Celebrating Fess with a Feast

We enjoyed a Texas-style celebration at Fess Parker Winery and what a Fess-worthy feast it was. On what would have been Fess Parker’s 100th birthday on August 16, his longtime friends Tom and Lisa Perini, of the James Beard Award winning Perini Ranch Steakhouse, brought out the chuck wagon all the way from Buffalo Gap, Texas — their portable kitchen is an actual horse trailer — and boy did they cook up a storm!

The Perini and Parker family friendship goes back decades, and they worked together (along with Dr. Richard Becker) to found the Buffalo Gap Wine & Food Summit as a nonprofit with the mission to cultivate the appreciation of fine wine and food through education and industry discussion. It’s been going strong since 2005, and, having heard about it a lot over the years, we were eager to try the Perini Ranch fare for ourselves.

The night was really incredible, starting with passed appetizers on the patio overlooking the vines and the beautiful roses, we enjoyed the Fesstivity Anniversary Cuvee Sparkling 2018 with jalapeño bites, stuffed BLT, pimento cheese served in a pickled okra, and a green chile brisket sausage that made it clear why the Perinis have not only catered the congressional picnic at the White House, but have been selected to travel all over the world to promote U.S. beef on behalf of the United States Meat Export Federation and the Texas Beef Council.

The dinner began with Ashley’s 2014 chardonnay, paired with a southwestern style guacamole and roasted corn and black bean salad with homemade tortilla chips. The next course was genuine southern fried catfish filets, with a green chile hominy that was unusual and oh so good. They paired that with two large format Fess Parker bottles: the 2015 pinot noir clone 115 and the 2017 Ashley’s 30th anniversary pinot noir.

Next up was the pièce de résistance: a mesquite smoked peppered beef tenderloin that was perfectly cooked and tender, along with grilled asparagus, cowboy potatoes, and grilled sourdough bread with onion butter. The beef course (which could easily have been a meal on its own) was paired with a 2014 Rodney’s Vineyard syrah and my favorite wine of the night, the 2014 Rodney’s Vineyard Crockett, a label which represents the best of each vintage from the estate.

There was live music from The Heart Band (who played later that weekend in the Fess Parker Funk Zone tasting room) — Fess’s daughter Ashley even did a Patsy Cline number to honor her late mother Marcella, who was a professional singer — as well as a number of heartfelt speeches about Fess Parker from family and friends.

Just when I thought we couldn’t eat another bite, they brought out a true Texas style dessert of pecan pie squares with ice cream, paired with NV Traditions Port — a tasty capper on a special evening that had the big-hearted spirit of Fess in every sip, bite, and toast.