comprise the bulk of the estate’s offerings, and based on some tank tasting, I am excited about what Ehlers’ new winemaker has under way.

Her name is Laura Díaz Muñoz; she took over as winemaker and general manager of Ehlers in 2018 … and her touch and style are evident everywhere. There’s a concrete egg in the winery’s tank room (a first at Ehlers), and Muñoz has long-term plans for some of the estate’s established vines — she is confident that they have much more (quality) life in them.

Laura Díaz Muñoz pulls a sample in the Ehlers Estate tank room.

Muñoz is from Spain, and studied enology at the Polytechnic University of Madrid.

“I was sitting with my father in northern Spain at a restaurant during a family vacation, and he ordered percebes and a local wine,” she told me when I asked her about her introduction to the world of wine. “I sipped the wine, and tasted the seafood and smelled the sea air, and from that moment knew that I somehow wanted to live and work with wine.”

After graduation, Muñoz worked at several wineries in Spain, then took her skills to New Zealand and Chile. California was her next stop, and she has been in the Napa Valley for more than a decade, making wine for Cardinale, Galerie, La Jota, and, since last year, Ehlers.

Muñoz checks Cabernet Sauvignon in one of Ehlers’ vineyards.
Ehlers has a new addition in its tank room.
Muñoz walks a different section of Ehlers’ 42-acres of vines every morning.
It's a duck kind of weekend.

Of Duck, Brisket Tacos, and a Good Sauvignon Blanc (Plus a Fine Bartender Makes a Good Cocktail)

June 16, 2017 / / 0 Comments

I like duck. I like to eat it, and I like to cook it. I like to confit it. I love the legs and the breast. I love it all — duck feet and beaks in Hong Kong as well. (During one of my residences in Paris, the grocery store near my apartment sold a wonderful confit de canard in the refrigerated section, two pieces for, as I recollect, five or so euros. Ahh, we’ll always have Paris … )

A week or so ago, I had a very good plate of duck confit in Houston, at Toulouse, a restaurant whose Dallas location (the original one in the two-location mini-chain) was once one of Angela’s favorites. Here’s my take on that duck, and the rest of the meal. The lentils were excellent, by the way.

You like tacos? Yes, don’t we all. Texas is home to its fair share of them, and you would have to eat at a different place daily for years to get to all of them. A new restaurant in Houston is serving a great brisket taco at the moment, and I ordered it last week. I recommend you try one or several. Read about it and see it here.

Now to some wine. I not long ago opened a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc, a 2016 Sauvignon Blanc from Ehlers Estate, and was, in a word, refreshed. It was clean and crisp, it was balanced impeccably, and it was oh so good with the chicken I had cooked. So good it was that I’m going to open another bottle this weekend. Read about it here.

Finally, as I write this, it’s cocktail time. A good bartender I know, who works at one of my favorite restaurants in Houston, this week accepted the challenge of creating a cocktail that included Ancho Reyes Verde, a rather spicy liqueur made of poblano chilis. She did quite well, and if you want to watch her make it, see this.

Eat well, and with people you love.

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