A visit to Shadowbrook Winery will surpass your expectations and transport you to the ambiance of Napa Valley without leaving Walnut Creek. They are celebrating their five-year anniversary of opening the tasting room this month. Back in the day, the Mount Diablo area was a robust grape growing region in the late 1800’s from Clayton through Walnut Creek to Danville. In 1911 the farmers and locals celebrated the first Walnut Creek Grape Festival, which today is the Walnut Festival. Unfortunately, with the invasion of grape mites killing the vines and prohibition, the land evolved to orchards of walnuts and almonds in the mid 1920’s.
Recently I had the opportunity to sit down with Tim Jochner, owner, and winemaker at Shadowbrook Winery, where we have been wine club members since January 2020. Tim’s journey began with planting a small vineyard on 2-acre parcel of land near his house in 2005 and Shadowbrook Winery was born. Tim began learning about wine making via being a voracious reader along with employing the consulting services of Randall Johnson who was the original winemaker at Hess. He was particularly excited about the 85% clay terroir of the region that produces elevated fruit flavors for the 14 varietals that are all estate grown and bottled. Tim likes the challenge of the wine making process and decided to enter the prestigious San Francisco Wine Competition where his 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon earned a double gold metal.
This prestigious award opened the door to compete with the “best of the best” in the world of wine. It was now time to leap to the next step and open an official tasting room. He embarked on the journey to build the first bonded winery in Walnut Creek prior to prohibition with a vision to create wines that can compete against Napa. With over 75 award winning medals to his credit since 2005, his vision is now a reality. Tim’s philosophy to making great wine is to let the vineyard do all the work along with picking ripe grapes that are fruit forward with mature tannins to provide balance. His favorite wine is one that had a difficult growing season, where he is challenged to create an enjoyable wine, which most of the time is a complex yet approachable Boudreaux blend. His perfect food and wine pairing is a filet mignon paired with the wineries premier red wine ‘Jon Rae’. I was surprised to learn that he was a division one college baseball player at Fresno State. Tim’s passion for creating award winning wine is evident and a crowded winery with happy people ignites joy for him.
I had the opportunity to hang out with the new chef, Jon Chase in the kitchen and learned that he worked at Va De Vi in Walnut Creek, Fiorella in San Francisco, and many other established restaurants in the bay area. In addition to the winery, he is a part-time private chef and on those rare days off, he loves going out to eat with friends or making Korean food at home. He adores Italian food; especially handmade pasta and his signature dish is pappardelle with oxtail sugo. His favorite food and wine pairing is a buttery chardonnay with arancini. Speaking of arancini, this month you can enjoy a winter squash with mozzarella arancini as one of the specials. My mouth is already watering.
Jon shared with me that his best chef tip is to not be afraid of salt when cooking. His three favorite kitchen tools are a micro plane, chef knife and an off-set spatula. His tried-and-true cooking philosophy is to use local ingredients as much as possible and has microgreens delivered weekly to the winery from Shell Ridge Farms that are delicious. It was fun to learn that Chef Jon loves a bowl of packaged ramen with avocado and cilantro – sounds like a must try, don’t you think?
In addition to the award-winning wines, the food is delicious, and I highly recommend the sidewinder fries, which are highly addictive. If you are an olive oil afficionado, check out the estate grown and produced olive oils for sale. You do not have to be a wine club member to enjoy this magnificent winery. If you are a club member, you can look forward to wine maker dinners soon. Shadowbrook is open Thursday through Sunday, and you can make a reservation on Open Table. Cheers to Tim and Jon for their time and insights!
By Lisa Crossett, Resident since 2001
Lisa has been a Northgate resident since 2001. Professionally she is the Head of Talent Acquisition for Mechanics Bank with headquarters in Walnut Creek. She is the President of California Recruiters and on the board for Community Arts Foundation based in Walnut Creek. Lisa’s passion is Food, Wine and Entertaining. She publishes a food blog called Authentic Suburban Gourmet and loves to throw elegant dinner parties, explore wine country, collect wine and cook great food.
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