High Cotton Maverick Bar and Grill hosted a dinner featuring some of his wines. Steve is from Napa and knew early on that he wanted to be part of the wine industry. He makes Mondavi's Pinot Noirs, Zinfandels and Chardonnays, as well as a dessert wine, Moscato D'Oro. Having studied genetic engineering at San Diego State no doubt helps him understand grapevine clones. Even the casual wine lover will learn some interesting stuff listening to winemakers talk.
Part is science, but a lot is still art.
As interesting as Steve was, everyone's attention was caught by how well chef Jason Scholz's dishes matched up to the wines. Scholz and Leveque seem to be soulmates. Every dish made the wine better, and every wine made the food better. Scholz and High Cotton general manager David Marconi told me they came up with the matches by sampling a range of Mondavi wines. Mondavi's local guy, William Reinecke, and reps from Ben Arnold joined them.