Napa Valley Wine Guru Makes This Triple Threat Restaurant a Must-Visit

I love to talk about wine with people who share my passion for it. We open bottles, we trade stories about travel and soil types, terroir and residual sugar, and we talk of taste and food and restaurants. We recommend wines to one another, we drink, and we learn a lot.

In Wine Talk, I introduce you to some of my friends, acquaintances, and people I meet as I make my way around the world, individuals who love wine as much as I do, who live to taste, who farm and make wine. You’ll appreciate their insight, and I hope you’ll learn something from them as well. 

You are aware that it’s not difficult to find great wines in Napa Valley. Lovers of Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Pinot Noir — not to mention Zinfandel and Sauvignon Blanc — can drink worthy bottles for months to their hearts’ content on a daily basis and never open the same wine twice.

The same goes for restaurant dining. Great kitchen and dining rooms abound in the region, from Healdsburg to the city of Napa snd elsewhere, and their cellars hold some wonderful vintages of the area’s bounty.

One such restaurant is La Toque, which holds one Michelin Star and Wine Spectator’s Grand Award accolades. Ken Frank’s kitchen, located in Napa (conveniently near the delicious Oxbow Public Market), is a must-do — the food, wine, and ambience are a triple threat. (More on that food later.)

One part of La Toque’s triple threat is wine director Richard Matuszczak, who was instrumental in the restaurant being awarded its first Wine Spectator Grand Award (2015). The exacting Matuszczak joined the La Toque team in 2012, and is the overseer of the 2,100-plus wines on the restaurant’s list. That list comprises a fine lineup, including one of my favorite Napa Valley Cabs, Philip Togni.

Matuszczak’s journey with wine began with David Kinch, at Sent Sovi, back in 1995, which Matuszczak helped open. He tasted with Kinch, and learned to pair wines with food in a manner that pleased the palate. (He did that with aplomb on the evening I dined at La Toque.) Matuszczak has Advanced Level bona fides from the Court of Master Sommeliers, has many WSET class hours under his belt, and is certified as a Specialist of Wine and a Specialist of Spirits by the Society of Wine Educators.

My night at La Toque gave me ample opportunity to observe Matuszczak in action, and his style and grace on the dining room floor were evident. He has a quiet and studied demeanor, and a no-nonsense approach at the table. He answered my questions carefully and professionally, and his pairings were inspired. I look forward to my next meal with him, and when you dine at La Toque, tell him I sent you.

PaperCity: Tell us about three wines you think are drinking well at the moment. What makes them worthwhile? How about a food pairing for each one?

Richard Matuszczak: To start, the 2012 Seavey Caravina, Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley. A little younger for Napa Cab than I usually enjoy, but showing very well. Pairs with our signature New York steak. It will cost you $95 from the winery.

Next, 2007 Mackenzie-Mueller Malbec, Los Carneros, Napa Valley. I have never found an older vintage of Malbec previously that I would consider using in our pairing menus. But this one really surprised me. Pairs with the Wagyu beef course on the Chef’s Table tasting menu. $65 at the winery.

Finally, the 2018 Graci Etna Bianco. It’s From the slopes of Sicily’s active volcano, a blend of Carricante and Catarratto. Pairs with our fried green tomato course on the Vegetable Tasting menu. You can find it for $27 at K&L Wine Merchants.

PC: If cost was no consideration, tell us the one bottle you would add to your personal collection, and why.

RM: 1990 Pol Roger Rose Brut Champagne. It has been years since I had this wine, and I’m curious to see how it compares to my memory of drinking it at 2 am, after a long day working an offsite event.

PC: What is your favorite grape, and why?

RM: Zinfandel, but in its lesser known forms, as Plavac Mali, Tribidrag, and Primitivo. A very interesting family of grapes. Also, I like German Riesling in the traditional/off-dry style, Kabinett or Spätlese, with a couple of years of age, as a go-to white.

PC: How about one bottle that our readers should buy now to cellar for 10 years, to celebrate a birth, anniversary, or other red-letter day? 

RM: Get a current-release Napa Cab; they are often consumed too early anyway. Consider Opus One, Cliff Lede Poetry, or Dalla Valle.

PC: Where is your go-to place when you want to have a glass or bottle?

RM: Miminashi or Oenotri in Napa.

PC: If there was one thing you wish everyone would keep in mind when buying and drinking wine, what is it?

RM: Buy and drink what you like, when you want to drink it, and with whatever you feel like eating at the moment. It doesn’t have to be complicated.

PC: What is your “wine eureka moment,” the incident/taste/encounter that put you and wine on an intimate plane forever?

RM: While working with David Kinch at his first restaurant, Sent Sovi, in Saratoga, California, the first restaurant opening with which I was involved. Kinch was able to help me understand things about wine that I remember to this day, especially the art of pairing.

PC: What has been the strangest moment/incident involving wine that you have experienced in your career?

RM: So many. . . maybe it was a party of four bringing in and drinking a magnum of wine that was so badly tainted with TCA (Trichloroanisole) that I could smell it every time I passed the table.

PC: What is your favorite wine reference in a work of literature?

RM: I have several that I like:

“I like on the table, when we’re speaking, the light of a bottle of intelligent wine.” Pablo Neruda

“We are all mortal until the first kiss and the second glass of wine.” Eduardo Galeano

“Quickly, bring me a beaker of wine so that I may wet my mind and say something clever.” Aristophanes