… So I just had a fabulous lunch at Avra in NYC with Nicholas Miller, whose family owns the Bien Nacido brand (Pinot Noir and Syrah) and Solomon Hills brand (Chardonnay) in Santa Maria, California. “Bien Nacido means ‘born with a silver spoon’ – or some such in Spanish,” says Nicholas. As the [...]

Brooks Painter, winemaker
 
… so recently I received three wines from V. Sattui Winery, a family owned winery dedicated to making handcrafted wines in small lots. As is the current trend, the wines are only sold at the winery or direct shipped. This is a practice that makes sense in our competitive market, and rather smart [...]

… it’s always fun to sit next to a winemaker / winery owner during a wine dinner at a top restaurant like Park Avenue Spring in New York City. It was the first time I would meet Dennis Cakebread, and it was a thrill to be able to taste the wines and pepper him with [...]

…I had a chance to catch up with new developments at J Vineyards and Winery today with George F. Bursick, VP Winemaking, who was showing many of the company’s wines. Though the company had its foundation in sparkling wine, it now has ten estae vineyards totaling 257 planted acres in the Russian River valley.
It’s always [...]

 
It’s always fun to compare wines from the same vineyard and different years. Recently I received two chardonnays from Fess Parker (both Ashley’s / Sta Rita Hills)
The 2007 is a pretty medium gold color, with a nose of melted butter and ripe apples. On the palate, more melted butter and apples and a medium-bodied texture [...]

John Falcone
As a Californian, I was incredibly loyal to my native state and spent many long, sun-soaked weekends checking out all the new wineries in the Santa Ynez Valley. Now that I am on the East coast and more Old World focused as a result of my (more Old World) wine studies, it is great [...]

Taylor Mason, Resident Chef
…. it seems like I’ve been going to the Napa Valley every few weeks this year. Only February, and I’ve been in late January for the Master of Wine educational seminar and just last week, the Symposium for Professional Wine Journalists and the Premiere Napa Valley Barrel Auction. Usually Yountville [...]

Gary Fisch (stripped shirt) of Gary’s Wine and Marketplace (location New Jersey)
,,, so here I am, freshly returned to NYC after a week in Napa tasting fantastic wine, spending time with fellow journalists at the Symposium for Professional Wine Writers at Meadowood, and attending many of the festivities and tastings leading up to the Premiere [...]

Wednesday’s events took place at the CIA in the famed Greystone building. Jeff Morgan, winemaker and author whom I interviewed many times, gave a fabulous brief on winemaking bore Karen MacNeil (author of The Wine Bible and now invited to the Hall of Fame from our Wine Media Guild) in New York and Eric Asimov, Wine Editor of the New York Times, gave a great presentation on tasting notes.

 
Chardonnay is everyone’s favorite grape … it can take on so many expessions. Increasingly, you should recognize that many old world producers, especially in Macon, are edging towards new world appellations in style while some new world producers are trying to emulate old world producers. 

So for those of us who appreciate the apple pie a la mode style of [...]

Are you a jaded diner? In today’s power-packed culinary world, many people are lucky enough to visit four and five star restaurants as a matter of course. Twenty years ago, for example, dining at a top restaurant would be because…

Joel Peterson, founder of Ravenswood
Want to be a winemaker? It sounds like a lot of fun, and of course, it can be. And to hear the rags to riches (well, not quite rags) story of how Joel Peterson, founding winemaker ofRavenswood, created an internationally famous brand is mesmerizing.
Joel was born in 1947 the son of [...]

Consider the year 1551. Michelangelo is in Italy, chiseling the finishing touches on his last work, the Rondanini Pietà. In merry old England, Edward VI succeeds Henry VIII as king. And in the Spanish town of Sant Sadurní d’Anoia, just west of Barcelona, Jaume Codorníu bequeathes his wine cellars, presses, barrels and vats to his [...]

Below are  video or audio interviews that pertain to the Napa Valley.
Video Interviews with Winemakers

Late Robert Mondavi of Mondavi Wineries

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
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Are you a jaded diner? In today’s power-packed culinary world, many people are lucky enough to visit four and five star restaurants as a matter of course. Twenty years ago, for example, dining at a top restaurant would be because…

As a Gemini, I’ve spent many birthdays celebrating during the four days of festivities leading up to the Napa Valley wine auction, now in its 29th year. The official kick-off begins the first Thursday of June, which this year began…

“I’m staying at this fabulous hotel,” I overhear a woman tell a Napa Valley local. “Yet I can’t pronounce the name.” “That’s okay,” the Napa-based friend replies. “I can’t pronounce it either. But I hear it is fabulous.” The hotel…

“Now let’s go for sushi!” These are the words I heard leaving a friend’s party at an inexpensive diner, where the buffet table groaned over with calorie-centric, deli-style delights that few of the svelte Manhattan-ites at the party would dare…