Jordan Vineyard & Winery in Healdsburg produces award-winning Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon and operates a robust culinary program under the direction of Michelin chef Jesse Malgren. (Courtesy of Jordan Vineyard & Winery)
Jordan Vineyard & Winery in Healdsburg is one of Sonoma's royalty among wine producers, with a French-style chateau surrounded by 1,200 acres of wild vineyards that produce award-winning Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon. And last year, the winery landed a chef to its name: Jesse Malgren, who for nearly 25 years helmed the Michelin-starred kitchen at Healdsburg's Madrona Manor (now the Madrona Hotel).
Malgren started working in the restaurant industry as a mohawk-wearing teenager when, as he puts it, “no one would hire me.” He started washing dishes and worked his way up the ranks until he earned a Michelin star. He left Madrona to find work-life balance for his family, which is hard to achieve when you're working 12-hour days. Now he runs Jordan's acclaimed culinary program, which includes elaborate picnics, Paris-themed banquets and fall harvest lunches, all of which are open to the public by reservation and include plenty of opportunities to sample Jordan's wines and olive oils grown on its own vineyards.
Malgren recently spoke with Jordan about the culinary events he's planning for the year, the joys of cooking in Sonoma, and even shared his recipe for Chilled Spring Green Garlic Bisque.
Q: Was food a big issue for you growing up?
answer: My mom is a great cook. She's a professional storyteller and studies oral storytelling, including Native American and old Russian tales. As she delves deeper into the stories she's learning, she becomes interested in the culinary side of things. For example, when she was learning Russian stories, we ate a lot of Russian food. She was always letting us experiment.
Q: What is your culinary philosophy?
answer: I really want the flavors of the food to speak for themselves, starting with the vegetables from my garden and wanting to let those flavors shine through with as few seasonings as possible in my dishes, but still make them really fun and exciting.
Q: What is it like working as a chef in Sonoma?
answer: We have a lot of small farmers and artisans here, and the climate is perfect for growing things. We have small areas that go towards the sea so you can grow cool climate vegetables, and then we have hot areas with beautiful sunshine. And we have delicious seafood. We have an incredible variety of products.
Q: Do you enjoy foraging for ingredients?
answer: I always annoy my wife when we go hiking because I end up going off the trail looking for mushrooms. We do a lot of mushroom picking and stuff[in Jordan]. It makes life easier because we can eat all the seaweed off the California coast. Some of it is really tasty. Sea lettuce is tasty, and cat's tongue is tasty.Chondracanthus exasperatus) has a really cool texture.
Q: Tell us about the picnic series you held this year (scheduled to return in spring 2025).
answer: Little picnic baskets are handed out – this year I made pork rillettes with mustard, olives, cornichons and almonds, salads with fresh peas and mozzarella from the garden, chickpea and radish salad, and smoked sturgeon salad with Tsar Nicholas' caviar – all in little jars that guests could open.
Q: What are your plans for Jordan for the rest of the year?
answer: We're doing a harvest lunch around October, which is really fun. We'll have it on the terrace. I haven't written the menu yet, but last year we did a tomato salad from the garden with fresh bread, beef tenderloin with beans, fingerling potatoes and beurre rouge, which is like a traditional French red wine butter sauce, and this is a French chateau, so we always like to bring a bit of Frenchness into everything… And then in November we're doing a yoga retreat at Vista Point, which is the highest point on the property. We did that in the spring, and people loved it.
detail: Jordan Vineyard & Winery offers tours and tastings daily by appointment, 1474 Alexander Valley Road, Healdsburg, jordanwinery.com .
