Kenny Rochford pointed a laser thermometer into the maw of the outdoor pizza oven, training the tiny red dot of its sight on the stone hearth. “256 degrees,” he muttered. “That can’t be right.”
He inched the dot closer to the stack of burning wood way in the back, then let it rest on an interior wall. “Ah! 650! That’s it!”
Open-air kitchens – and in particular, pizza ovens – are one of the latest rages at wineries, designed for those parties that are so perfect for Sonoma Country’s spectacular landscape and weather.
Yet Rochford, the general manager of Medlock Ames Winery in Alexander Valley, was the first to admit that the ways of this oven were unfamiliar. A local stonemason had just built it for the secluded mountainside vineyard property, following plans from Forno Bravo, an Italian pizza oven designer in Windsor. Since the towering stone kiln was installed off the back porch of the winery’s hospitality house, Rochford had been tinkering with it like a kid with a new toy.
He’d hosted one party, for a group of Medlock Ames wine club members. But most of the pizza expertise thus far had come from a neighbor, a former New Jersey pizza guy turned firefighter, who’d come to help him cook, then went nuts and couldn’t stop cranking out pies all by himself, one after another.
At this moment, Rochford had his hands full, in a preview performance of what he plans as a regular offering for the winery’s clientele: al fresco meals overlooking the winery’s organic vineyards, and all oven-roasted, from appetizers to dessert.
Beyond the prep work of lighting the fire (recommended an hour-and-a-half before cooking), chopping vegetables and arranging mis-en-place atop a big wooden table next to the oven, it’d been pretty easy. The greatest task had been preparing pizza dough and mixing cake batter.
Part of the appeal of the ovens is the interactive nature. While vegetables – plucked fresh from the winery’s organic garden – roasted in small aluminum trays on the hearth, Rochford rolled out dough and invited his guests to build pies, from an arsenal of tomatoes roasted in olive oil, salt, pepper and basil; fava beans; red onion; creamy ricotta; fresh mozzarella balls; oozy roasted garlic; thick curls of soft mozzarella; fresh basil leaves; salami; roasted chiles; homemade mole; and pancetta caramelized in Chardonnay.
Slipped into their fiery berth, the pies cooked to a golden, blistered-edge crust in less than 4 minutes.
The feast was fanned out on a long wooden table on the porch, in an enormous salad of roasted beets with hunks of tangy cheese, plus an array of steaming, crisp-skinned roasted tiny onions, whole baby potatoes, and impossibly sweet carrots that had been blanched in vinegar and finished in butter.
If the pizza combinations were more creative than chef quality, they were delicious, in kitchen sink set-ups like roast tomato and garlic, soft mozzarella, red onion, favas, basil, olive oil and pancetta; or tomato, red onion, chiles, salami, mozzarella balls, basil, oregano and olive oil. The winning recipe was deemed the flame thrower-spicy mole draped with chiles and mozzarella.
As guests rested their groaning bellies, Rochford placed a large pottery plate amid the spent dishes. Lifting a metal lid, he released billows of steam, and an aroma that spoke of dewy orchards and mouthwatering sugar. It was an upside down cake, heavy with Gravenstein apples drizzled in nectarine simple syrup.
While Medlock Ames isn’t officially open to the public (there’s no tasting room), guests can tour the winery, and it’s not uncommon to find some snacks awaiting.
“We’re pretty spontaneous,” Rochford says. “But we like to avoid the ultra-spontaneous situation of people buzzing our front gate at 8 p.m. on a Sunday. It’s happened.”
The best bet is to join the wine club, for secure invitations to special events.
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