Hi-Time is big time with wine and cheeses

Greer Wylder

With his tattoo running from his wrist to his shoulder, his short

spiky brown hair and his just-rolled-out-of-bed surfer look, Todd

Johnston, 30, can fool you. His head stocks an encyclopedic knowledge

of fine cheeses and wines, in addition to tiki carving techniques,

the latest surfing moves and guitar licks.

“My lactophile friends and I like to dork out about cheese,”

Johnston says.

A Newport Beach native, Johnston was raised by “food-o-phile”

parents of European descent. They always stocked “weird cheeses in

the fridge,” and they dragged him through Europe on cheese exploring

trips since he was two. He grew up loving and appreciating cheese.

Cheese books have fascinated him since he was a teen.

“It’s so much fun to grab a piece of cheese, and then read all

about it,” Johnston said.

A few of his favorite books include the “Cheese Primer” by Steven

Jenkins -- “I’ve read it cover to cover at least ten times,” Johnston

said -- and “The Cheese Plate” by Max McCalman, the maetre fromager

at New York’s Picholine and Artisanal restaurants.

“He’s a cheese authority,” Johnston said. “It was such an honor to

meet him in person.”

Johnston graduated from culinary school at Orange Coast College

and has worked as a chef at Antonello’s, Health Emporium, Mother’s

Market and Fashion Island’s Farmer’s Market. Although he loved

cooking and “working in pajamas all day,” he loathed the tense

kitchen environments and the 12-to 16-hour workdays. He shifted

careers, and became the buyer for Whole Foods Markets cheese

departments. As a self-proclaimed “cheese nerd,” he felt at home.

Then, two years ago, he jumped at the chance to manage the wine

bar at Hi-Time Wine Cellars in Costa Mesa, where he could round out

his knowledge of cheese and wine pairings. Johnston, who will receive

a wine sommelier certificate in August, revels in his environment.

“It’s the ultimate playground,” Johnston said. “I have access to

the world’s greatest wines.”

And now with Johnston on staff, Hi-Time has developed a

world-class cheese selection.

“We had the world’s finest wines and the world’s worst cheeses,”

he said.

Eight months ago, Johnston placed a cheese order on a whim.

Hi-Time sold every cheese in the case and Johnston was made the

cheese buyer. Now there’s a premium cheese case near the entrance.

Wine bar guests can purchase cheese and bring them down to the wine

bar. And Johnston offers cheese and wine pairing classes on the

second Wednesday of each month.

At culinary school, Johnston was taught stereotypical cheese and

wine parings: Stilton with Port, goat cheese with Pinot Noir, Brie

with Cabernet, and Parmigiano-Reggiano with Barolo.

“Yet there are hundreds of styles of Pinot Noir and goat cheese,”

Johnston said. “Even in Europe, they tend to do regional pairings --

Sancerre with Loire Valley goat cheese. We try to go outside the box

and find what marries well with different wines and cheeses.”

For an upcoming Spanish wine and cheese event, Johnston is

ordering fine cheeses, gourmet meats, Spanish olives and quince paste

from La Espanola, an importer of gourmet Spanish foods.

Among his favorite cheeses:

“From sheep’s milk, I like Roquefort, the oldest existing cheese,

from Roman times. It’s a strong, in-your-face cheese,” Johnston said.

From goats, Johnston prefers Selles-sur-Cher, a Loire Valley goat

cheese.

“It’s frightening to look at; it looks like a black hockey puck.

It has a tame, fruity flavor -- very food and wine friendly,” he

said.

From a cow, his favorite is Pont-l’Eveque, a wash-rind cow’s-milk

cheese from Normandy.

“You never want to touch it; your hand smells bad the rest of the

day,” Johnston said.

Johnston runs the wine bar’s tastings and events Thursdays,

Fridays and Saturdays. The wine staff selects the wines with seasonal

offerings. To kick off the outdoor cooking season, for instance,

Clayton Shurley’s Real BBQ set up a barbecue and they served

grill-friendly wines. At Christmas, there is a “12 Champagnes of Christmas” tasting event and also a night of Port tastings.

Typically on Thursdays, 4:30 to 8:30 p.m., the wine bar offers

library tastings of cerebral wines. On July 29 the bar will have 10

tastings of 2001 Tardieu-Laurent wines from Rhone, one of France’s

great wine regions. On Fridays, 4:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., the wine bar

features new releases from France, California, Australia and Italy --

10 to 12 tastings for $20.

“It’s a diving board for the night,” Johnston says. “Most people

come here first, and then go out to dinner.”

On this particular evening, the wine bar features their top picks

of organic wines, including Pircas Negras 2003 Torrontes of

Argentina; Nuevo Mundo 2002 Cabernet/Malbec of Spain; and Chateau

Marovine 2003 Cotes de Provence Rose.

On Saturdays, from 2 to 8:30 p.m., the wine bar often serves wine

from its newsletter’s cover story. They also feature a lineup of

wines from visiting wineries. Since the Orange County Fair is in

town, Hi-Time serves the Fair’s Gold Medal winners on Saturday. The

“Mostly Merlot” tasting features American wines ($20). In addition to

the scheduled tasting, Hi-Time also offers a weekly a la carte menu

of wines, by the glass or by tasting.

Johnston said that wine lovers tend to be more intellectual, with

a thirst for knowledge and wine.

“Some customers like to bring in wine in paper bags to try to

stump me,” he said.

Yet his favorite customers are those who don’t know anything about

wine.

“They get so excited,” Johnston says, “I like to pass on a story

to them about the wine or the cheese they’re tasting. It makes it

more fun.”

Established in 1957, the Hanson family-owned Hi-Time Wine Cellars

is one of the largest retail wine cellars on the West Coast. Their

expert staff members are wine sommeliers or are studying for the

exam. All wines are temperature-controlled at 58 degrees. Hi-Time is

even adding a new temperature-controlled receiving area for the

delivered wines. That’s important for wine collectors who don’t want

their wine hanging around the parking lot in extreme temperatures.

Hi-Time’s staff is as good as its wines. Their California wine

buyer, Dan Williams, also looks like a young surfer, yet he can

uncover the qualities of a glass of wine and talk about them

endlessly. Other connoisseurs at Hi-Time include John Downing, who

buys Italian, Australian and Spanish wines; and Dan Rhodes, who’s the

French and German wine buyer.

Hi-Time sells the Orange County Fair’s choice of wine medal

winners. The wines garner ratings from the upper echelon Four-Star

Gold Medal, then Gold Medal, or Best of Show.

“Customers come in and buy five cases of Orange County Fair

winners, without even tasting them first,” Johnston says.

The Fair’s winning wines can be tasted at the wine bar’s events

through July 31.

* BEST BITES runs every Friday. Greer Wylder can be reached at

[email protected]; at 330 W. Bay St., Costa Mesa, CA 92627; or by

fax at (949) 646-4170.