Food Inclusivity is on the Menu at Clif Family Winery
Inclusive: “Broad in orientation or scope. Covering or intended to cover all items, costs or services.” — m-w.com, the online version of the venerated Merriam-Webster Dictionary
As Wine Country (like the rest of the world) grapples with issues of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), considerations of the term and how to improve overall DEI metrics in Wine Country businesses are hot topics among everyone from chefs and CEOs to vineyard management teams and kitchen staffs. At St. Helena’s Clif Family Winery, the consideration of inclusion has also expanded to include menu offerings.
The germ of the evolution around “inclusive eating” at Clif Family Winery came from Gary Erickson and Kit Crawford, the husband- and-wife team who founded and co-owned Clif Bar (an acquisition by Mondelez was completed in 2022) and who still own the wine brand and related properties.
“The brand is very inclusive,” said John McConnell, Clif Family’s executive chef and director of hospitality. “Gary and Kit wanted to create an environment [at their tasting room in St. Helena] where everyone can truly enjoy themselves.” Built around the concept of a rifugio, Italian for a high-elevation mountain hut situated along hiking trails as places to rest or partake of a nourishing meal, Clif Family Winery tasting room experiences are designed to evoke a feeling of community, nurtured through shared experiences.
After its 2011 opening, Clif Family’s rifugio grew, adding a food truck in 2014 that captured Kit and Gary’s passion for Italy’s bruschetterias—all-day restaurants where the focus on seasonal and local is a given and the spirit is as casual and community-centered as a trattoria. Clif‘s Bruschetteria food truck menu changes frequently with many of the ingredients sourced from nearby Clif Family Farm.
“The truck was really the start of our culinary program,” says Linzi Gay, president of Clif Family Winery, expanding the tasting room offerings beyond small bites of cheese and other pairings traditionally offered with wine tastings.
Over time, Gay says, they began to get a lot more requests for gluten- free and vegan options at both the food truck and for wine pairings, and just offering those guests Clif’s nut mixes (which are delicious, by the way) that were not designed for wine pairing or for highlighting the wines was not the answer.
When Gary and Kit also transitioned their own diets into gluten- free and vegan, that really kicked the business’ culinary programs into a new gear. Chef McConnell and his team approached the idea holistically, placing Clif Family Farm at the center of the program. Since many elements—row crops, olive oil, tree fruits and other items produced from the farm—were already in place, all that was needed was a slight shift. “It was really more of a redirection of lifestyle,” McConnell says.
Kit also offered recommendations. “Kit asked me to try this butter product, a European-style cultured vegan butter from Miyoko’s Creamery in Sonoma. It turned my head,” McConnell says. “Not only can you really taste the culture, I didn’t feel like I was eating something plant-based. I saw the opportunity.” Completely plant-based food pairing rolled out soon thereafter.
At Clif Family’s tasting room, 5—10% of all tastings are now totally plant-based, no matter which of the three tasting experiences— King of the Mountain, Rise & Wine or the Seasonal Tasting Experience—is booked.
At a recent plant-based Seasonal Wine Tasting experience, Miyoko’s products appeared on each of the three bites. The first featured Miyoko’s cream cheese with a soft, ricotta-like texture atop a gluten-free seeded rice and quinoa cracker from Mary’s Gone Crackers. McConnell added housemade hoshigaki—Japanese dried persimmon—showcasing the cheese, the farm’s products and the culinary team’s thoughtfulness. A 2021 Rte Blanc Sauvignon Blanc amplified the cheese’s lactic, tangy flavor (from added cultures), which in turn opened up the acidity of the wine. McConnell credits Clif’s winemaker Laura Barrett for crafting balanced wines, making his work in creating menus that enhance each wine’s flavors “relatively easy.”
Taste two was Miyoko’s Smoked English Farmhouse, reminiscent of an aged cheddar with firm texture and mouthfeel. Along side the cheese wedge was a pool of pluot lavender jam topped with a borage flower from the farm, a nod to farm manager Tessa Henry’s efforts at creating acres of pollinator-friendly habitat. The cheese’s cold smoke treatment was readily apparent on the palate, the jam a bridge that added complexity to the wine pairing: a 2019 Chardonnay made without malolactic fermentation and only 30% new French oak barrels. The wine’s zippy, elegant palate echoed the fruits’ and cheeses’ dueling complexities. Mc- Connell called out “the smoke in the cheese and the oak in the wine form a bond that allow you to taste the expression of other flavors in the pairing.”
Taste three was Miyoko’s Sun-Dried Tomato Garlic, a double- cream cheese with a rich, dense mouthfeel. McConnell pumped up the umami by layering the cheese’s tomato flavors with sunchoke XO, a riff on a Singaporean sauce from Hong Kong, “veganized” with mushroom, shallot, more garlic and Szechuan peppercorn. The result is a savory bomb of a condiment that intensifies the cheese’s savory depths. It’s practically screaming for a red wine and, for the final tasting of anyone’s tasting experience, the crew typically offers two wines. These might be a 2020 Bici (a lighter, Rhone-style blend) or a 2019 Kit’s Killer Cab (which, as advertised, is all about the big bold fruit).
“[The bites] are a little unexpected,” says Gay. “People have the perception that plant-based is not as flavorful, but these really pop. “Working with simple ingredients that have integrity are important building blocks to create the final dish,” says McConnell. “They allow you to understand how the flavors in each dish harmonize and come together.”
Yes, you can still get all the yummy, meaty and cheesy treats in any of the Clif tasting experiences, but the tailoring of tasting experiences to be inclusive of dietary and nutritional differences are a thrill even for non-vegan, dedicated gluten-lovers. Just make sure to sign up in advance on their website. •
