PODCAST EP. 376: Wine, Wild Game, and California Quail at Passalacqua Winery

Speaker 1 (00:50.548)

Welcome to On the Wing Podcast presented by Purina Pro Plan. Last year, about this time, I kicked off an episode with the words of Quail Forever Journal editor Ryan Sparks, and they go as follows: In Sonoma County, California, where oak-dotted hills roll into sunlit vineyards, bustling with quail. Passalacqua winery.

Is proving that wine pairs just as well with wild game and backyard grills as it does with white tablecloths and crystal stemware. I love that stanza. It's almost like poetry because I can see the quail running through the vineyard with grapes hanging from above and Ryan at the grill with with spatula in a hand and a glass of wine in the other.

What you think, Ryan? Is that right? so we're back with volume two of the Passalacqua and Quail Forever collaboration featuring two brand new wines and two brand new wild game dishes for you to try out in your own backyard. It's wine wild game and ...

Speaker 2 (01:51.632)

Sounds about right.

Speaker 1 (02:14.984)

Likely some wild stories as we welcome back Quail Forever Journal editor Ryan Sparks along with Passalacqua's namesake, Jason Passalacqua, and winemaker Jessica Boone. Thank you all for for joining me. We got California, Nebraska, Minnesota represented in the warmest at this moment is a race between California and Minnesota.

I understand. As we're both in the nineties.

Speaker 3 (02:47.99)

Happy to be here. Yeah, we're pushing 103 today. So we might Well, there's no no humidity either, so I don't know.

Speaker 1 (02:50.87)

Well you win. I guess I want to start and I can't believe I want to start with turkeys, but I'm gonna go to Ryan Spark's second favorite topic. We're gonna say quail is his favorite topic, but turkeys. Cause I know he visited the winery this spring. I know he turkey hunted. I've seen a photo, but I haven't heard the damn story. So we'll let

We'll let Ryan tell the story and then invite Jason, and Jessica to edit as necessary for authenticity.

Speaker 3 (03:35.928)

We'll keep them on it.

Speaker 2 (03:37.432)

Yeah.

Speaker 4 (03:38.216)

Yeah. There was definitely no wine involved. We'll start there.

Speaker 2 (03:42.114)

Yeah, I drank zero wine, that's for sure. No. Well, I would say like the story kind of starts before I even left home. I was looking at the forecast and it was like rain, rain, rain, hundred percent chance. I thought, okay, it's fine. I've hunted turkeys in the rain before. and then got out there and driving up in the dark the the morning of and it's like that scene in Jurassic Park, where it's just pouring rain.

And it kind of looks like Jurassic Park there too as the sun starts to get up. It's just absolutely gorgeous. but we just kinda hung out in the in the vehicle for a little bit 'cause it was raining so hard and then got out and immediately there's t the as soon as the rain the rain shut off for a little bit, there's turkeys gobbling everywhere, just like over the hill, over the other side of the hill. And it's up in the mountains. It's beautiful. It

Speaker 1 (04:32.834)

And are you are you alone?

Speaker 2 (04:35.404)

No, no, I got my two wonderful gallons yeah. Yeah, that's one of the things I love

Speaker 1 (04:37.656)

Both with you.

Speaker 4 (04:41.367)

I wasn't gonna

Speaker 3 (04:42.15)

Wait, hold on. So you can't just requires adult supervision.

Speaker 2 (04:51.796)

It's I mean, it's one thing I love about quail hunting. It's one thing I love about turkey hunting is they're both social. Like you can you can go with other people and we had fun. but yeah, also it got soaked and I guess to make a long story short, got very close on a handful of turkeys. but I told Jason and Jessica, because I could tell Jason was getting a little like, I wish you had gotten your turkey this morning and we were having lunch. And I said, Don't worry about it. My favorite day of turkey hunting is like

Just you get close but no cigar over and over and over again and then eventually it happens. And so then we so then we we'd hunted up in the mountains in the morning and then we went to the vineyard and it was kind of my my dream anyway, to shoot one right in the vines and walk the

Speaker 1 (05:35.896)

week so were you were you like in the vines as your like camouflage? Do you have like little grapes on your camouflage to like really make you blend in?

Speaker 2 (05:46.658)

I went to that out. Yeah, the craft store and pinned little like bunches of grapes all over like a a grape gilly suit.

Speaker 1 (05:55.31)

A grape gilly suit. I love

Speaker 2 (05:58.19)

but we parked and kind of got below this little it's kind of funny. Do you guys you guys use that Jason Jessica as like a sitting area for people to like just drink wine and look out over the vineyard? There were some like benches and chairs there. Yeah, so I mean just gorgeous. But we're just below this little knob and we call and three or four gobbled back at us. We're like, okay, we gotta hurry up and set up. So we get up to this

Speaker 3 (06:14.894)

We have before, yes.

Speaker 2 (06:28.012)

Little knob, these beautiful, if I remember at oak trees, and got set up and I'm literally on the ground, my back up against an oak tree, sitting next to a bench that someone would sit on and drink wine and look out over this beautiful like vista of of the vineyard. And they they pop up, they're right in the rows of grapes. I can just see two two heads. One of them's kind of starts to walk to the left, it's about thirty yards.

I could tell that they saw us. The other one had his head up and was kind of like periscoping us. And he he took a couple more steps and got clear of the other ones. And yeah, and and then it I should say too, that was in a break in the rain. And then it all all hell broke loose again after that. And if you I guess can go to my Instagram page and look at the the photo. I mean, I'm soaked in my underwear. The turkey the turkey looks like we threw him in the washing machine. I mean, he's

There's nothing sadder than a wet turkey, but it was a great memory. And it was cool. And actually that was the last turkey I needed for my turkey slam. So it's pretty cool to finish that off in California in such a unique scenario. So super cool. Thank you guys for having me. It was it was an amazing time. Absolutely all around.

Speaker 1 (07:43.104)

Is that a reel then? What what no it is a reel. Okay. Yeah. And is was the

Speaker 3 (07:48.746)

And and to give you some per to give you some perspective and how in the vineyard he was or we were and these oaks and bench and and grass and whatever, the when we turned the drip system on this year to check all the emitters, there were holes from where the pellets had perforated the drip tube. And so it was spraying all over.

Speaker 4 (08:11.981)

Ha ha.

Speaker 2 (08:12.462)

I didn't know that detail until now.

Speaker 3 (08:14.83)

It's all right. We just we always blame it on coyotes. the coyotes are chewing on the drip hos again. But I was like, I know what that I why that one's leaking.

Speaker 4 (08:23.212)

Yeah.

Speaker 2 (08:24.706)

Little tungsten.

Speaker 1 (08:25.58)

Do you have like like w with turkeys and quail do they eat your grapes? Like do you have to keep away from from your livelihood?

Speaker 3 (08:37.452)

Depredation permits. Yeah. No, not for not for quail. turkeys will walk down a row and, you know, peck at a a ba a bunch of grapes and berry and and and that actually is a problem. Where you'll you'll get pigs or deer that'll come in and like strip a whole bunch. They'll just chew on a bunch of grapes. Where turkeys will walk and peck a few berries and they'll walk to the next bunch and peck a few berries. And as soon as you break the skin on on that grape or on the on any fruit, it starts to ferment. So those grapes are then those berries are sitting in that cluster and they end up rotting the whole cluster. So a a a group of turkeys, block of turkeys can certainly do some damage in a in a vineyard.

Speaker 1 (09:13.166)

So I just heard you invite Ryan back to for next year's hunt to do some population control.

Speaker 4 (09:18.709)

Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (09:20.462)

You know, he mentioned quail and I know we're gonna draw a winner for a quail hunt here in a little bit, but when we were up in the mountains and the and the rain shut off and we were sort of walking out with our tail tucked between our legs of getting our butts kicked by turkeys, there were quail like around every bend that we can't re I mean we have no dog, we're just walking around and I could not believe the numbers that I saw and Jason what what you described your favorite way to quail hunt is t

not to put words in your mouth, but to go out in the evening, just walk up a couple, shoot a couple quail, walk home, pluck throw on the grill, have a glass of wine. That's not many people in the world can go walk out their back door, shoot a couple quail, throw on the grill, and that's that's the

Speaker 3 (10:05.868)

Yeah, yeah, I was really I was really glad you got to see that because, you know, when we do the draw and we do bring the person out to to quail hunt, you can actually vouch for me that there were quail there. There are

Speaker 2 (10:17.481)

Lots of quail.

Speaker 2 (10:22.636)

And I was on edge looking for turkeys the whole time, because there was turkeys everywhere, but there were also quail everywhere. So they scared the crap out of me several times. Like but they blow up at your feet. Yeah, you guys can testify to that. I was pretty jumpy.

Speaker 3 (10:37.112)

And there's been pretty good hatch this year as well, so

Speaker 1 (10:37.314)

Wha w were they in mating mode when you were there turkey hunting? Were they calling and pairing up or was that too early?

Speaker 2 (10:47.778)

Definitely heard some of the you know, the Chicago and pears and I the biggest group I think we saw was maybe four or five. So not real big cubbies. I think they were more in breeding groups. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (10:59.318)

And yet for clarity, these are California Valley quail that are here on the vineyard, right?

Speaker 3 (11:04.782)

Correct. Yeah. Yeah. Correct. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There's a few mountain mountain birds on spots of the ranch. We don't see many of them and we never shoot them when we do just because there aren't that many of them. But yeah, they're all all the ones we see around here in the vineyard and up there along the roads or the California Valley.

Speaker 2 (11:06.798)

Jason EZ.

Speaker 1 (11:24.664)

Huh. one more question about turkeys before I can't believe I'm gonna extend the turkey count. Keep them coming. Keep them coming. Before we go to picking the winner. I I'm curious. Well, I guess what wine did you drink with the turkey when you ate it? And then like as you're eating the turkey, did you

Here's these turkeys eating grapes. Did it taste any different? Did was it a little minerally? Was it oaky? Did was there a hint of raspberry?

Speaker 2 (11:59.418)

I would say it tasted like wild turkey. across the board. Every turkey I've had. Except for maybe the Osceola was the only one that I could taste maybe a little bit of a different little swampy. Was it really? Yeah. Yeah. Based off of when it yeah. Yeah. Maybe. Yeah. But no, it was delicious. And, you know, a turkey, you know, my wife and I, you know, w one breast for us is is probably two different dinners. So we're probably probably ate.

Speaker 1 (12:15.166)

Where they live, what they eat. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (12:29.09)

You know, then you're talking about legs and thighs and everything else. You know, we probably get legitimately around ten meals out of one turkey. So, to answer your question, we we drank a lot of wine with the turkey. depending on depending on how we prepared it. but yeah, it's you know what, it's really cool. Like when I when I part out all my turkeys, I write the date on the bag that I shot the turkey and where I was so that when we sit down to the meal, you know.

Probably it's just my ego, but I can sit down and tell the story and remember the hunt again. that's it part. It's it's really cool to go back. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (13:07.672)

Yes.

Speaker 3 (13:09.454)

And we did drink a little cognac too after to to warm our insides up.

Speaker 2 (13:16.558)

We did. We did. Yeah. I will say the the Fiano, the QF fiano, it goes goes great with it, pretty much across the board. And yeah, we did have some cognac and then anybody that knows me knows that I like to have a little cigarillo after a successful hunt. specifically a wood tip black and mild. So

Speaker 1 (13:35.074)

What are you, Ernest Hemingway all of a sudden?

Speaker 2 (13:38.124)

I wouldn't go that far. That's not that fancy of a cigar. But yeah, so enjoyed one of those on the front porch too as the as the rain poured down and could hear coil calling in the distance. So it's just a pretty special place. So

Speaker 3 (13:51.977)

F fun, fun fun couple of days.

Speaker 1 (13:54.382)

Yeah. You can't tell we love we love the collaboration with you guys, whether it's turkey hunting, quail hunting, the the wine, the food. it's a tremendous partnership that sort of embodies who we are, including you know, your collaboration with us at the chapter level. so all the last year chapters were able to qualify for a package.

that that was part of our core banquet package that includes a trip to go visit Jason and Jessica and not just visit, go quail hunting, drink some wine and have some food together. It's like a dream come true that to it's like living Spark's life. but

Speaker 2 (14:44.606)

Andy, you're gonna be in a in a journal school.

Speaker 1 (14:46.655)

Yo Ryan is gonna go. and

Speaker 2 (14:49.218)

Shoot some photos and it'll be good. It'll be a good time, I guarantee.

Speaker 1 (14:51.832)

Are you bringing a dog out there? What's the dog component?

Speaker 2 (14:56.046)

We're have to be deterred. We will figure it out. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (14:59.277)

so

Speaker 3 (14:59.918)

The other question is is he bringing a shotgun?

Speaker 1 (15:04.138)

I can answer that one for I know the answer. We're going to Cancun, honey. I'm bringing my shotgun.

Speaker 3 (15:08.566)

He might have to chase.

Speaker 2 (15:18.018)

Yep, shotgun and a fly rod. Everywhere I go.

Speaker 1 (15:21.166)

Jason, we're you're gonna do the honors. I believe we got somewhere in the neighborhood a forty to fifty qualified entrance. you got the those entrants in a in a bucket and you're gonna pull.

Speaker 3 (15:35.346)

I do, yeah. Yeah, exactly. yeah, it was a really good response. It was part of a package that was at the chapter banquets, and the person who purchased that had the opportunity to put their name in to be part of this drawing. So let me reach in here and see what I can find here. Reach the bottom, reach in the middle, and pull this one out, and they come out with Lisa Farmer. Lisa Farmer's the one

Speaker 1 (16:02.196)

Lisa Claire. Yay. Yeah, I see Lisa's name. It doesn't you have any idea what chapter or what community she's in? I don't.

Speaker 2 (16:05.354)

Congrats, Lisa.

Speaker 3 (16:14.158)

I we do on the on the on the backup sheet that these the name tags here for drawing are just just the names.

Speaker 1 (16:22.112)

Lisa Farmer, we will be in touch. You're our winner. And if there's multiple Lisa Farmers contacting us, nice, nice try. we will be contacting the real Lisa Farmer who who participated. So thank you all to all the Quail Forever chapters that participated last year through the banquet package. Lisa, you have a trip.

An adventure of a lifetime coming up, and everybody else can read about it in a future edition of Quail Forever Journal. I would take a moment and thank another one of our partners, Purina Pro Plan, the national dog food sponsor of Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever's Wildlife Habitat Mission, and the presenting sponsor of On the Wing Podcast. My pups have always eaten Purina Pro Plan, not just because Purina supports the conservation mission of our organization, which is in

Important to me and it should be important to you. But the most important thing is that Purina Pro Plan is a team of the world's best scientists and nutritionists behind their dog food. Purina PearPlan was created, it was built. The recipe was made for working bird dogs like yours and like my little Gitchie and My Little Winter. You can learn more at Proplansport.com. PurinaPro Plan, nutrition that

Performed.

speaker-0 (17:50.904)

From Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever National Headquarters in St. Paul, Minnesota, this is Casey Sill with the Upland Newsroom, delivering top stories from the Habitat Organization and across the American Uplands. Got a very quick update for everyone today concerning a pair of new land acquisitions to celebrate across the Pheasant and Quail Ranges. First, over in my neck of the woods in western Wisconsin, the organization just announced a new acquisition in Polk County.

The property will add 155 acres to the heart of Wisconsin's modest but respectable pheasant range. The tract is comprised of 140 acres of wetlands and prairie, encumbered with a wetlands reserve program or WRP easement, and an additional 15 acres of hay ground on the southeast side. The WRP acres will be enhanced over the next several years with prescribed fire and interceding, while the hay ground will be restored to native prairie.

This acquisition is a priority for both the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, St. Croix Wetland Management District, and Pheasants Forever's state level strategic plan. It also lies in an area where the organization has previously invested in permanent protection and access, as the new property adds to a complex of public land in western Wisconsin. We've also got new access in Missouri. Quail Forever just announced the acquisition of a hundred and sixty acre tract of land through the Build the Wildlife Area program.

Made possible by the Missouri Department of Conservation and a donation from the Bass Pro Shops and Cabela's Outdoor Fund. This new acquisition is immediately adjacent to an existing 600-acre conservation area in southwest Missouri. The property sits in the Golden Grasslands Priority Geography, a Tier 1 priority area for the Missouri Department of Conservation and Quail Forever for habitat restoration.

This acquisition adds publicly accessible habitat in one of Missouri's core quail landscapes. And the new addition has been improved for grazing with fencing and watering facilities, and those improvements will allow Missouri Department of Conservation to use rotational grazing as part of its management strategy, just as it does on the adjacent property. The habitat on this property will be restored to native prairie and managed for bobwhale and other upland wildlife.

speaker-0 (20:06.274)

This new addition brings the total number of Build the Wildlife Area acres in Missouri to nine hundred and three since 2021. That'll do it this week reporting from PFNQF headquarters in St. Paul, Minnesota. I'm Casey Sill.

Speaker 1 (20:20.736)

All right, we're gonna talk about the 2026 two wines that we partnered with Passalacqua, a red and a white. And then we're gonna talk about two recipes that Ryan Sparks and Jessica Boone created to pair with the wines. We know nothing. Jason and I know nothing about the recipes which wines were selected. So it's a

It's a a fun component of today's podcast. We're gonna start with the wines. And as the winemaker herself, Jessica Boone, will let you tell us about each of them. perhaps start with the the Russian River Valley Chardonnay. It features artwork from our friend Kate Hall. this year we've got Gambles Quail artwork.

On both of the bottles, but Kate Halls is on the Chardonnay. Tell us about the Chardonnay, Jessica.

Speaker 4 (21:21.962)

Okay. yeah, it was the it was really fun to partner and do two wines last year and so it was, you know, even more exciting to to s look at some new varietals and add something new to the mix. So Chardonnay is one that can really go well with a lot of upland game. So that being said, we found a great vineyard and it's in in Russian River Valley, which is a cooler climate than cooler than where our winery is in Dry Creek Valley. and

Why that's important is if if it's a grapes are grown in a cooler area, the grapes hold on to more acidity. So you get a slower ripening, some great fruit development, but the the grapes hang on to that acidity, which is really important in the finished product when you're looking at pairing with food and and all of that. So it's it was I used a little bit of new oak, not too much again.

as we talked about in the last podcast with these wines, it's really important to have balance of of all of these components of oak and fruit and acid. And so I use just a little bit of new oak and then like a a couple of once used barrels and twice used barrels. So it's really it is, I think, really balanced showcases some and a citrus, a little bit of stone fruits, and it's just tastes great. I'm really excited about it.

Speaker 1 (22:49.674)

So I first of all, the Fiano, the white that you created last year. I never even heard of a Fiano before. Yeah. And I I've loved it. I think I've went back three times and and bought more Fiano. I I've loved it. Yeah. And you know, truth be told, I've n never historically been a big fan of Chardonnay. I'm kind of a a sub Sauvignon Blanc. Yeah. You gravitate that direction.

And you guys were kind enough sent to send me a bottle of each of the Chardonnay in the next the red that we're gonna talk about. There's no labels on them. It's just it's like a wino at this c the corner of the street, in a group in a brown paper bag. And I I got to drink it last weekend. I made some rough grouse, and it is and no lie, it is the best Chardonnay I have ever had. And and part of it I think

Is you you mentioned that multiple times it's very lightly oaked. Yeah. To me I would describe this as like drinking it's it's buttery. It's so smooth. There's a buttery undertone and I don't know if my palate's right or wrong on that. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (23:58.668)

Yeah, there's like a creaminess, yeah.

Speaker 1 (24:00.814)

Yeah, exactly. It's great. It is the best Chardonnay. For a guy that doesn't love Chardonnays, it's the best Chardonnay I've ever, ever had. thank you. It's just wonderful.

Speaker 4 (24:10.794)

It's that's and that's one of my favorite compliments that I get from people often that come to the winery, 'cause I made this in the same style as I make our Passalacqua Chardonnays. I get a lot of people that come up to me and say, You know what? I really don't like Chardonnay, but I like your Chardonnay. Like, that's I just won. That's awesome. Yeah, 'cause I I

Speaker 1 (24:32.426)

like I don't know I'm gonna I'm gonna tell it truthfully and I don't know if it's a compliment or I don't really like Chardonnays, but you know, but this was fabulous.

Speaker 4 (24:42.819)

Yeah.

Speaker 3 (24:44.492)

Well, I think so. I think that's your honest on it because when I started the winery twenty some odd years ago, I didn't drink white wine. And the reason I didn't drink white wine was because I would go to, you know, banquets or weddings and there's just the, you know, the the the classic chardon cheap Chardonnay that has been that is being served. And it's I find them to not have much fruit flavor, not have much acidity. It was overly oaked and and

And overly buttered, which comes from malolactic fermentation. So it was just this oaky buttery liquid. and so I'm like, so I wrote off Chardonnay. I'm like, I don't like I don't like Chardonnay. I don't like white wines. And then we started the winery and I got to see how, this is how the Chardonnay grape actually tastes. And through the process, you make it overly oaked or buttery. But if you just let the fruit do the work and I mean, I know I'm oversimplifying your job, Jess. but

But what you get is is a really nice balance of great fruit, great acidity, and and it can go really well with with certain foods.

Speaker 4 (25:51.574)

Yeah. And those big oak butter balms with Chardonnay are if you know, there's people that love that flavor and that's totally fine. It just those styles are really hard to pair with food in general, but then let alone wild game, like the oak completely takes over the those the nuance of of a quail or pheasant. yeah, so it's

Speaker 1 (26:13.666)

Yeah, and when I say buttery, it's it was like refreshing. It's not overpowering. It's a very light, smooth. You I think you used the term like creamy, and that's probably better than butter. It was just it was just very complimentary to the rough grouse. And it, you know, I'd it was just simple rough grouse on the grill with corn on the cob, you know, with broccoli, everything on the grill, like blasted broccoli with red pepper flakes, super.

approachable, very simple, and it was just fabulous.

Speaker 4 (26:45.976)

Yeah. Sounds good.

Speaker 1 (26:48.79)

Ryan, have you hadn't the Chardonnay yet?

Speaker 2 (26:52.246)

Yeah, actually just had some with some wild turkey. that was actually pheasant breast not pheasant, the turke a turkey breast from the vineyard when I was there. The second the the last one I had left. we put those on a skewer with peaches, red onion, red bell pepper, did a little marinade with that. It's actually

By the time people are hearing this, it will be in the super issue of Quail Forever Journal and Pheasants Forever Journal. So keep an eye out for that. It goes excellent with the

Speaker 1 (27:26.85)

Yeah, wine. And we're not stealing your your recipe that we're gonna feature in a moment. Okay, so you got another one. I got Leslie. I I I should never have doubted you've got a freezer full of food and nothing comes from the grocery store, right? Yeah. Jessica, tell us about the Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel, the red.

Speaker 2 (27:42.518)

That's right. Well, the meat anyway.

Speaker 4 (27:52.044)

Yeah. So this is a blend of a few d s different Zinfandels from throughout the valley. and the reason I like to I wanted to do a blend was because I can I can really kind of hone in and pinpoint what I really wanted to show in a Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel because it's it's really what this valley is known for. I think we grow really great Zinfandel here. and the reason

I think Dry Creek is so great for Zin is because we're really we get the benefit of being right next to the Russian River. So we do get some fog and some cool air coming in in the evening. And so the grapes really cool down at night, but then it gets, you know, up to a hundred and two during the ripening season. And so we really the sometimes we'll get like a forty degree swing in that temperature differential, which is is great. The vines have a chance to to ripen and get that dark fruit profile, blackberry.

But then they cool down at night. And so they it allows them to hang on to that acidity, which again comes back to the balance. It's really important to have the balance of some acid with that fruit. Otherwise it's just you get this really cloying, high pH, just not food friendly again. So it's so I had fun picking out barrels from a few different of these vineyards that we get fruit from.

to kind of create this what I thought was a really great wind up to pair with some of these lighter, lighter meats.

Speaker 1 (29:25.966)

Mm-hmm. Yeah, I I think you knocked it out of the park with this one too. Honestly, like my impression as Infidels and I'm not a great wine mind, but it that they're super bold and heavy. Mm-hmm. And this was like it looked perfectly balanced, very approachable, smooth. I and I I so I had it with sharp tailed grouse in the grill with raspberries I picked out of the backyard and

Created a reduction sauce. And I had to I scored my first chanterelle mushrooms of the season. So it was it it was it was a field the forest. And as I'm drinking, I hadn't read about, you know, what I'm supposed to find in in the wine. I just, you know, drank it and it was like, I can taste raspberries. Like, well, it might have something to do with the reduction sauce that is all over the meat. But it was it was so refreshing. It was

Speaker 4 (30:19.746)

Ha ha.

Speaker 3 (30:20.066)

Yeah.

Speaker 1 (30:24.462)

Perfect, but you know, sharp tails of red meat. And it was a perfectly paired, at least in my mind, with you know, summer bird on the grill, you know, in the middle of middle of July, August. it was just wonderful. So it and I I failed to mention that the artwork on the Zinfidel f also features a gambles quail. and this is the artwork from Kristen Newberry, who

painted each of the species for the 20th anniversary of Quail Forever. So just like our first collab together, our second collab with Passalacqua has just out of this world artwork. You can't judge wine by a label, but you can in this case because the label and the wine are perfectly paired. And it I I really, really, really love both of these, both of these wines this year.

Speaker 4 (31:19.852)

Yeah, great.

Speaker 1 (31:21.854)

so I want to mention you know folks can look at the the website passaloqua.com slash quail dash forever. I'll put a link in the show notes. you'll be able to check out the new wines as well as there's a few bottles of last year's collab, the Fiano and the Pinot Noir, avail still available. Is that right, Jason?

Speaker 3 (31:48.322)

Yes. yes. Yes. There is there was a few bottles of Viano and and Pinot left. And we actually talked about doing some four packs. two of last year and two of this year is some gift packs on the on the website for those who wanna collect the labels as a series. collect, you know, and always keep the bottles. You can always you know, you can always ask us to send you more is and pretend they're refills. But yeah, there's a few a few left.

Speaker 1 (32:14.91)

As a as a winemaker, are these are these wines that can be saved as collectibles or are they wines that you should be drinking sooner rather than later? Or are they somewhere in between? I guess Jessica, that's a better question for you.

Speaker 4 (32:32.652)

Yeah, it's a good question. the the Chardonnay is probably a you know, three to five year from vintage date. and same with the Zin. And I I say that mostly because with with Zinfandel, I I prefer Zinfandel for its big bold fruit, kinda and that freshness. So if you held it longer, it's just gonna lose some of that freshness and the the fruit won't be quite as bold, you know, different than a Cabernet.

Cabernet have a lot of tannins, so they're kind of made to age. So these are not necessarily like, you know, ten years, lay it down, but I would recommend drinking the wine and saving the bottle so that you can have all of the bottles lined up and collect those.

Speaker 1 (33:14.616)

There go. What about last year's wines the the Fiano and the

Speaker 3 (33:21.514)

You can do a couple things. You can you can actually go on Amazon and buy those glass cutters and so you can cut the the top of your wine bottle off or you can make I've seen people make their own make their own candles out of it. but the you know the interesting part about you collect them, you know, at these price points at you know, mid mid twenties to low thirties on these wines, they make great con conversation pieces as well as you know supporting con conservation. So when you

Yeah, have Quail Forever wines out and you barbecue or you bring them to a buddy's house and barbecue and open It's a super, super safe bet that everyone and if somebody doesn't like it, it's not because it's just because it doesn't fit their flavor profile. It's not because it's a bad bottle of wine. and so it it it really hits that sweet spot of terms of it's a safe purchase, the money's going to the right place. and really it supports, you know, obviously you have the quail, you're listening to this and

And if you support Quail forever, then you're supporting Quail forever through purchasing alcohol for your drinking habits.

Speaker 1 (34:25.934)

Or your hunting habits. Yeah. Trip, true, yeah. real quickly, the the the fiano and the pinot, how long is best to before you drink those, Jessica?

Speaker 4 (34:26.51)

Yeah.

Speaker 4 (34:41.794)

I would say again three to five for the fiano and maybe a little longer for the Pinot. There's a little bit more structure in that, but five to seven.

Speaker 1 (34:50.574)

Cool, cool. Yeah. all right. So we're gonna jump to the recipes that you each made to pair with these brand new wines and talk through those. before we go there, I wanna thank Onyx Hunt for being a partner in On the Wing podcast. Waiting season is almost over. We're almost to hunting season. The dogs are restless, you're restless.

You're checking those roadside reports. You're ready to put your boat away, put the rods and reels away, dust off the shotgun, and take to the field. Now is the time to open up the Onyx app and start looking for new hunting properties. Maybe even at a vineyard near you. Check that out though. Make sure it's land public land. research new properties and build your plan for the fall.

The best seasons don't start on opening day. They start right now at on X Hunt. All right, Sparks. You're gonna be you're gonna kick us off. Tell us about your inspiration and your recipe and the wine you paired with and you got a shit eating grin on your face, which makes me really, really curious what you what you tackled here.

Speaker 2 (36:11.98)

I have a pizza eating grin on people. So Jillian and I make pizza every Friday. it's something that we've enjoyed with Jason and Jessica when we were out there visiting another time. And I thought, you know, one of the one of the classic pairings with the Zinfendale, it's in my opinion, is it's one of the best wines that pairs with barbecue. Yeah. so we did a like a pulled pheasant barbecue pizza. which

We we make pizza every Friday and it is, I would say, by far the best pizza we've made in the last year. So it it turned out really great. you basically it's also a good way to use your legs and thighs that you might have left over from your pheasants. I just toss those in a crock pot with just water and let them rock on high or low, depending on how much time you have. Let them cool down, pull the meat from the bones. I've got you'll s

Look up the recipe. I've got my recipe for homemade barbecue sauce. If you want to keep it simple, you could just probably water your own favorite, like store-bought barbecue sauce down with a little water. toss the pulled meat with the barbecue sauce. And then on your pizza, you've got your pulled pheasant meat with the barbecue sauce on it, mozzarella cheese, some thinly sliced red onion, crispy fried shallots, which we find at our Asian market. But

kinda you could also do think like the fried onions that you that a Midwesterner would put on like green bean casserole at Thanksgiving. It's kinda like that vibe, but a little bit elevated with the fried shallots.

Speaker 1 (37:53.26)

That might be a Nebraska thing.

Speaker 2 (37:55.264)

Yeah, it definitely is. I think Minnesota, you guys probably are doing the same thing. But no, but the the onions would work too. And then we like a little heat, so some sliced jalapeno and some cilantro on there. And it just it turned out really good. it'll be a a future recipe that'll be available in in the journal as well, quilt forever journal. So to check it out.

Speaker 4 (38:17.016)

Sounds amazing. So

Speaker 3 (38:18.936)

Sounds great.

Speaker 2 (38:20.332)

I'll say too, you know, I think the one thing that I didn't realize until right before this podcast, I was thinking about it. I'm like, what a cool thing. You have like the this New World Wines Infandale and pair it with a New World Quail, Gamblel's quail, which is on the which is on the label. So this is kind of a cool pairing in that sense as well.

Speaker 1 (38:40.014)

What about the crust? Did you use a pre made crust or

Speaker 2 (38:43.924)

Okay, so that you brought up a point of contention. We do meet me and we make our own we make our own pizza dough. my wife was like, You're getting too snooty with your homemade barbecue sauce and your homemade dough. Just put a little note in the recipe that a homemade, a good quality, like store-bought crust is fine. But if you want to email me at our sparks thequill forever dot org, I'll send you our our pizza dough recipe. It was also

Just for the the sake of real estate in the journal, it was getting a little long when I had the pulled the pulled pheasant recipe, the the barbecue sauce recipe, the dough recipe, the assembly recipe for the pizza. But yeah, I will say, you know, a unique way that we do pizza. we do we do have a a pizza gr a pizza oven. in the wintertime, we do pizza in the oven in our house. And then I also really like to do pizza on a charcoal grill. so I thought this was really good. The the smokiness

of the pizza or of cooking the pizza on the charcoal grill ri really well with the zen. and you basically roll out your dough and with to put no toppings on it and you have your grill hot, you put just the dough on the grill and cook one side of it until it's lightly charred, then flip it, bring it back in the kitchen, put all your toppings on, and then take it back out to the grill with the lid on and your cheese will melt and it gets nice and smoky. And it's a it's a really fun way if somebody hasn't done pizza like that, especially in the

You know, spring, summer, fall, that's generally our go to way to make pizza. So

Speaker 1 (40:12.82)

It sounds fabulous. My favorite part of the story though is Jillian giving you grief for being snooty.

Speaker 2 (40:19.448)

She won 'cause I just took it out of the recipe last night. So

Speaker 1 (40:25.767)

that's terrific. And it paired well with the wine.

Speaker 2 (40:29.378)

Yeah, it was great. That I'm getting hungry and thinking about it. So

Speaker 1 (40:32.142)

All right. tough act to follow, Jessica. What tell us about your approach.

Speaker 4 (40:40.75)

So a little little history here. I I love a project recipe. If it takes five days, I'm all in. So I usually tend to lean towards like Italian inspired recipes, but I wanted to try it branch out. So I I lean toward French. And please excuse any of my mispronunciation of anything in in French here. but I went with a Salmi de Faison.

Speaker 1 (40:50.862)

Wow.

Speaker 4 (41:10.918)

salmi is a a term used for a ragu or kind of a stew-like concoction of pheasant. And the the basis of the recipe was you like par cook or par roast the pheasant whole, like maybe halfway through, and then you take it out and piece it out into breast, leg, thigh, wings.

And then you build a sauce and finish cooking it in the sauce. But with French food, the sauce is everything. So two components of the sauce I spent about five hours last week making. Wow. and it was one is basically just a reduction of of a stock and I have a bunch of bone broth in my freezer because I'm like that. So I took I took a you take like a quart of bone broth and reduce it down

over hours and hours to it till it's about a cup. You know, it's like sticks to the back of the spoon and then you put it in the fridge and it turns into this gelatinous stock jelly. Yeah, a stock pots, they were calling it, but and also a a chicken glaze. But I think stock pots, they were saying you could just use the Noor you know, cubes, but I not me.

Speaker 2 (42:19.382)

Did you call that a dimmi glass?

Speaker 1 (42:36.942)

Five hours on the sauce.

Speaker 4 (42:37.294)

I'm

Not judgy. Not judgy. I just like to see if it's worth the time.

Speaker 3 (42:48.0)

It's true, I can bow.

Speaker 4 (42:48.91)

Yeah. And then the other sauce was basically a a broth again, but added in some mushroom, chopped up mushroom, chopped up tomatoes, a little mirepoix the carrot, celery, onion, and then reduced that all down. So it was to a couple cups. It was also very gelatinous, but it had more obviously a lot more flavor and umami and a lot going on.

So those were then added to the sauce that I cooked the pheasant in. It was like those plus more broth plus you put the carcass into the sauce. And so you're kind of like cooking the carcass down with those sauces before you Soak. Yeah. Soap. And then you, you know, a s a sieve to make it all beautiful and get all the little bits out and then cooked finished off the pheasant and the sauce. And then I did it over polen creamy polenta.

And then some pan fried mushrooms.

Speaker 2 (43:49.014)

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 4 (43:50.19)

and I forgot to say I cooked it with the Chardonnay.

Speaker 1 (43:53.762)

It the sh you cooked it with it. Did you drink it, the Chardonnay with this stuff? Okay.

Speaker 4 (43:57.336)

Course. During and after.

Speaker 1 (44:01.102)

Is this like well like it this is multiple days, so this is like a five bottle recipe?

Speaker 4 (44:06.966)

Yeah, pretty much. Yeah. and that when I was originally looking at the recipe, I thought for sure it would be it would go best with the Zinfandel just 'cause it's there's a lot going on. There's super complex the umami and whatever and but I made it at the winery yesterday and we all we all tried it and all agreed a hundred percent it was it was with the Chardonnay. The Chardonnay just like popped everything and like freshened your palate.

a little bit of lemon in the wine just like pushed the flavors in the sauce. It was a really it was really great.

Speaker 1 (44:40.886)

It's funny because i i as you were talking about it, it was like, you you picked the Zinfandel to create your day 'cause I was thinking you know, the umami, mushrooms, heavy. Yeah. And they're like, it's a Chardonnay.

Speaker 4 (44:54.253)

Like

Speaker 3 (44:55.182)

Well,

Speaker 1 (44:56.526)

Proved me wrong. Five days, five bottles, and I had everything mixed up. And it turned out well.

Speaker 4 (44:57.452)

Yeah.

Speaker 4 (45:04.14)

Yeah. I yeah, I'm a I'm a fan. This it's the sauce. It was all about the sauce.

Speaker 2 (45:09.602)

You know, and they could work together. Our two recipes could work together really well because when you put my the my pheasant in the slow cooker, what it's like a cheat code that I tell everybody, when you're done cooking and you pull the meat out and everything, you s you have you essentially have stock. Just add, yeah, chunk up some onions, chunk up some carrots, kind of whatever you have, throw in some parsley, some thyme, peppercorns, it I mean whatever you have. Let that w take the lid off the slow cooker, let that go on high two, three hours.

And then you know, if you want to reduce it even more, throw it on a, you know, let it rip on the stove on high and like really put the wood to it, taste it for salt, you know. Well, you can add a splash of soy you can get however fancy you want to get, but a real cheat code in your kitchen is to have a homemade stock or broth from Game Birds, and it's another way to just squeeze a little bit more. We were talking earlier about.

Remembering the hunt and remembering the bird. It's just another little touch point with those with those birds and those hunts and those memories that you can get out of it and then taste pretty damn good too. So make the barbecue pizza and then roll that over into the salmi. How are you trying to finish it? But Jessica's

Speaker 4 (46:29.341)

Salmi de Faison.

Speaker 1 (46:31.593)

I missed a word. well I didn't didn't do any justice to my last name of Saint Pierre.

Speaker 1 (46:40.59)

do do you both have photos of your finished product?

Speaker 4 (46:46.744)

Yes.

Speaker 1 (46:48.45)

Fabulous. We will use those in conjunction with the with the post. because I cannot wait to see the contrast of the pizza with the

Speaker 2 (47:00.216)

I love how this turned out. We kinda went high, low, yeah. I mean

Speaker 1 (47:03.35)

I was my money was on you to be the the snooty one Ryan and Jessica threw me a curveball.

Speaker 4 (47:11.182)

I can outsnooty anybody.

Speaker 2 (47:15.684)

Yeah, you'll have to send me that recipe though, if it would have tried

Speaker 1 (47:18.102)

It does sound fabulous. I don't know that I got five days or five hours into a stock.

Speaker 4 (47:23.256)

Well it's easy though. You just put it on the stove and it just reduces down. Yeah. You can drink wine and watch a watch a game and then come back in the kitchen and it's all reduced.

Speaker 2 (47:32.876)

Yeah. I

Speaker 1 (47:35.084)

Well, thank you for playing along. I will remind listeners to go to the website. They will be in the show notes, but Pasaloquill Winery dot com. quail forever keyword you can put in the search. the the twenty twenty-five-twenty six collabs, the fiano, which I cannot recommend highly enough. I love the fiano.

The the red, the Pinot Noir from last year, as well as the brand new, new this August, the Chardonnay and the Zinfandel are now available. all of them are available for a limited time as quantities last. And remember, as Jason pointed out, every time you buy a bottle of the Passalacqua Quail Forever Collab, it you are helping contribute to our wildlife habitat mission.

To help create places and better habitat for quail all over the country. This year's wines feature artwork that put the spotlight on the Gambles Quail. So they're they're works of art. They're great. They're great companions to whatever wild game dish you're going to put together. And they're helping us create habitat. And you can learn more at passalacquawinery.com.

for Jason, for Jessica, for Ryan. Thank you all very much. This is always fun. when we can talk food and wine and and hunting. And I can't wait to hear the stories of what was it was it Lisa Farmer?

Speaker 3 (49:16.101)

Lisa Farmer.

Speaker 2 (49:18.838)

We're gonna put some more holes in the irrigation parts.

Speaker 4 (49:21.068)

Ha ha.

Speaker 1 (49:21.71)

And with that note, I'm Bob St.Pierre reminding you to always follow the dog if something good will rise. Thanks for listening, folks.