“I’ve never met anyone who cares so much about caviar, and shares such interesting stories about it,” John Jordan says. “We have long been pondering how to bring more of that excitement to the Jordan table.”
The solution was obvious. Now, Szilagyi is helping to bring the luxurious taste of artisanal American caviar to Jordan year- round with the new, custom-produced Tsar Nicoulai Jordan Chef’s Reserve Caviar.
Crafted in collaboration with Jordan Executive Chef Todd Knoll, this special caviar comes from white sturgeon raised at the Tsar Nicoulai farm near Sacramento, just a few hours from the winery. Then, it’s cured with Sonoma sea salt and Sonoma kombu seaweed, in an exclusive blend created by Chef Knoll.
“I wanted to elevate an already extraordinary caviar with our own wine country statement,” says Knoll, who was raised in Hawaii and often makes his own sea salts. “We plan to change the cure every few seasons, incorporating homemade salts from my travels plus other ingredients from Sonoma and beyond, all to celebrate the wine and caviar pairing experience.”
The foundation for this culinary partnership, apart from a long friendship, is the careful selection of a specific caviar for the chef’s cure. Tsar Nicoulai produces six grades of the cured sturgeon roe, ranging from Classic to Crown Jewel, and several gourmet roes, where the best is deep golden brown and infused with white Italian truffle.
Last fall, Szilagyi and Chef Knoll assembled Jordan and key members of the winery staff to taste through five caviar varieties and five infused roes, to choose the best that complements the Jordan Cuvée Champagne, as well as Jordan Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon. “It was a rough day at the office,” Jordan says with a laugh.
“All the caviars were exceptional,” Jordan says. “But we were after the perfect texture, flavor and egg size to shine with our balanced wines.”
Of all the kinds of Tsar Nicoulai caviar, the Reserve was chosen for its supple pairing with both Champagne and still wines. Boasting a lovely dark brown to shimmering gray hue, the medium- to large- sized bead delivers sumptuous creaminess, a gentle pop on the tongue, and a smooth finish. Served straight
on a mother of pearl spoon, it releases just the slightest essence of salt that sparkles and melts in a creamy fizz against the Champagne bubbles, with subdued buttery notes to complement Jordan’s sophisticated, earthy Burgundy-style Chardonnay.
Perhaps most surprising, the Reserve caviar is delightful with red wine, too, boasting just a hint of briny kiss to play with the rich Bordeaux style of the Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon. It embraces the bold, ripe black cherry and blackberry flavors in younger Jordan vintages, but also the subtle aromas of dried cranberry, black tea and leather for library vintages. (Tasting notes on the wine pairings with Tsar Nicoulai’s infused roes are available at
blog.jordanwinery.com.)
The salt level is very important, Szilagyi explains, since curing for six to eight weeks is what turns plain roe into caviar.
“We craft in the malossol style, which is a Russian word meaning ‘little salt,’” he says. “You should never actually taste the salt. Less than five percent salt is considered good caviar, while we use just 3-4 percent salt for exceptional caviar.”
This philosophy complements the Jordan approach to winemaking as well: less emphasis on oak and alcohol, allowing the elegant fruit and vibrant acidity in the wines to shine in harmony and balance.
A TIME HONORED CRAFT While it takes four years to craft a bottle of Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon from bud break to bottle age before release—and roughly the same amount of time for a Jordan Cuvée Champagne—producing the fish eggs worthy of caviar designation takes even longer.
First, a white sturgeon needs to reach maturiy, which takes seven to 10 years. Even then, the Tsar biologists have to biopsy each fish to determine the quality of the roe. Over the years, the quality improves, so if the eggs aren’t yet premium Tsar level, the fish will be placed back in the water, waiting for another one to three years to produce eggs again.
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