Since coming back from our trip to Southeastern Europe last summer, we haven't had the chance to eat any dishes from the region as San Francisco is lacking in restaurants specializing in Balkan cuisine. Fortunately, for all of us Ćevapčići lovers in the Bay Area there is Del Monte Restaurant in downtown Sunnyvale, on Murphy Avenue.     Del Monte, in spite of the name, is a 100% Croatian family business: Mate Slade, the head of the family, usually can be found in the kitchen doing what he loves best, while his wife Dragica can be found in the restaurant greeting the guests who all seem to know her, alongside her son who serves the tables. Originally from Dubrovnik, they came to California some 25 years ago by way of Louisiana, New Orleans and Washington D.C.     We recently had dinner for the first time at Delmonte with some relatives, and so we got to try almost everything in their menu. Although the decor is lacking in sophistication, it has a Croatian feel to it as well as a family atmosphere that we enjoyed together with the big plates of food.     Since the Slades are from Dubrovnik on the Dalmatian coast, we started with a Dalmatian platter of pršut (cured ham similar to Italian prosciutto), olives, Dalmatian cheese and anchovies in olive oil. Since they have a number of seafood and fish dishes, we decided to try some of them: fried calamari, mussels marinara, sole Dalmatian style and chicken with prawns. They even have linguine with different shellfish and calamari on a tomato sauce, which was very tasty.     They also offer meat dishes more typical of continental Croatia, such as different types of steak, a plate of mixed meats, or a delicious Goulash Croatian style which is one of their most popular dishes. However, our favorite dish was, of course, the Ćevapčići plate: pieces of minced meat made of a mix of different types of beef and pork, hand mixed and then grilled with a side of ajvar (red bell pepper spread). Heavenly meat.     To accompany this Croatian feast we needed to have Croatian wine, so we ordered a red and a white from their wine list: a Debit from Bibich that paired really well with the sole, and a Plavac from the Dingač Winery that we enjoyed as always with all sorts of meat. And, although we were too full to have a dessert, we couldn't resist finishing this perfect Croatian meal with a small glass of delicious Prošek, the nectar of the Gods!

Winners of the second annual American Wine Blog Awards were announced yesterday by Tom Wark who writes the wine blog Fermentation and who started them two years ago to give recognition to dedicated wine bloggers and stimulate new ones to start.     Among the winners we found one of our favourite wine blogs, San Francisco's acclaimed Vinography by Alder Yarrow, who won the awards for best overall wine blog and best wine blog writing. Not only is Vinography an excellent source of information and inspiration on restaurants and wine bars in San Francisco, but he has also reviewed several Austrian and Slovenian wines in the past, as well as one of our favourite Croatia whites, Bibich's Debit. We strongly suspect that he's been getting more into Croatian and Slovenian wines lately, since he celebrated the award with a bottle of Malvazija from Koper (perhaps by Santomas?).     Other winners of the American Wine Blog Awards included Good Wine Under $20 (best wine review blog and best single subject blog), Tablas Creek (best winery blog), The Wine Collector (best wine business blog), Chateau Petrogasm (best wine blog graphics), and Grape Radio (best wine podcast/video blog). Grape Radio is an excellent podcast (an online audio blog) that a while back devoted a very interesting show (click here to listen to it) to the Hungarian winery Disznókő, which produces really good quality Tokaji (such as this one or this one).     Twenty-four blogs in eight categories made it to the finals for the awards. Nominations were made by voters, and then winnowed down by a panel of 6 judges, followed by a vote of both the public and the judges to determine the winners. The public's tally got 70 percent of the weighting, with 30% of the voting power given to the judges. According to Wark, the judges were Jack Everitt, of the Fork & Bottle blog; Dan Fredman, of Dan Fredman Public Relations; Steve Heimoff, Wine Enthusiast Magazine's West Coast editor; Derrick Schneider, Obsession With Food blogger; Wolfgang Webber, Wine & Spirits Magazine's associate editor and blogger, and Tori Wilder, of Wilder PR.     Tom Wark, who said that currently there are more than 700 American Wine blogs, commented on the winners: "Anyone who has been paying attention to the development of the world of wine blogs will likely recognize the winners of the 2008 American Wine Blog Awards. They represent a variety of things in this world: The Standard, The Expert, The Innovators, The Dedicated".     For a more detailed description of all the winners, check the announcement, or if you're curious to see who the finalists were for each catergory, here's the complete list, which will provide you with a lot of good wine reading.

Last weekend more than 90 wineries participated in the 2008 Paso Robles Zinfandel Festival, which included an array of special events such as winemaker dinners, food pairings, seminars, open houses, a live auction and special tastings. Although (unfortunately) this year we didn't make it to the festival, we recently had the opportunity to visit Paso Robles Wine Country and to enjoy some of the region's fine wines.     Paso Robles is located on California's central coast, halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Paso Robles has a long history of winemaking and grape growing beginning in 1797 when the first wine grapes were introduced by the Franciscan missionaries at the historic Mission San Miguel Arcangel. The Padres produced wine for sacramental purposes and made brandy for export. After Mexico secularized the California missions in the 1840s the vineyards were abandoned until European immigrant farmers started to arrive in the 1860s, following California's independence in 1850.     Today, Paso Robles is California's third largest and fastest growing wine region, with over 26,000 acres of vineyards (more on Paso Robles Wine Country history can be found here). Cabernet Sauvignon is the leading variety for the Paso Robles appellation, accounting for 38 percent of the region's planted wine grape acreage. After that the most widely planted varieties are Merlot, Syrah, Chardonnay, Zinfandel, Petite Sirah and Sauvignon Blanc. With Italian, Spanish and Rhône varieties on the upswing, more than 40 other varieties with 300 to less than an acre are planted in the region.     In the last decade, Paso Robles has seen an increase from 35 to nearly 170 wineries, of which about two-thirds produce less than 5,000 cases.     Among the few wineries that we visited during our brief passage through Paso Robles, we can recomend Eagle Castle, ensconced in a real modern-day castle. Founded in 2000 by Paso Robles natives Gary and Marylou Stemper with the motto "A royal experience", Eagle Castle produces an award-winning Viogner, a rosé and a few interesting reds. Our favourite was the recently released 2004 Zinfandel, a bold red with peppery notes both in the nose and the body, as well as a strong jammy flavor and a smooth finish.     Another winery that we particularly enjoyed was Castoro Cellars who produces, in their own words, "dam fine wines". Established in 1983 by Niels and Bimmer Udsen, the name refers to Niels' long-time nickname "Beaver", which became "Il Castoro" (beaver in Italian) when he was working in Italy. In the span of a dozen years, Castoro Cellars has gone from making a few barrels of wine for family and friends in a rented corner of someone else’s winery to a production of around 40,000 at present. They produce half a dozen whites, about twenty reds and a couple of dessert wines. We were lucky to taste a good number of their wines, including their 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon blend which was so easy to drink that we took a couple of bottles home. We also enjoyed their affordable Muscat Canelli, a perfect match for a fruity dessert or just to sip in the terrace at any time.     For those of us who missed the Zinfandel Festival, on May 16-18th Paso Robles will be hosting their 26th Wine Festival, which will be a great opportunity to discover this fast-growing wine region or to explore it further. Cheers!     

Yesterday's article by Corie Brown in the L.A. Times, From Slovenia? Wild, wild wines speaks enthusiastically of wines from Slovenia, a region that "is getting hotter by the minute". The article highlights the boldness of Slovenian winemakers, who are young, experimenting and obtaining some really good results. Revered wine expert expert Jancis Robinson is quoted to have said after her recent trip to Slovenia:     "They are quite anarchic and individual in their use of oak and, to my mind, are making more distinctive wines than most of their neighbors in [Italy's] Friuli."     Brown also spoke to Pieter Verheyde, head sommelier at Bastide in West Hollywood, one of the best restaurants in the Los Angeles area that have embraced Slovenian wines in their wine list. For Verheyde, "they're lively and complex with unexpected flavors", and bring diversity to Bastide's 1,400 label list. He pairs the Santomas Malvazija with a ceviche of scallops, the Refošk with dry aged beef, and the Movia Pinot Noir with Hawaiian sea bass. It all sounds delicious.     The two winemakers that the article talks most about are also the most famous ones in the US. Aleš Kristiančić from Movia is one of the biggest producers in Slovenia, with a production of 10,000 cases of wine a year from 57 acres of vineyards that would be considered tiny by American standards. Movia, established in 1970, is also the oldest private winery in the country and has been selling wines to the US for almost 10 years.     Another famous Slovenian winemaker is Joško Gravner whose wines, according to Silver Lake Wine co-owner George Cossette, have introduced many adventurous enthusiasts to Slovenian wines. Gravner is the one that started the amphora project - in which Gravner ferments his wines in clay jugs buried up to their necks in the ground in homage to ancient Roman tradition. "Gravner is stripping away the human intervention to create minimalist art," Cossette says.     The article concludes saying that although not many Americans know where Slovenia is, let alone its wines, selling them requires more time than with other wines, and customers need to taste the wines and take the time to get to know them. But it is that sense of discovery, of adventure, that makes them so exciting.     If you haven't had the chance to try Slovenian wines, or if you are not convinced yet, the L.A. Times article came with extensive tasting notes of a great selection of both whites and reds, including some that you can get through Blue Danube Wines:     -2004 Batic Pinot Gris Reserve: "A weird and wonderful wine from Vipava, with delicate aromas of sesame seeds, herbs and wildflowers. It has good acidity and a lingering fresh apple finish".     -2004 Santomas Malvazija: "From the Koper district in Primorska, a richly aromatic wine with a round mouth feel, zippy fresh pineapple and other tropical fruit flavors".     -2005 Guerila Pinela: "From the Vipava district in Primorska, a delicate honey-toned wine with stony Chablis-like minerality".     -2003 Kogl Magna Dominica Albus: "A blend of equal parts Auxerrois, Riesling and Yellow Muskat, this wine has inviting peach aromas and a taste of honey".