Jordan Wine Country Table - Vol. 14, 2019 - 38

FOOD & DRINK
SERIOUS
MEATS
By Matt Villano
Sonoma County, like Jordan itself,
is home to many types of artists.
And when winery staff find likeminded
artisans who share their
passion for high-quality food made
to complement local
wines, they find ways
to share these special
products with guests.
That's one of the
reasons why you'll
hear the words
" Journeyman Meat
Company " quite
often at Jordan.
Slices of salumi from
this Healdsburgbased
shop are
more than just cured
meat-they're pieces
of history and savory
representations of
one man's lifelong
quest to craft the best salame
in America.
That man, Pete Seghesio, in 2017
opened an artisan operation
that starts with heritage pork
and estate-raised beef, applies
techniques and recipes learned in
Italy, and brings it all together in a
state-of-the-art facility in northern
Sonoma County.
The result: Meats that quite literally
melt in your mouth.
For Seghesio, who hails from an
old wine family, the endeavor is
quite literally a dream come true.
As a child growing up in Sonoma
County, Seghesio visited Traverso's,
Nando's, and other old Italian shops
that made their products by hand.
Sampling these meats became his
favorite part of these trips. He and
his father made their own salumi,
but the end products were never the
same. Later, as the butcher shops
started closing, Seghesio longed to
keep the craft alive.
38
" I wanted to bring back the oldtimey
feel of these butcher shops, "
he says. " When they closed, there
was nothing like them left. "
In 2011, Seghesio seized the
chance to go back to the future.
He first traveled to Italy, where
he studied under world-famous
butchers in Panzano and Florence.
From these masters, Seghesio
spent five Februaries learning the
art of Italian-style whole animal
butchery. He brought the skills
back to Sonoma County and began
building out an infrastructure to
replicate the Italian approach here
at home.
That infrastructure revolved around
a brand new salumificio, or salame
factory, in Cloverdale, about 20
minutes north of Healdsburg.
Technicians from Parma, Italy,
installed authentic Italian curing
and processing equipment.
Seghesio erected four small-batch
fermentation rooms and two aging
rooms to balance state-of-the-art
modern technology with timetested
Italian tradition.
Next, armed with heritage breeds
of pork raised without antibiotics
or hormones, Seghesio started
making salame.
Because he had such great
products, Seghesio applied a
slow-food approach, fermenting
meats slowly to minimize acid
and maximize flavors and palate
weight. By building such a modern,
sophisticated facility, Seghesio was
able to ferment different kinds of
salumi separately-guaranteeing
that soppressata wouldn't taste
like chorizo, and chorizo didn't
have a smell of finnochiona. He
emphasizes this last point as proof
that he's serious about producing
the very best salumi in Sonoma.
Jordan Wine Country Table - Vol. 14, 2019

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