Michael Phillips with Rhonda Stickley, 20-year Michael David Wine Club Member
Keith Schiller
The wine tasting and dinner featuring Michael Phillips, founder and principal owner of national award-winning Michael David Winery of Lodi, Calif., took guests on a culinary and vintner’s journey that was out of this world—literally. Ironically, just as a spacecraft moves swiftly, seats for this event sold out within 15 minutes.
At the outset of the evening, Josh Willetts, executive chef at Mountain View, expressed his pleasure with having the principal executive and major owner of a winery present at a Mountain View wine tasting dinner. He noted this was the first such occasion.
During the evening chef Willetts introduced each of the six courses of the meal while Mr. Phillips related the back story for each wine offering, the history of his family’s commitment to farming in California’s Central Valley since 1865 and the challenges facing the wine industry. Michael David Winery started business in 1984, continuing a sixth-generation legacy of Central Valley farming. The winery was named American Winery of the Year in 2020 by Wine Enthusiast Magazine.
Wine Fermentation in Outer Space
Michael David’s Zero Gravity® Cabernet Sauvignon (90 pt rating with Wine Enthusiast) is the only known wine whose strain of yeast that fermented the sample of wine in outer space was propagated to ferment the wine consumed. Mr. Phillips informed the audience that the idea arose in consultation with NASA with fermentation conducted on the International Space Station. The outer space environment creates faster and more expansive fermentation than on earth.
The first course—a salad consisting of grilled head of endive, sundried lemon tomato persillade Spanish olive oil, and feta cheese crumble was a major hit. Several of the attendees urged chef Willets to include it on the menu. The salad’s flavorings mixed to create an outstanding, refreshing and complex taste that drew raves.
Guests at the wine tasting event sampled the second vintage of Zero Gravity paired with the six-course dinner that featured mesquite seasoned dry rubbed beef tenderloin, wagyu fat whipped black truffled mashed potatoes, with vanilla espresso demi gloss; smoked crispy port belly, roasted corn, kumquat and Nopal cactus relish among a menu too extensive to list.
Other wines offered with the meal courses included Michael David Rose (92 points), Reserve Zinfandel (92 points), Inkblot Petite Sirah (90 points), and Michael David Sauvignon Blanc (92 points).
Mike Phillips was pleased to connect with Dave and Rhonda Stickley, who have been members of the Michael David Wine Club for 20 years. (See photo accompanying this article of Mike with Rhonda.) Additional information about Michael David wines and its wine club, google “Michael David Winery” or call 209-368-7384.