Food & Drink: Back-yard bounty -- Local 'enoteca' features wine and food from the Bay Area's vineyards, farms and gardens Food & Drink: Back-yard bounty -- Local 'enoteca' features wine and food from the Bay Area's vineyards, farms and gardens (September 07, 2005)

By Renee Batti

Almanac News Editor

Although he gave up his job as a high school teacher many years ago, Randy Robinson still devotes much of his life to education.

But now, rather than teaching kids marketing, Mr. Robinson is trying to educate Peninsula residents about the bounty of wines and foods available from the Bay Area's back yard, and the virtues of indulging in them.

Mr. Robinson's "school," Vino Locale, opened in January in a 100-year-old Victorian on Kipling Avenue in Palo Alto. It offers its visitors a slice of Italy -- as found in enotecas everywhere in that wonderland of food and drink.

Enotecas are typically small, casual shops that offer local wines to taste by the glass and buy by the bottle, and usually feature a small selection of regional foods as well. It's a concept that has been slow to catch on in the United States, but that doesn't worry Mr. Robinson, who says the response to his venture has been enthusiastic.

At Vino Locale, patrons can buy Santa Cruz Mountain wines that are otherwise available only through the wineries that make them, or are found at very few other shops.

The Santa Cruz Mountains, Mr. Robinson says, produces a wealth of world-class wines, but many wineries are small producers that even wine aficionados have never heard of.

In launching Vino Locale, Mr. Robinson and his partner, Harry Johnson, wanted to shine the spotlight on these winemakers, as well as on locally produced foods that pair well with them.

"This is not a restaurant," Mr. Robinson emphasizes. "It's a wine bar with food. ... It's all about wine and food pairing."
Slowing down

Opening Vino Locale in a charming old house couldn't be more appropriate. It's an environment that entreats those who cross the inviting threshold: "Slow down. Relax. Enjoy life."

These are the principles, too, of the Slow Food movement, of which Mr. Robinson is a forceful proponent. That movement was born in Italy in 1986 by Carlo Petrini after the opening of a McDonald's franchise in Rome's Piazza di Spagna; it then spread to more than 40 other countries.

The Slow Food manifesto urges people to "rediscover the flavors and savors of regional cooking and banish the degrading effects of fast food." It also emphasizes the need to protect biodiversity in the production of food and to promote "pure food that is local, seasonal and organically grown."

Mr. Robinson says he became acquainted with Slow Food while traveling in Italy, and its principles resonated deeply. He's been interested in food all his life, he says, and worked for some time in restaurants.

After a number of years of teaching in high school, then working in training and development in the private sector, "I found I really wasn't enjoying what I was doing anymore," he recalls. "I decided I should be doing something that I love -- that makes me happy."

That decision led to Vino Locale.
Neighborhood attraction

"The environment is just over the top here," says Robert Moore, who lives two blocks away from Vino Locale and has become a regular there.

The wine bar, Mr. Robinson notes, has become a real neighborhood attraction, with nearby residents making up probably half of his regular patrons.

A longtime wine aficionado with, presumably, a sophisticated and adventuresome palate, Mr. Moore says he enjoys tasting and learning about local wines and their makers. And, he says, the tastes are "very reasonable" in price.

A "meet the winemaker" tasting is held on the 15th of every month, and in August, the star was Michael Martella, the winemaker for Thomas Fogarty who also makes wine under his own name.

Mr. Robinson also features a local artist each month, and hosts monthly "meet the artist" events. "Like wine and food, art is a huge part of what makes our region of the world such a great place to live," he writes on his Web site.

Those who wander into Vino Locale, which is open every day except Monday, have much to explore -- from the art on the walls to the food menu; from the tasting menu to the shelves of wine available for purchase.

In addition to Martella and Fogarty, available wines include varieties from Woodside Vineyards, Chaine D'Or (also of Woodside), Ridge, Page Mill, Cinnabar (owned by Tom Mudd of Woodside), David Bruce, Ahlgren, Salamandre -- the list goes on.

The small food menu changes frequently and reflects what is fresh and in season. The food is local and/or organic, and ranges from plates of cheeses from the much-heralded Harley Farms goat dairy in Pescadero to grilled Italian-style sandwiches known as panini. The menu also regularly features salad, hummus and crostini.

There's a spacious back-yard patio with comfortable seating and well-tended plants. A small, rock-bordered pond with Koi fish and water hyacinth provides soothing sound with its flowing stream of water. It's an environment that echoes the entreaty: "Slow down. Relax. Enjoy life."
Outdoor tasting

Mr. Robinson recently took over leadership duties -- with Frank Ashton and Diane Duffey -- of the local Slow Food convivium: Slow Food Silicon Valley.

Last month, he opened the Vino Locale patio to a Slow Food event co-sponsored by the Rhone Rangers, a nonprofit made up of California Rhone-style wine producers devoted to educating the public about the virtues of traditional Rhone grape varieties planted in local soil.

Michael Martella was pouring three of his wines -- a viognier, a grenache and his "Hammer" syrah. Bonny Doon and River Run Vintners, whose wines are available at Vino Locale, were also represented during the afternoon event of food, wine-tasting and music.

Menlo Park restaurateur Jesse Cool, another stalwart of the local Slow Food group, provided much of the food.

Mr. Robinson says his back-yard patio has also been the site of a wedding and other private parties in the nearly nine months since Vino Locale opened. And though "we will always focus on local wine, food and art, events possibilities are endless!"
Vino Locale is at 431 Kipling Ave., in Palo Alto. For more information, call 328-0450, or log on at vinolocale.com.

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