Food and wine

In Europe, wine and food have spent centuries at the same table, blending seamlessly together in a happy marriage of kindred spirits.

Here in California, not so much. But that's gradually changing, as more wineries across the North Bay unveil new plans to build bigger kitchens and gardens, marketplaces and outdoor pizza ovens.

That trend recognizes the magic that happens to flavors when wine interacts with food, when an acidic white wine balances out the fattiness in a cheese, or the meaty juices of a steak tame the tannins in a red wine.

As a tribute to their Neapolitan roots, members of the Belmonte family have created their own food and wine mecca at the new VJB Vineyards & Cellars Tasting Room along Highway 12 in Kenwood.

Centered around a small but authentic-looking piazza, the complex includes a tasting room adjacent to a marketplace and deli, an outdoor pizza and demonstration kitchen, a gelateria and chocolate bar, plus a large barrel room and private tasting room for special events.

Those still mourning the demise of Traverso's market in Santa Rosa may want to check out the array of imported Italian ingredients in the marketplace, from farro and risotto to Robiola cheese and Mortadella sausage. There is also a full menu of panini, salads and deli sides like Castelvetrano olives.

"We wanted people to come and taste our family's wines, but people are coming here to eat," said Henry Belmonte, winery founder. "They have lunch first, then taste the wine."

The Italian flavors are reinforced by a medley of music, from Frank Sinatra to Andrea Bocelli, playing softly in the background.

"It's part of the village vision Dad and I have had, to create an experience that is intimate but engages people to want to stay," Belmonte said. "Before, the average stay at our tasting room was 50 minutes. Now, it's 120 minutes."

The piazza not only lures tourists driving by but locals as well, who enjoy stopping for a glass of wine or a gelato after school and work.

"Neighbors and locals are saying this is now Kenwood's downtown," Belmonte said. "It's become a kid-friendly space, now that we have a gelato bar."

The winery moved to its new digs last March from a small storefront tasting room just next door. The tasting room opened June 22, the marketplace started serving panini in early July, and the wood-fired oven cranked out its first pizza pie at the end of July.

The stones used to build the two-story, Italian villa came from Austin, Texas. The piazza overlooks olive trees on one side and vineyards on the other.

The ambiance feels so authentically Italian that people sometimes forget where they are.

"It was my father's vision," Belmonte said of the architectrural design. "It's not over the top, but there's substance behind it."

Inside the tasting room, la dolce vita is alive and well, with wines made from Italian varietals like montepulciano and aglianico, barbera and primitivo, plus VJB's flagship Dante wine, a super-Tuscan blend of cabernet and sangiovese.

"The gears changed about seven years ago," Belmonte said. "We decided to focus on making more Italian varietals."

In the adjacent marketplace, matriarch Maria Gabriella Belmonte sells her own line of pesto and pasta sauces. She also oversees all the culinary activities at La Cucina, the in-house deli and espresso bar where patriarch Vittorio Belmonte pulls espressos and whips up cappucinos.

Maria's first cookbook, "Cucinare con Amore" ("Cook with Love") offers simple and rustic recipes for Italian dishes such as Pasta with Tuna, Capers, Anchovies & Tomatoes. Her second cookbook, "Maria's Cucina," is due out this month. Both are available in the retail store, along with aprons, kitchen towels and wine paraphernalia.

Creating a comforting ambiance comes naturally to the Belmontes, who have built a reputation for hospitality through their two restaurants.

Vittorio and Maria Belmonte, emigrants from Italy who moved to Sonoma County in 1976, opened Belmonte Deli in Kenwood's Caffe Citti space in 1983.

In 1987, the couple decided to launch Caffe Portofino in downtown Santa Rosa with their two sons, Victor and Henry. It was an unequivocal success.

After Victor died at age 34 from complications linked to a soccer injury, the family sold the restaurant in 2002. But the brothers had already hatched a plan to make wine together, so Henry started bottling the wine under the VJB label, his brother's initials.

The family opened their first tasting room in Kenwood in 2003, then purchased the land for the current tasting room in 2004. They spent eight years procuring permits and building the dream that would whisk visitors back to the Italian countryside.