Harvest Party, Mexican-Style
In her forthcoming book, Fandango, Sandy Hill describes extravagant parties, including an Indian feast complete with elephant rides. But one of her best parties is also her simplest: the Mexican harvest lunch at her vineyard.
After living for 25 years in New York, I returned to my home state of California in 2000. There my husband, Tom Dittmer, and I realized our dream of acquiring a small vineyard in the Santa Ynez Valley of Santa Barbara County. We named it Oak Savanna, planting 25 acres of mostly Chardonnay and Syrah. With just 12 acres of red grapes, it takes the crew only two mornings to pick them. By lunchtime on the second day, with rows of fruit-less and sad-looking spent vines behind them, everyone is ready to celebrate the end of the season.
La Cosecha, as it is known in Spanish, is not a party we invented. The first few years we were here, all we knew of the occasion were the savory scents and sounds of music and laughter that wafted our way around lunchtime—just enough clues to tell us that the workers were having all the fun. We longed to join in. The next year, we offered to host the party ourselves.
It has become a tradition ever since at Oak Savanna to honor the workers, many of whom are from Mexico, on the last day of the harvest. My Spanish is broken and Tom's is nonexistent, but it doesn't seem to matter very much. At the table, the men are more interested in food than conversation. The menu includes familiar Mexican dishes, some tweaked by our chef, Stephanie Valentine. When the meal is under way, we offer our Oak Savanna wine. The men politely accept, but it's clear they prefer bottles of Corona. These are some of our favorite dishes from our harvest Fandango.
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