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Model Bakery - One of Napaman’s Top 100 Napa Valley Attractions

  

St. Helena, a small community of 6,000 souls, is a one-main-street, two-block town, proud of its past, and insecure about its future.

While local townships boosted their public room occupancy and encouraged tourism, St. Helena, for a long time, went against the grain, even fought it. Town fathers reveled in the past and just haven’t wanted to do much about the present, or the future.

Town ordinances prevent the arrival of chain restaurants, or large department stores, and Main Street businesses must be owned by locals.

The upside of this finger-in-the-dike mentality has meant that small local businesses thrive, often delivering food, products, or services, which are better than what you’ll find in many large urban American cities.

Take The Model Bakery for example. It’s an original, modest, locally owned bakery, producing breads that rival the best artisanal breads made in America.

The bakery has been part of the St. Helena scene for more than 80 years. Bakers today still use the original brick ovens built by Italian masons in the early 1920s.

This year, The Model Bakery celebrated its 25^th anniversary of ownership by the Mitchell family.

Like everything in St. Helena, The Model Bakery has an old-time feel. All the breads, pastries and cakes are baked by a team of dedicated, trained bakers who are supervised by the owners, a dynamic mother and  daughter duo.

Karen Mitchell, is the mom, and her daughter is Sarah and together they oversee the production of wonderful, rustic loaves, and fancy pastries, too. I love their sourdough breads, including a Pain au Levain, which gives Acme’s superb Pain au Levain, a run for its money. I love their batards, too, as well as their morning pastries, sticky buns included.

Karen says that the most requested baked items are iced cookies, made for special holidays and occasions.

“We make 50,000 of these cookies by hand each year,” she says. “ This means that over 25 years, we’ve made more than 1.25 million of these cookies – and every single one of them was made on premises, by hand, and by a local!”

They serve Peet’s coffee at Model Bakery, and serve a pizza-of-the-day and delicious garden salads for lunch.

There’s now a second location of The Model Bakery – adjacent to the Oxbow Public Market in downtown Napa – but a visit to the valley is not complete without at least one visit, or one breakfast, to The Model Bakery in St. Helena.

Model Bakery, 1357 Main St., St. Helena, CA, 94574. Tel. 707-963-8192, or learn more at www.themodelbakery.com.

Local Color, a regular feature of napaman.com, is illustrated by Lisa Livoni, one of Napa Valley’s most talented watercolorists. For reprint permission, or to obtain copies of this, or any other Local Color image, please contact napaman@me.com. 

In many respects, this series could be called Napaman’s Top 100 Napa Valley Attractions. These are the places I send family and friends, and which I personally endorse as being the Best of the Best of Napa Valley.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rutherford’s New Cathedral of Wine; Pray … That You Can Get In!

There’s a new, ornate cathedral in the tiny hamlet of Rutherford, at the epicenter of Napa Valley. It’s lined with Italian marble and lit by Murano-style, Venetian chandeliers.

To set the record straight: it’s not a religious cathedral. It’s a Cathedral of Wine – where you go to worship innovative winemaking.

The recently opened Del Dotto Estate Winery and Caves, on Highway 29 near Zinfandel Lane, is a shrine to wine, envisioned and built by Dave Del Dotto, who traces his family’s heritage back to the 1150’s in Venice.

The wine, which Dave makes, is likely far better than what his forebears drank 850 years ago in Venice, but still, Dave wanted to capture elements of his ancestry, so he spent millions to build a Venetian-inspired winery on a 17-acre parcel, which he had acquired 20 years earlier.

“This is the most educational wine tour I’ve ever taken!” exclaims an Hawaiian-born guest on my Del Dotto tour, who eagerly lapped up the wine lore of our knowledgeable guide, Bob Groff.

“It’s SO worth the $50 fee,” said a man on our tour. “An hour in the cave is like going on a vacation!”

Well, that’s one way of describing the tour through the darkly lit cave, constructed out of stone from quarries and old homes in Italy.

Bob Groff, tour leader, long time friend and cohort of Dave Del Dotto, with whom he has worked 20 years.

“We brought 100 containers of stone, marble and ceramics from Italy,” says tour guide Groff. To make the vaulted roof of the cave, for example, they brought over 40,000 well-worn bricks, taken from old buildings. Stonemasons from Italy spent months, carefully chunking the bricks into place in the cave roof.

The detail in the floors and ceilings of the salon and even in the cave induce one’s jaw to drop.

Floor details are exquisite.

Part of the experience here is disorienting; you just don’t expect to find such ornate, Italian touches in a winery in the middle of Napa Valley.

There is also an element of Disneyland about the visit. Four, or five, small groups are led through the cave simultaneously and there is an air of excitement as you “thieve” the barrels, hunting down new, and different, flavor hits.

On the average tour, guests taste wine from eight to 12 barrels. At Del Dotto, ALL wine is aged in 100 percent new oak. As well, all the fruit is organic, it’s all hand-picked, all hand-sorted and only free-run juice is used to make wine.

Dave believes that what changes wine, hastens its maturation, or alters its taste, is a series of things in the winemaker’s toolbox.

As a consequence, Del Dotto makes more than 350 different Cabernets! Many Cabs are in lots as small as two barrels (48 cases).

The Del Dotto caves on the estate property in Rutherford.

There are many permutations to achieve this diversity. At Del Dotto, they age wine in different woods; you may taste, and buy, wines aged in French Oak, or American oak. The level of toast is varied, too. You can have wine aged with a heavy toast, a medium toast, or a light toast.

Then they get really experimental. They have routed U-shaped ridges on the inside of some barrels to expose the wine to more wood surface area, increasing the tannic structure of the wine. Then, to really push the limits, they invented a V-groove, carved deeply into the staves of some barrels, exposing the wine to even more wood.

They experiment with yeasts here, too, Visitors can taste wines made with any of five different natural yeasts.

On reflection, the place is really like one giant wine experiment. You can have your Cab any way you like it; they put visitors into the winemaker’s seat, enabling guests to mix-and-match wines, which they personally like. It sure beats chasing someone else’s ratings to identify wines that you might like.

On my tour, we started by tasting a Cabernet that was aging in a barrel whose oak came from central France. We sipped, slurped and swallowed. Then we walked 10 yards to another barrel; Bob, our guide, inserted his thief (a glass syringe used to “steal” wine from the barrel – hence a “thief”) and filled our glasses with wine that was aging in a barrel made from the of oak of nine different French forests! Although it was the same Cabernet, the wine tasted completely different, modified by the many types of oak with which it had been in contact for a year.

In this fashion, we tasted nearly a dozen different wines – most of them starting out as the same supple Cabernet.

In total, production at Del Dotto is about 10,000 cases, but very few are identical. As you can see, on purpose.

The reception area, overlooking a marble-columned courtyard/salon where you taste bottled wine with cured meats and cheese, after your cave tour.

Dave Del Dotto made his money in real estate and TV infomercials. His sense of educating – and motivating – the public to buy wine isn’t a whole lot different than moving them to buy real estate.

By presenting visitors with many different wines to taste – all made with the same starter Cabernet -- Dave gets guests to identify their own tastes. Essentially, he is enabling guests to customize their own bottles.

Many visitors choose one, or two, bottles aged with a specific oak, or level of toast, and choose other bottles aged in different woods. In this manner, many visitors fill a case, with different customized wines.

Readers may have visited the Del Dotto caves on Atlas Peak Road, and may have read what I wrote about my visit to that winemaking facility years ago.
(Go to http://www.ilovenapa.com/favorite_dark.shtml ) Dave moved into these caves years ago, while he was building his Rutherford dream cathedral.

Dave told napaman that he intends to stay in the Atlas Peak facility for the next two years and may renew his lease on that property when it comes up for renewal.

The indefatigable entrepreneur, Dave Del Dotto, who has just announced plans to build a third winery in Napa Valley. Slow down, Dave – you’ll soon have as many wineries as Steve Martin has had guest appearances on Saturday Night Live (15)!

In addition to finishing his new winery in Rutherford, and starting to plan another in Yountville, Dave has been busy buying land on which to grow grapes.

Today, Del Dotto owns more than 400 acres in Napa and Sonoma counties, of which 96 are planted. Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Sangiovese are planted.

The fruit comes from five different estate vineyards, the largest of which is Cinghiale (which means ‘wild boar’ in Italian) Vineyard, on the crown of a ridge on the Sonoma Coast, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. This is Del Dotto’s source of Pinot Noir and some Chardonnay.

The salon area of the winery – where you enjoy camaraderie and bottled wine after your cave tour.

After the cave tour, your guide hosts a tasting in the salon, where you are served a plate of charcuterie and cheeses plus house-made pizza. You are also served some terrific examples of Del Dotto’s bottled wines, and if you pass the final exam (just kidding), you are also served house Port, made from Del Dotto’s pressed wine.

During my visit, Dave revealed that he would like to develop a third winery in the valley – on a plot across from Mustards Grill, in Yountville. Dave bought the 13-acre site, which used to be a strawberry patch, and plans to convert it into a “Pompeii-style winery” at which all wines will be fermented and aged in clay vessels – “the way they made wine 2,000 years ago,” says Dave.

According to tour leader Bob Groff, who is wine historian, the term amphora, referring to the clay vessels which have two handles and are used to store liquids, seeds, grain, even wine, actually means “carried by two men.” Hence the reason there are two handles on the newly released bottles of Del Dotto wines aged in clay amphorae.

Yes, it sounds crazy, but for the past two years, Dave has been studying this historic style of winemaking and has been making some tasty Zinfandels and Cabernets, which have been fermented, and aged, in clay.

It’s a known fact that fermenting in vessels interred in the ground keeps the fermenting juices cool, which promotes color and flavor extraction, and aging in clay, or slightly porous material, also helps improve a wine.

Some of my favorite Chateauneufs du Pape are fermented in large cement vessels. And one of my recent favorite Napa Valley Cabs – from Ovid on Pritchard Hill – is fermented in cement. So Dave just may be on to something when he launches an entire series of wines that are fermented and aged in clay.

As making money is as much a rush to Dave as making wine, the Yountmill property is actually on the market with a $12.5 million price tag.

“If we sell it, we’ll make our clay-fermented wines at Del Dotto,” says tour guide Groff. “If we don’t sell it, we’ll move the clay operation to the new location.” Either way, we’re making clay-aged wines.”

To experience Del Dotto Estate and Caves, be sure to leave a good two-hour window in your day. This is not a winery to visit when you’re doing four in a row. This is an eye-opening, one-of-a-kind experience that requires your full time and attention. It’s like one of Dave’s infomercials – it’s in your face and likely to change your thinking.

Del Dotto Estate Winery & Caves, 1445 St. Helena Highway South, St. Helena, CA, 94574. Visits by appointment only. The cave barrel tasting tours are staggered throughout the day, but usually depart the reception area at 11 am, 1 pm and 3 pm. On weekends and holidays, additional tours are offered at 11:30 am, 1:30 pm and 3:30 pm Tel: 707-963-2134.

2007 – “The Angelina Jolie of vintages in Napa Valley”

Fritz Hatton, auctioneer at Premiere Napa Valley, gets the room a-rumblin’.

Napa Valley’s winter wine auction for the trade – called Premiere Napa Valley and held this weekend – attracted more than 200 wine buyers from Canada, Japan, China, the UK and, of course from across the US.

One of my favorite wine events of the year, Premiere brings together colorful winemakers and powerful wine merchants. The event is organized by Napa Valley Vintners, a non-profit, trade association representing 350 area wine producers. Dollars raised at the auction are applied to programs, which promote and protect the Napa Valley Appellation.

Saturday’s auction of 200 lots raised $1,487,500, a drop of 33 percent from last year’s all-time high of $2,245,500. Given the state of the economy, auction sales could have been a whole lot worse. While it’s not fair to say that the recent boom in wine sales has gone ker-boom, the wine industry appears to be teetering on the edge.

Wine merchants with whom I spoke at the event, who wished to remain anonymous so that competitors wouldn’t know who was singing the blues confided:

+ “$20 is the new $50 red.” Customers who used to buy $40 or $50 wines have moved down to the $20 range.

+ "Wines priced above $100 per bottle seem to be slightly more immune to the vagaries of the marketplace. Sales are soft but not as precipitous as they are for wines under $100 a bottle." (This is the story merchants tell – whether it’s true is not fact-checkable.)

+ One wine merchant in the Bay area admitted that his January sales, 09 over 08, were down 90 percent for the month. Let me repeat, lest you think this a typo: down NINE-OH percent.

The Food’s as Good as the Wine at Premiere Napa Valley

The winter barrel auction is held at the Culinary Institute of America’s (CIA) Greystone Campus, in St. Helena. Upon arrival, members of the wine trade and press have access to 200 unique blends of wine, poured at stations of the participating wineries. These are the wines, which will be auctioned later in the day.

At noon, a tremendous buffet is served and, each year that I have attended, this turns out to be my favorite buffet of the year. The fare is fabulous and perfectly prepared and presented. Hats off to the CIA for serving food to complement the wines. Oh, and a lot of them are served; it’s a veritable group grape grope as guests reach for any of hundreds of different labels. Guests may return to the wine tables, or food tables, as many times as they like for refills, or diverse taste trials. That anyone is awake for the afternoon auction is a testament to the professional tasting skills of the assembled guests.

Bret Lopez and Mimi DeBlasio of Scarecrow. Their wine, made by Celia Masyczek, received the top auction bid - $80,000 for five cases – or $1,333 per bottle.

Participating wineries at the auction donate a unique blend of wine in quarter-barrel (five-case), half-barrel (10-case), or full-barrel (20-case) lots, which are bought by the assembled retailers and restaurateurs to be resold to their customers.

Winemaker Timothy Milos (left) and owner, Marc Cohen (right) of Howell at the Moon, and, in the middle, the smiling owner of Clos Pegase, Jan Shrem.

Each wine is a one-of-a-kind blend, variety, or from a single vineyard unique to the winery. Or the blend may be a collaborative effort among several winemakers. All wines poured were barrel samples, mostly Cabernet based, and mostly from the 2007 vintage.

Judd Finkelstein of Judd's Hill, and Andrew Schweiger, of Schweiger Vineyards.

Prior to the auction, members of the trade belly up to barrels to sample the wines on which they may choose to bid.

2007 – what a glorious vintage

Premiere Napa Valley is really the first time each year that the trade gets a peak at the next-to-be-released vintage of Napa Valley Cabernet. It’s a collective first chance to assess the vintage and determine how consumers will like the wines and figure out how the wines might be priced.

I posed a common question to wine makers, asking them to assess the quality of the 2007 vintage. I asked: “If your 2007 Cabernet were a movie star, who would it be – and why?”

+ Suzanne Groth and winemaker Michael Weis of Groth Vineyards opined: “Definitely Drew Barrymore. Young and crazy and unpredictable, but old enough to know better. Sexy voice, too.”

+ Tom Farella, winemaker for Farella-Park Vineyards, who makes a delicious, approachable Cabernet (I tried his 2004 at his booth and loved the fruit, balance and ripeness): “2007 was a Catherine Zeta-Jones type of vintage; it is really attractive, it’s a big star, it’s an instant classic!”

+ Daniel Bailey, who is national sales manager for Jones Family Vineyards likened his 2007 Cabernet (which I thought was gorgeous, sweet, in a positive sense, and filled with chocolate) called his offering “The George Clooney of wine. It is strong, has a good heart, is sophisticated and has lots of soul!”

+ Tim Mondavi, of Continuum, says of his 2007: “This wine is definitely like Meryl Streep – it has a beautiful voice, lots of finesse and elegance, and shows great persistence.” (I found Tim’s 2007 spicy, showing lots of grip, power and if anything, feistiness. I am not sure these are terms I would use to describe Meryl Streep. More like Liza Minnelli.)

+ Judd Finkelstein, of Judd’s Hill Winery says that his 2007 Cab is much like Miss Piggy: “The wine shows a lovely femininity… but once you get to know it… you realize there is a lot of assertiveness and power behind the early attractive attributes.”

+ Marc Cohen, who produces Howell at the Moon, says his 2007 Cab is “most like Angelina Jolie – big, plump, luscious, soft and memorable.”

Auction highlights

Premiere Napa Valley raised a total of $1,487,500 on 200 wine lots.

The highest single bid was $80,000 for a five-case lot of Scarecrow (made by Celia Masyczek). This equals $16,000 a case, or a mind-numbing $1,333 per bottle without mark-ups, taxes, or frequent flier miles.

Celia says she took “the sweetest barrel” from the 2007 cellar and made the best wine she could for today’s auction. I thought the wine was memorable, filled with vanilla, cherry and black ripe fruits, loaded with personality, and textbook structure.

The next highest lots:

+ $42,000 for five cases of Ovid
(I tasted: gorgeous sweet fruit, a stunning silken texture derived from fermentation in concrete and not wood, according to winemaker Andy Erickson.)

Both the Scarecrow and Ovid lots were purchased by Nakagawa Wine Company of Tokyo, Japan.

+ $27,000 for 20 cases of Silver Oak

+ $24,000 for a five-case lot of Shafer Cabernet, taken from a block used in the Hillside blend

+ $22,000 for a 10-case lot of Joseph Phelps Cabernet.

Case price results from Premiere Napa Valley Auction

As some of the lots were quarter-barrels, some half-barrels and some full-barrels, the per case price paid may be a more meaningful way of looking at the results:

+ Scarecrow, $16,000 per case

+ Ovid, $8,400 per case

+ Shafer, $4,800 per case

+ Lewis Cellars, $4,000 per case

+ Realm Cellars, $3,200 per case

+ Hourglass, $3,200 per case

+ Continuum, $3,000 per case

I thought you’d never ask

The 2007 vintage in Napa Valley is considered by area winemakers as excellent.

The year began dry with very cold days and single-digit nighttime temperatures and continued dry with about 60% of normal precipitation throughout the appellation.

The summer growing season was on the mild to cool side; very few days topped 100 F. degrees, even in the warmest locations.

The harvest of Chardonnay began in early August in the Carneros and southern Napa, followed by Pinot Noir. Harvest was just a bit ahead of average.

An Indian Summer delivered warm, clear days when vineyard crews completed the harvest.

That answer your question?

Veni, vidi, spiti (I came… I saw… I spit)*

* With apologies to Julius Caesar, who is best known for his Latin conjugations and for his salad dressing; in 47 BC, the Emperor reputedly said “Veni, vidi vici,” wishing to say “I came, I saw, I conquered.” Unfortunately, English hadn’t yet been invented, so who knows what he really said.

About one-hundred wine writers, wine educators, sommeliers, and earnest wine geeks descended on the Rudd Center at the CIA (Culinary Institute of America), in St. Helena, this morning to taste, swirl and spit through a sampling of 60 different Napa Valley Cab-based wines.

The tasting was part of a weekend wine package – Napa Valley is abuzz with wine activities: out-of-town wine writers are on hand for the Symposium for Professional Wine Writers, and the CIA is getting gussied up for tomorrow’s annual Premiere Napa Valley barrel auction, which is only open to members of the wine trade.

To keep assembled guest’s tongues flapping, the Napa Valley Vintners decided to host a tasting of local wines. Their professional panel tasted a large universe of 2004, 2005 and 2006 wines from area producers, narrowing the selection down to 20 producers for today’s tasting.

Guests were asked to taste the 60 wines blind (three wines from each producer – their 2004, 2005 and 2006 offerings). No prices were mentioned, no appellations were identified. All tasters had to go on was their palate, and a few water crackers to soak up the excess alcohol.

The wines presented were priced, on release, in a range from $35 to $132. As one discovers in so many blind tastings, price often has nothing to do with quality, despite the marketing attempts of wine producers to the contrary.

My top four favorite wines in the blind tasting were priced across the board, despite the fact that I scored each of them identically with 93 points. Though I must be developing an affinity for higher priced wines; my favorites this year were in the upper tier of pricing. In tastings past, I have often discovered a $45 gem in a pack of $175 wines. This was not the case today.

Napa Valley Vintners

I salute the Napa Valley Vintners for organizing this educational event, but points were lost on execution:

For one thing, chlorinated water was served for rinsing our stemware. The mere introduction of chlorine into any wine-tasting experience is a serious No-No.

The other observation: all 60 wines had been poured into decanters, which were identified by number only. When a decanter was running low on wine (guests poured for themselves), the very pleasant, and attentive, staff topped up the decanters with wine from new, masked bottles of the same wine and vintage. But this essentially dumbs down the best expression of any wine. The solera system, used to make sherry, is NOT an appropriate method for tasting wines blind. Let me explain.

Given: no two bottles of wine are really alike. You can have really great bottles and really good bottles and sometimes even clunker bottles of the very same wine from the very same lot.

When you mix two bottles, the sum cannot ever be superior than the better of the two bottles. If one bottle is compromised it will dumb down the better bottle. So by topping up the decanters of wine, mixing together two, or three, or even four bottles of a vintage… this can only produce a tasting experience that is less than the best single bottle that might have been tasted blind.

In fact, wine writers often go back in a blind tasting to taste a wine again from a different bottle just to learn if there is significant bottle variation. The hosts of this morning’s tasting did no wine justice by blending different bottles of the same wine in the serving decanters.

I tasted through 60 wines and scored them for color, aroma, mouthfeel, attack, intensity, balance, perceived level of alcohol, food friendliness and overall pleasure output.

For the purposes of this report, I will comment on my top four wines, each which scored 93 points. If you find them in the marketplace, trust me, they are luscious, the winemaking is serious, the pedigree is solid. These are keepers!

In alphabetical order, my four top wines, tasted blind, and each scoring 93 points:

2004 Darioush Signature Cabernet Sauvignon
Bright fruit on the attack with a delicious coffee undertow. Beautiful balance, really a delicious wine. Makes me want to run home and grill some lamb chops to serve with the remaining wine in the decanter.
A blend of 83% Cabernet, 9% Merlot, 5% Cab Franc, 2% Malbec and 1% Petit Verdot. $80 on release.

2004 Jones Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon
This is a BIG wine, with a lot of oak still evident on the attack; but there is a gorgeous, silken mouthfeel that comes into play in the middle palate; there is also smoke, chocolate and a very long finish. If this wine were a Broadway play, it would be Phantom of the Opera. It is showy, but you leave the experience humming the main chords and think what a great time you’ve had.
A blend of 98% Cabernet and 2% Cab Franc with Petit Verdot. $80 on release.

2004 Pillar Rock, Cabernet Sauvignon, Stags Leap District
I am not as familiar with Pillar Rock as I obviously ought to be; first time I’ve tasted it blind anywhere and what a discovery! Great fruit on the nose and a rush of fruit on the palate. Perfect extraction, great length, lots of smoky middle notes, and a generous, silken middle portion that is as much about texture as it is about taste. Bravo! $125 on release.

2004 Spottswoode Cabernet Sauvignon
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways: by the attack, by the middle palate, by the finish. My tasting notes conclude: “A tremendous wine!” Coffee, toffee, rich ripe black fruits, all in wonderful balance. “This is an alluring wine” I noted on my tasting sheet. And fabulously food friendly.
97% Cabernet and 3% Cab Franc. $125 on release.

A wine writer’s observation

What is interesting about my top-scoring wines: they were all from the 2004 vintage from these four producers. I am not surprised; I like older wines, find it harder to judge, or quantify, really young wines, which are often filled with young wood, and which tend to be more tannic and less food friendly.

For the purposes of education, here are my scores for the other two wines of each of these four Top of Class producers.

2005 Darioush Signature Cabernet, 92 points
2006 Darioush Signature Cabernet, 90 points

2005 Jones Family Vineyards Cabernet, 92 points
2006 Jones Family Vineyards Cabernet, 90 points

2005 Pillar Rock Cabernet, 92 points.
2006 Pillar Rock Cabernet, 91 points.

2005 Spottswoode Cabernet, 90 points (a heap o’ horse – brett, which put me off)
2006 Spottswoode Cabernet, 90 points (after learning this was the 06 Spottswoode (tasted blind), I would conclude that this was poured from an aberrant bottle; I have had the 06 before and it has shown much better. Lost points for bottle variation.)

My Favorite Kind of Wine Case – 15 Bottles!

For years, one of my favorite annual fall wine events in Napa Valley has been the release of a mixed case of stunning Stags Leap District Cabernets, called the Appellation Collection. It’s a promotion to familiarize wine lovers with wines in this appellation, organized by the Stags Leap District Winegrowers Association.

The group has just announced its 12th annual release and this one is an eye-popping case of 15 different 2004 Cabernets from Stags Leap District, one Cab from each of the producers in the association.

One of my favorite producers in Stags Leap District – Pine Ridge Winery.

This mixed case enables aficionados of these wines to get one bottle of the top, or near-top, wine from 15 different producers without having to run around the valley to each of the wineries. In effect, it’s a one-stop solution to obtain a case (albeit a case of 15 bottles) of the top wines from a top vintage of an entire appellation.

Or maybe I should say it’s a NO-STOP solution, because if you live in a shipment-friendly state, you can order a mixed case online without ever even having to leave your home; simply go to www.stagsleapdistrict.com/appellationcollection and order a mixed case. As there are only 300 mixed cases assembled, however, don’t wait too long to order.

The price for the 15-bottle Cab collection this year is $1,200. And for this princely sum, you receive a case-and-a-quarter of some gorgeous, tooth-staining, purple-red wines, which will easily age six to 10 years.

For the record: I’m just finishing the last few bottles from two full sets of the 1997 Appellation Collection, which I bought years ago upon release. I love the ability the mixed case affords – to go into the cellar and choose a Cab for dinner from any of 15 different wineries.

Site of this year’s tasting of the Appellation Collection – Silverado Vineyards.

The Stag’s Leap District is only 2,700 acres large, about half of which are planted in vines. The District starts seven miles north of the town of Napa on the Silverado Trail (east side of the valley). The northern boundary is the Yountville Crossroad.

Essentially, Stags Leap District, home to fewer than 20 wine producers, is a mile wide and about three miles long.

The hillsides here have western and southern exposures, which are particularly friendly to Cabernet Sauvignon. As is the soil, comprised of rich volcanic sediment and bale loam (with a clay-like substructure). You want complexity? The soil here has it in spades. So no wonder the wines do, too.

The University of California at Davis, the foremost wine research center in the US, has said of the soil in Stag’s Leap District: “We have not seen any valley floor soils elsewhere in Napa Valley similar to those of Stags Leap District.”

Which may be why the Cabernets produced here have an evident similarity in texture and taste and why they are among my personal favorites of all wines produced in the valley.

The Stags Leap District was designated an American Viticultural Appellation (AVA) in 1989, the first viticultural area in the US to be approved on the basis of the distinctiveness of its soils.

At the Association’s invitation, I had a chance last week, at Silverado Vineyards, to taste through the entire collection of 2004 Stags Leap District Cabs. My tasting notes and scores follow. This mixed case is the only Cabernet collection offered by any AVA in all the US. For the wine lover, it’s a simple way to own an assortment of wines that would otherwise be challenging to assemble.

What’s intriguing about the 2004 collection is the relative uniformity in quality, texture and taste in the wines. In the end, yes, each wine a bit different from the next, even though some wineries are contiguous.

“Never forget, there are 15 different Cabernets here… and 15 winemakers… which means 15 different spins on the same thing,” says Silverado Vineyards winemaker Jon Emmerich.

I asked Emmerich how he personally rates the 2004 wines from Stags Leap District among the six vintages of the decade so far.

“I rate it in the top three, probably after 2001 and 2005,” says the winemaker.

You can wait for the winegrowers to offer that mixed case of 2005 Cabs next year at this time… but you’d be making a mistake to pass up the 2004 collection. It’s a stunner.

This year's collection includes:

Baldacci Family Vineyards - 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon
Lovely dark cherry notes and a bit of the aroma you get from red wax lips, which you sometimes get (and can chew) at Halloween. Grown on the family’s 17-acre vineyard, the grapes are 100 percent Cabernet. There are gorgeous flavors of ripe red and black fruits; the wine is elegant and has a focused, long finish. 91 points.

Chimney Rock Winery - 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve
100 percent new French oak adds cacao and cherry notes to the nose. Maybe there’s even a hint of raspberry. Very sweet on the palate, offering seductive flavors and tons of fleshy texture. There is a luscious middle palate and an exquisite finish. 92 points.

Cliff Lede Vineyards - 2004 Poetry
There is a striking nose of dark ripe fruit and also a hint of more wood on this sample of bottled poetry than on either of the two preceding wines (89% new French oak, barrel aging for 24 months). The wine has great grip at the front end a powerful focus toward the middle palate, and a fabulous, focused finish. 95 percent Cabernet, 3 percent Cab Franc, 2 percent Petit Verdot. 92 points.

Clos Du Val - 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon
Ripe red fruit tweaks the nose; blackcurrants, cedar, and briar tease the palate. All these flavors are wound around a core of brightness. The wine is alive in the mouth, exhibiting textures that thrill you; velvet, silk, velour to name a few. A magnificent achievement. 93 points.

Malk Family Vineyards (labeled Griffin Vineyards) - 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon
The first bottle was challenged; it exhibited vanilla and wax on the nose with an imbalance of alcohol. This was a wine of many parts, not one of which sublimated with any other. Disjointed, unfocused, and unfriendly, I thought. 88 points, and only generously so. I thought it only fair to ask for a second bottle.
Second bottle: still a lot of vanilla on the nose, suggestive of too much wood. Bit on the high-alcohol range, as was the first bottle, but this sample had a thick, palpable texture, which had been lacking in the first bottle. Almost like velour in the mouth. But still out of balance with respect to the level of alcohol. 90 points.

Hartwell Vineyards - 2004 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon
Unlike earlier vintages, the Hartwells chose to tweak this year’s Cab with a smidgen of Petit Verdot. And it shows. This is a lush, sensual, alluring wine. The texture is “virtual silk.” This is was the first wine of the 15-wine tasting that I had to swallow, just couldn’t waste it spitting. This is a ripe, food-friendly – and did I say fabulous? – wine. 93 points.

Ilsley Vineyards - 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon
The Ilsley Vineyard abuts Shafer’s hillside on the east side of the Silverado Trail. Some 90 percent of the family’s fruit is sold to Shafer, some of it destined for the winery's One Point Five Cabernet (also part of this Appellation Collection). As David Ilsley is vineyard manager of his family’s vineyards and also vineyard manager for Shafer, no one’s shocked that Ilsley's Cab has similar features to Shafer's Cab.
In this case, the 2004 Ilsley offers deep dark ripe fruit on the nose and a bevy of stunning, complex flavors on the palate. The finish is magnificent, pushing this bottle over the top. 94 points.

Pine Ridge Winery - 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon
Stacy Clark’s tasting notes (she’s the talented winemaker) point out that this wine is 86 percent Cab, 6 percent Merlot, 4 percent Cab Franc, 3 percent Petit Verdot, 1 percent Malbec. She could have added: “And 100 percent inspirational!”
My tasting notes: “Silk on steroids! Gorgeous wine, a stunner!”
To flesh out the notes: coffee aromas leap from the glass as well as ripe cherries, strawberries and raspberries. One of the most aromatic wines in the Collection this year. Penetrating flavors, too, and a memorable texture.
In sum, this wine is even more attractive than the 2004 Rutherford Pine Ridge Cab, which the winery also produces, and which I tasted blind and rated one of the top Rutherford Cabs from 2004. 94 points.

Regusci Winery - 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon
Ripe black fruits and a touch of sweetness on the early attack; very focused flavors, particularly of blackcurrant, briar, tobacco. A really good wine, but somewhat lacking on the back end. Bottle variation? 92 points.

Robert Sinskey Vineyards - 2004 RSV Cabernet Sauvignon
Organically farmed grapes, TLC and patience have produced a really good wine, though slightly on the jammy edge. The nose suggests lushness, bordering on sur-mur, or over-ripeness. The palate further adds to the impression – there is an almost late-harvest quality to the fruit. If they market this as “late-harvest Cab for the Zin-lover” they will attract a large following. 90 points.

Shafer Vineyards - 2004 One Point Five Cabernet Sauvignon
Winemaker Elias Fernandez says this vintage reminds him of the winery’s 1992 Cab. How lucky you are, then, if you are still holding on to a few bottles of the 1992 Shafer Cab. That vintage was stunningly good.  But so is this vintage. I find the nose is actually voluptuous – two layers of ripe fruit compete in a singular whiff for your attention.
This is likely the most sophisticated wine in the case. There is lovely balance, an elegance and a joie to this wine. Blackberry, dark chocolate and herbs dominate. The overall impression is: great wine-growing, great wine-making, great wine-drinking. 94 points.

Silverado Vineyards - 2004 Solo
Winemaker Jon Emmerich opened a bottle of the 1982 Stag’s Leap Cab from this vineyard and at 26 years of age, it blew everything else in this tasting out of the water. Unfortunately, they haven’t thought of introducing a “bonus bottle” enabling lucky buyers to find a surprise, 16th bottle in their mixed Appellation Collection case – this 1982 Silverado Vineyards Cab.
So we content ourselves with the 2004 Silverado offering, which has a lot of smoke and toast on the nose, suggesting that it is perhaps still early to be judging/drinking this wine. Purple fruit, young tannins, herbal notes, and a short finish suggest this wine needs more time than others in the Collection to mature. I hovered – between 91 and 92 points.

Stags' Leap Winery - 2004 The Leap Estate Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon
Winemaker, Kevin Morrisey says 2004 was a terrific vintage and thinks this wine is a showcase for black and red fruit, toasted vanilla, tobacco, violets and charred meat.
I personally found this wine to offer a kaleidoscope of flavors, which rippled over my palate in gentle succession, most of them fruits, and all of them only rolling to a stop long after I’d swallowed. Balanced and elegant. A memorable wine. I wrote  “awesome” in my notes and circled it, then scored the entry 94 points.

Steltzner Vineyards - 2004 Reserve Barrel Select Cabernet Sauvignon
If you ever find me describing anything within the pages of napaman.com as ”nice,” drinks are on the house for all readers! I don’t like the word, and never use it. When used as an adjective, it says nothing about anything.
Take Steltzner’s own tasting notes for their wine: someone has described the 2004 Cab as having “nice acidity.”
Now what the hell is that? Too much acidity, not enough acidity, text-book acidity – any of these I understand. But “nice acidity???”
I don’t know about “nice acidity,” because the bottle we sampled exhibited mostly coffee and vanilla notes and presented a noticeable, jammy raspberry presence on the middle palate. In sum, more like a candied fruit experience than a wine-drinking experience. If anything this wine lacked acidity. 90 points.

Taylor Family Vineyards - 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon
This is the third  vintage, which the Taylor family has crushed for its own label. Lousy luck… a lousy bottle? My sample showed a medicinal nose suggestive of bandages and iodine. Comparing notes with the wine writer next to me, she found them evident, too. I wanted to ask for a second bottle to neutralize my first impression, but we ran out of tasting time. Given the location of these vines, the fruit they produce, and the wineries to whom these grapes used to be sold, I have to guess that this was an errant bottle. 88 points.

STOP THE PRESS!

Following publication of this story, I was contacted by Sandy Taylor Carlson whose family owns Taylor Family Vineyards. She said that I must have been served a punk bottle of her wine at the press tasting and offered to drop off a bottle for me to re-taste.
See the update below – this is a much better wine than noted here.



Unhappy with the tasting notes above, feisty winery owner Sandy Taylor Carlson emailed, asking if I would retry her 2004 Stags Leap District Cabernet. When I learned of her family’s winemaking history, I said, “Of course. Come by and we’ll taste together.”

For 17 years, the Taylors (Sandy’s dad grows the fruit) sold his grapes to Pine Ridge for its sensational Stags Leap District Cabernets. I have bought these wines for years and know how good the fruit is/was, so figured that I needed to revisit the wine, which we’d been offered at the press tasting (above).

2004 Taylor Family Stags Leap District Cabernet Sauvignon
What a difference a day makes. And a second bottle, too. Nothing like the sample served at the press tasting. Winemaker Gustavo Brambila has fashioned a wine with dark cherry, chocolate, cassis and tobacco on the nose. There are perhaps too many intrusive young tannins, but this wine is, for the record, not actually being released for another month, so youthful, bordering-on-aggressive, tannins are to be expected. Certainly tolerated. This wine needs at least two years to shape up, and shut up; the tannins, at this stage, overwhelm the fruit on the palate. Ends with a cranberry finish. Will retail for $60, or $65 (not yet decided) on release next month. 91 points.

2003 Taylor Family Stags Leap District Cabernet Sauvignon
Sandy brought along two previous vintages, hoping to show me how her family’s wine ages over time. I love her spark, faith and optimism. She wasn’t going to take a lousy score lying down… and I’m glad that she didn’t, for I maligned her well-made wine (above) by basing my notes on a single, flawed bottle.
The 2003 is perhaps not as successful as the 2004 vintage. It has many of the same aromas on the nose – mostly cherries, vanilla and a large, looming Asian spice-pack. Lots of oak on this wine, possibly too much, overpowering the lushness of the fruit. This vintage retails for $60. 90 points.

2002 Taylor Family Stags Leap District Cabernet Sauvignon
Ah.. THIS is the daddy. The color alone sets you up for excitement; it is deep regal red, the color of sexy pajamas, the kind Hugh Hefner might wear. A very sophisticated nose, offering scents of blackcurrant and cassis. A lovely wine, with lots of flesh in the middle and a black cherry, raspberry, chocolate, Asian spice dance on the palate at the swallow. Available from the winery library at $65. A steal. 93 points.

These wines and their story can be found at www.tayorfamilyvineyards.com
-- and tell them that napaman.com sent you!

At Groth Winery, when “something bugs you,” it’s a good thing!

A lot of “critters” have shown up on wine labels recently – horses, ducks, fish, moose, bulls, roosters and sheep – used to boost shelf visibility and, hopefully, improve sales. But now real “critters” are actually being invited into the vineyard to improve something more germane -- what’s in the bottle.

These new “critters” include butterflies, ladybugs, and bumblebees, all considered beneficial insects, which prey on natural enemies of the vine.

No one has done a better, or more visible, job at being Noah – bringing these critters onto the Sustainable Vineyard Ark – than Groth Vineyards & Winery, in Oakville. They’ve even gone so afar as to create the valley’s first “Insectary Garden,” an inviting home for desirable insects.

Next month, on four consecutive Fridays, visitors to the winery can have a complimentary tour of Groth’s Insectary Garden, as well as taste some mighty fine sustainable-farmed Oakville wines, also at no charge. (Details below).

 

Suzanne Groth stands in the winery’s Insectary Garden amid colorful flowering shrubs and perennials.

“In our move toward total sustainable farming, we replanted 78 acres of vines, changing their orientation, trellising and ground crop,” says Suzanne Groth, head of public relations for the winery. “And to care for the new vines, we created the Insectary Garden,” she adds.

Here’s what they did: Last year, Groth planted 44 varieties of shrubs, trees, perennials and grasses to attract specific insects, birds and reptiles to increase biodiversity on the property and to control pesky insects biologically, rather than chemically.

In other words, they planted especially tasty stuff to attract good bugs… which would kill off the bad bugs.

The actual idea for the Insectary Garden came from landscape architect Nancy Roche, of Roche + Roche Landscape Architecture in Sonoma.

Groth’s Insectary Garden

In agricultural-speke, this is known as a sustainable farming practice.  Groth planted Achillea Paprika (yarrow), for example, to attract ladybugs, which love snacking on leafhoppers, which are nasty predators of our valley’s best vines.

They planted Ceanothus (California Lilac) to attract lacewings, which flitter about the vineyard noshing on mealy bugs. The mealies (they sound like a group of nasties in a George Lucas film…) wreak havoc on grape vines, spreading mold and viruses.

For the record, sustainable farming is considered one step beyond organic farming, which we hear so much about these days. Sustainable farming practices take into consideration the effects of doing any one thing on the entire surrounding environment. In the case of Napa Valley, it means caring about the health of the entire watershed of the valley.

Buddleia davidii, commonly called the butterfly bush, has sweet nectar that attracts butterflies, hummingbirds and bees, all which help pollinate plants.

At Groth, this has meant replanting estate vines on a north-south axis rather than an east-west axis to profit from winds, which blow north from San Pablo Bay. Air circulation, which is free, natural, and plentiful in Oakville, helps reduce mildew, and mold, diminishing the need for remedial chemicals.

They’ve also encouraged the growth (or should I say “the Groth?”) of cover crops between rows of vines to further establish a healthy insect population to battle bad bugs, as well as conserve soil moisture.

At Groth, seeing weeds between manicured rows of vines is considered a good thing; it’s a smart farming practice and means specific chemicals can be eliminated.

Dennis and Judy Groth, who founded the winery in 1981, are both responsible for spreading this pastoral religion. During his tenure as chairman of the Wine Institute, Dennis established an industry-wide code for sustainable winegrowing practices, which has become a standard for hundreds of wineries across California.

For the release of each vintage of Groth Reserve Cabernet, the winery’s top wine, Suzanne Groth, who is a trained artist, paints a new image; this is her offering for the release of the 2005 Groth Reserve Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon next month.

To showcase the results of sustainable farming, the Groths are inviting visitors to walk among their colorful Insectary Garden and taste estate wines every Friday in September – with tasting fees waived.

Call the winery to register for a free garden tour and wine tasting, offered from 11 am to 2 pm on each Friday in September – the 5th, 12th, 19th and 26th. Reservations are not officially required, but it would be helpful for the winery to know who’s coming and how many might be on hand to sip wines.

I tasted through some of the wines that will be poured on Fridays and had a sneak preview of the winery’s stunning 2005 Reserve Cab, which will officially be released September 20.

Tasting Notes

2007 Groth Sauvignon Blanc
This is the winery’s workhorse, responsible for nearly half of all Groth’s volume. Winemaker Michael Weis insisted a long time ago that this would be a better wine with a touch of Semillon and he was right. This straw-colored, pleasing wine, with 4 percent Semillon, has attractive fruit flavors (largely pear), exhibits bright acidity and has an alluring finish, which makes you want to take another sip. Good as a sipping wine, also ideal with food. In excess of 30,000 cases produced. $18 retail. 90 points

2005 Groth Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon
A rich, charming, compelling wine, reminding me of Franciscan’s Magnificat, another area red blend, which I quite like. About one-quarter Merlot, this wine has a lovely texture, almost silken on the palate. While the wine is plush and plum-y, the Merlot is not overplayed; the Cab shines through with black currant-correctness. Elegant, balanced and fairly priced ($55) – who could ask for anything more? 93 points. 

2005 Groth Reserve Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon
There are only 1,400 cases of this exceptional wine. Look at the color! Regal, the purple of Kingly robes; quick, someone bring me a thrown.
Still young, this wine has a tight nose, but there are hints of plum and black currants, which will evolve over time. Many Asian spice flavors evident – from two years in all-new oak. Yet this is an elegant, balanced textbook achievement. Available to club members and winery visitors at $150/bottle. 93 points.

Groth Vineyards & Winery, 750 Oakville Cross Road, Oakville. Tel: 707-754-4254.

Three Best Wines of 2008. So Far.

We open dozens of wines a week; some for review, which are supplied by wineries, and never fewer than seven to 10 bottles each week, which I have personally bought for our cellar.

I believe that almost all reds profit from 4 to 8 years of cellaring; it calms the nerve of the wine, brings balance to the eventual tasting, and introduces mature flavors.

At the current rate, we’ve probably opened and tasted 25 cases of wine this year.

Despite this volume of wine opened to the halfway mark of 2008, only three bottles jumped out at me, tweaked my nose, painted my palate and screamed, “Pay attention, I am a Perfect wine.”

Drum roll please… the three best wines to the half-year point stand out like giants at a dwarf convention. The winners at the half-year are, in alphabetical order:

2006 Aterberry Maresh Pinot Noir, White Rose Vineyard.
I could write a sonnet, a book, an encyclopedia about my love for this extravagant, balanced, elegant, mature, brilliant Pinot Noir from the Willamette Valley in Oregon. I learned about this wine at The Tasting Room, in Carleton, OR, during a May visit. I have opened many bottles in my home and every one gets a forehead-slapping, “I can’t believe how good this wine is” remark from Napa Valley winemakers, visitors, friends, and knowledgeable sommeliers for whom I pour it.
Available at The Tasting Room, Carleton, OR, at 503-852-6733.
Or speak with the young, talented winemaker Jim Arterberry Maresh, at 503-434-7689.

1997 Beringer Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon.
I have long respected Ed Sbragia’s work as wine director at Beringer and thought that his best-ever achievement (of many brilliant achievements) was his 2001 Beringer Private Reserve Cabernet.
But the 1997 vintage, which we opened this week for out-of-town visitors from Canada and England, was, to my mind, perhaps the single most compelling wine of Ed’s that I have ever tasted and a top-tier winner so far this year; it is rich, rich, rich (did I forget to say rich?) in complexity, flavor, and texture.
To be blunt: it is a textbook-perfect wine at this age and stage of evolution.
You may have read reports in Wine Spectator that the 1997 Napa Valley Cabs are beyond their prime, dried up, finished, kaput. Forget that nonsense. I have opened more than a dozen different 1997 Napa Valley Cabs this year from many different producers and they have been spectacular. In essence, don’t believe what you read, unless, of course, you read it here.
But not a one of the dozen or so 1997 Napa Valley Cabs, which we opened this year, stroked my palate the way Ed’s 1997 Beringer Private Reserve Cab did. A 100-pointer any way you look at it.
The 1997 Beringer Private Reserve Cabernet is occasionally available at www.winebid.com.

2001 Vieux Donjon, Chateauneuf du Pape
The only wine in my life of which I have drunk an entire case and rated every single bottle of the case a near-perfect wine was the 1990 Vieux Donjon. I LOVED THAT CASE.
I was apparently justified in my thinking about the 1990 Vieux Donjon; in a recent issue of Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate, he quoted sommelier Doug Mohr of Vidalia restaurant, in Washington D.C., who marveled that “the greatest wine he had ever tasted was the 1990 Vieux Donjon Chateauneuf du Pape.”
Gentlemen of the jury, I rest my case.
For dinner this week, to complement Carol’s perfectly prepared pappardelle with veal ragout (a variation of a Mario Batali recipe, only she did it better!), I opened the 2001 Vieux Donjon, which offered a near-duplicate experience of the 1990 vintage. Here was a wine of exceptional length, extraordinary quality. This is a perfect wine, a brilliant wine, elegant, rich, balanced. A 100-pointer. There was nothing missing, no flaws, only gemstone brilliance, bright mature fruit, terroir, minerality, and a finish that Burgundian producers would kill to have.
The 2001 Vieux Donjon is long gone from retailer shelves, but look for the 2005 and 2006 vintages, which are helluva good. This is a wine that will improve with age; I like to drink my CDPs (Chateauneufs-du-Pape) with not less than seven or eight years on them.

Silenus: Once a wine sot… now a hot wine spot!

 
If you’re down a quart on wine mythology, Silenus was the teacher and companion of Dionysus, the God of Wine. According to legend, Silenus had a serious drinking problem; he consumed so much wine that he couldn’t stand, and had, in fact, to be carted around on a donkey. In other words, an early day rock star.

Today, Silenus Vintners is one of the newest, sweetest, custom-crush facilities in Napa Valley, offering 18 small wineries a place to make their hedonistic blends as well as serve them to the public.

Silenus Vintners, located on the northern fringe of Napa town, operates a tasting room seven days a week, 10 to 4 pm, where visitors, on a by-appointment basis, can taste a dozen different wines, all handcrafted in small batches at the facility.

I like a lot about Silenus Vintners, including owner Bob Williamson and his dedicated wine team, which includes Scott Turnnidge, who runs the tasting room, and Brian Graham, winemaker for Williamson’s own label, Ideology.

If you are a resident of Napa Valley, you have likely driven by this winery numerous times without knowing that things have changed in the place previously called Koves-Newlan. Silenus Vintners is on Solano Ave., immediately south of Darm’s Lane, in the Oak Knoll District appellation.

If you are a visitor, first-timer or not, you might think about making an appointment to visit and taste through the wines made on this site. Some of them are spectacular and all of them represent significant value, of which wine drinkers can’t have too much in these tense economic times.

Silenus Vintners owner Bob Williamson

“In a way, we’re a mini-Napa Valley Wine Co.,” says owner Bob Williamson, explaining that his custom-crush facility operates like the big custom-crusher in the valley in Oakville, about nine miles north of Silenus Vintners.“

”And by mini, I mean teeny-tiny, mini-mini,” adds Williamson.

In total, clients at this facility collectively produce about 30,000 cases of wine annually, with the average production of any one label in the 300- to 400-case range.

You may recognize some of the brands produced and offered in the tasting room. I sold Brookdale and Ilsley Cabernets on my former website, ilovenapa.com, in 2003. These two brands are now produced, blended and bottled at Silenus Vintners, and they are as good now as they were then – compelling wines at very fair prices. I am extremely fond of these wines and their producers. Five years later, they are still making first-class, heads-up, must-have wines.

My wine buddy, Rob Fanucci, whom I help make Charter Oak Zinfandel and Charter Oak Petite Sirah, is moving production to Silenus Vintners for this coming harvest. Charter Oak will be the 18th winery to join this small-lot production house, supplying the only Napa Valley Zinfandel in the tasting room.

“I don’t think we can accommodate any more winemakers or labels,” says Williamson, aiming to cap enrolment at his facility. Williamson, who was formerly a land developer in Half Moon Bay, knows about building big, but he also knows when to stop building. And in the wine business, it appears to be now.

Scott Turnnidge fills the large tasting room at Silenus Vintners with warmth and knowledge, both which he has by the barrelful.

In the tasting room, Scott Turnnidge, part-Scot, part-Englishman, part-Irishman, is an affable host. He pours wines with gusto and knowledge and fills the room with welcoming laughter. It’s evident, too, that he knows way more about wine than he does about spelling; just ask to see the misspelled tattoo on his left forearm. Blimey!

Brian Graham, winemaker of Ideology, the Blondie Chardonnays and also his own wines under the Ramian and “Jack” labels.

I asked Brian Graham, who is Bob Williamson’s winemaker and who also produces a wine for himself called Ramian, about his winemaking philosophy.

“I believe in hands-off winemaking. Conduct your due diligence in the vineyard and at harvest, then let the wine speak for itself in barrel. I believe in extended barrel aging to soften tannins,” explains Graham.

I participated in a mini-tasting in the elegant Silenus Vintners’ tasting room and have these highlights to share:

2007 Robert Williamson Family Blondie Chardonnay and
2006 Robert Williamson Family Blondie Gone Wild Chardonnay.
Williamson has created a pair of wines to introduce tasting room visitors to the winemaking practice called malolactic fermentation. This is a common practice in which some white wines, like Chardonnay, may be put through a secondary fermentation, converting bright malic acid into buttery lactic acid, which is rich in dairy, and often butterscotch, notes.

I preferred the 2007 non-malo’d Chardonnay. It has a bright, appealing taste and would be ideal with seafood. It retails for $29. I scored it 89 points.
The 2006 Blondie, fermented with wild yeasts, is less exciting, doesn’t have a memorable taste profile, or anything to make it stand out in a crowd of Chards. $35. I scored it 89 points.

The reds are coming

2006 Ideology Cabernet Sauvignon, Oak Knoll District.
Williamson also produces a Cabernet, which is packaged to look like a $75 wine, and nearly drinks like one, too, but which only costs $36. One of the best Cabernet values in the Napa Valley, this is a gorgeous wine with rich, almost opulent, tannins and striking ripe red fruit flavors. 91 points

2005 Ramian Chapter 5.
I love Brian Graham’s sense of humor, as well as his sense of winemaking. His own label, Ramian, is organized chronologically. “Wine is like a story – every vintage is a different chapter,” he likes to say. Hence, this vintage is Chapter 5, his fifth vintage. Scott Turnnidge, in the tasting room, likes to joke – “What’s he going to call his eleventh vintage? Chapter 11?”
We’ll worry about that vintage when we come to it. For now, I’ll plead the Fifth; it is a lovely wine, harmonious, balanced, totally approachable but with evident age-ability. There is a sweet middle palate and a lively floral finish. The wine is 91 percent Cab, with odd bits of Merlot, Cab Franc and Malbec thrown in for good measure. And good taste. 92 points. $54.

 

2004 Brookdale Cabernet Sauvignon.
I have a soft spot for this wine, having sold it on my former website in the early 2000s. It was a winner then and is still a winner today. Big hugs to Kristi Seitz, who continues to manage this label so well after the tragic death of her husband, Mike, whom we all admired. This is a gorgeous, approachable wine filled with raspberries and at the core, a discernible coffee, cocoa note. This is a put-me-down-for-a-case wine, especially given the price, $45. An easy 92 point wine.

2004 Ilslsey Cabernet Sauvignon, Stags Leap District.
What a great story, what a great wine! Brothers David and Ernie make this sensational wine in Stag’s Leap District. Their property abuts Shafer; some 90 percent of the fruit they grow actually is sold to Shafer for its Hillside Select label. It gets even better: brother David is the vineyard manager for Shafer! So who knows better what to do with the magnificent fruit they grow, much of which winds up in one of the most compelling, perfectly made wines in America, Shafer Hillside Select? (That was a trick question. The answer is NO ONE!)
So here’s your chance to have a wine that is only infinitesimally less in texture and length than the $225 Shafer Hillside Select Cabernet… for $55 a bottle! You want great wine and great value? This is it. 94 points.

2004 Gridley Cabernet Franc.
How is it that I haven’t seen or tasted this stunning wine before? Andy and wife Susan Gridley crush Cab Franc here that was grown on a parcel between St. Helena and Calistoga. The wine has a rich, deep smoky scent, there’s almost “blue” on the nose. On the palate, there are bright plum flavors, dark rich ripe fruits; exceptional extraction and deep flavor penetration. Fewer than 300 cases. Hurry, hurry. $45. 91 points.

No wine story is complete without a shot of the most important, influential member of the team and in the case of Silenus Vintners, it’s 11-year-old Hannah, who is as sweet-as-a-Sauternes.

If you’re visiting Napa Valley and hire a limo to take you around to different wineries, just be careful how you pronounce your intended destination. With a Midwestern accent, or deep southern drawl, your driver may hear you say “Salinas,” when you tell him to head to Silenus. In which case, you’ll find yourself traveling 146 miles south to Salinas, the lettuce capital of America and the hometown of one of America’s best-ever writers, John Steinbeck!

Silenus (and NOT Salinas!) Vintners is located at 5225 Solano Ave., Napa.
By appointment, seven days a week, 10 to 4 pm. 707-299-3930.

California may be on fire – but thankfully, the 05 Rutherford Cabs are not!

Winewriters gathered at Rubicon today to attend the annual Rutherford Dust Society tasting.

More than 350 wild fires are burning out of control in California this month, but we still find things to distract ourselves.

Take the 05 vintage of Rutherford Cabernet, for example, revealed today at the annual Rutherford Dust Society Tasting, a media/trade event held at Rubicon (formerly Niebaum-Coppola Estate Winery), hosted by local growers and wine makers.

“For the most part, the 05 Cabs are classically structured, and tightly focused,” says Quintessa winemaker Charles Thomas.

These are not the hot, fruit bombs that Napa Valley wines were starting to become, virtual parodies of Australian Shiraz, with high levels of extraction, high levels of alcohol, enough wood to build a barn.

 “The 05 Cabs are tightly wound and have really desirable structure. They remind me of the 92, 94 and 03 Cabs,” summarizes Garen Staglin of Staglin Family Vineyards.

In short, the 05 Cabernet Sauvignons, tasted blind today, and all from the AVA (American Viticultural Area) of Rutherford are well made, well structured wines. They are not opulent, not fleshy, like their 04 counterparts tasted at this event last year. The 05s are tighter, less flashy, less powerful. Some had an herbaceous quality, some had green olive top notes, others exhibited salty, black licorice flavors.

Hey! It’s a tough job – but someone has to taste all these wines so that YOU will know what to single out for your cellar!

Generally, this is one of my favorite wine-tasting events of the valley, giving me a chance to taste a large collection of local wines in one sitting. Unlike my colleagues who attend, I choose to taste blind, fearing that labels might influence my judgment, if I saw them.

Of 27 wines tasted blind, I rated six with 91 or better points (out of 100). The least expensive of these top-tier wines retails for $45 and at the upper end there is one which retails for $225.

One thing I usually find at this annual tasting is that price is not always a perfect indicator of quality. Almost every year, I blindly identify a $40-$50 wine that scores as many points as a triple-digit-dollar wine. And this year was no exception.

Specifically: I scored the 2005 Rutherford Grove Estate Cabernet 91 points, which is exactly what I scored the 2005 Peju Rutherford H.B. Vineyard Cabernet. Rutherford Grove costs $45, Peju retails for $225.

One of my favorite sommeliers in the Bay-area, Christie Dufault, who is wine director at the precise and elegant neighborhood restaurant Quince, in San Francisco, was invited to today’s testing. She had a sweet way of referring to the wines of Rutherford, which is where I happen to live.

Christie Dufault, wine director, Quince restaurant, San Francisco

“I always think of Rutherford as the aristocracy of Napa Valley wines. I have tasted and enjoyed them for 15 years. They are generally restrained wines with an evident texture – which other appellations in Napa Valley just don’t achieve.”

Thanks for the good word, Christie!

For the record, lest readers think Rutherford is some HUGE appellation, here’s the skinny: Rutherford, which lies at the epicenter of Napa Valley, has a reputation that far exceeds its geographic footprint.

Rutherford, only six square miles in size and planted with barely 3,300 acres of vines, produces less than one-quarter-of-one-percent (that’s .25 percent!) of all the wine produced in America. By comparison, Disney World in Orlando, FLA, at 47 acres, is nearly eight times bigger!

Speaking about the herbaceous flavors in the 05 Rutherford Cabs, Joel Aiken, director of winemaking at Beaulieu Vineyard, says, “I think the Cabernets from Rutherford – in a classic vintage – should show some restrained herbaceous character – or what we call ‘Rutherford Dust.’ If you have too many herb flavors, you taste green bell peppers, which is one extreme; at the other end, without some restrained herb notes, all you have are plump fruit flavors. The essence of a Rutherford Cabernet is a subtle, restrained herbaceous note between these two extremes.”

To my way of thinking, many of the wines poured today exhibited too many of these “herbaceous notes.” I rated some of the wines in the 85 to 89 point range, owing to over-the-top, herbed notes. Where’s the subtlety in that?

“It was critical to watch your crop in 2005,” recalls Charles Thomas of Quintessa. “You had to actively manage your crop. We had a lot of rain in the spring, which caused vines to grow rapidly. If you didn’t cut back this vigor, you were left with herbaceous wines,” he concludes, which goes a long way to explaining why I found so many “green,” or “herbaceous” wines in today’s tasting.

The top-scoring wines in the blind tasting

2005 Quintessa. Another stellar performance from this winery, which produced one of my Top Favorite Rutherford Cabs at last year’s blind tasting of 2004 wines. A tightly structured Cab, which I labeled blindly, “a typical Rutherford Cabernet on the nose and on the palate. An extremely well structured wine with a bulls-eye focus.” 93 points. $135.

2005 Scarecrow. A recent newcomer to the wine scene, Scarecrow is grown on a parcel of 60+-year-old vines, which are adjacent to Rubicon, formerly known as the J.J. Cohn plot.
Cohn, a movie mogul, had a significant role in the production of The Wizard of Oz. Hence the brand positioning for the vines planted on his estate.
The winemaker today is Celia Masyczek, who is one of my favorite winemakers in Napa Valley. I still treasure the 1996 Staglin Family Vineyards Cabernet, which she crafted. I love almost everything she breathes life in to and it is not a coincidence that I ranked her wine blindly, out of 27, so highly. It’s just further proof that her wines speak to me and that she is the IT girl when it comes to making Classic Rutherford Cabs. This one has a richness of texture not evident in many of the wines tasted today, a richness of flavor, splendid elevated fruit flavors, many of them ripe, black compelling fruits. 93 points. $100.

2005 Rubicon Estate. Wow, they’ve crafted another gorgeous wine here, just as they did in 2004. Good rich, ripe fruit, really well structured, a solid wine, an elegant wine. Has a superb profile, missing in many of today’s offerings; this one has an evident attack, a great middle palate and a superb finish. According to the tasting notes, will be released in September. 92 points. $145.

2005 Beaulieu Vineyard, Georges de La Tour Private Reserve. There’s lots of this stunning wine to go around, 12,600 cases, in fact. The name suggests it might be more rare than it is, but the good news is, there is a sufficiency of supply to satisfy the masses. A really great effort by Joel Aiken and his wine team, easily putting him back in the driver’s seat of one of the appellation’s top wines. Really tasty, ripe, pure fruit. Rich in texture, too. I loved the black fruit scents, the olives that were suggested in the middle palate and the ripe fruits on the finish. Trends to blackcurrant in overall taste impression, which is exactly what you want your Cab to present. Not vanilla, not wood, not cherry pie. And none of that is present here – just honest, well made, blackcurrant-oriented Cabernet. Will be released in September. 91 points. $115.

2005 Peju Rutherford H.B. Vineyard Cabernet. Lots of ripe red fruits on the nose, suggesting a pleasurable experience will follow. And it does. Lovely ripe fruit on the early palate, a lovely lively profile follows and then the total package goes into overdrive after you swallow. Sounds like a racing car. Costs like one, too. To be released in February, 2009. Only 358 cases made. 91 points. $225.

2005 William Harrison Rutherford Red. First time I recall tasting William Harrison’s wine at this annual event. It certainly wasn’t present last year. In the blind tasting, I found this a delicious wine with a tight nose, suggesting ripe black fruit. On the palate, very elegant, suitably supple, not a word I used with many of the wines in today’s tasting. A solid performance. 91 points, $80.

2005 Rutherford Grove Estate Cabernet. Blackcurrants and Bordeaux scents waft from the glass, mixed with a bit too much vanilla. But on the palate, the wine jumps into line with a harmony of fruit flavors, blackcurrant, ripe red fruits, a hint of cedar, and the tell-tale note scribbled into the margin of my pad: “very appealing.” First time I recall seeing this wine in the annual tasting. The release date has not been determined. 91 points. Hold on to your hats – only $45.

Napaman.com readers interested in learning more about Rutherford wines, or who wish to get on the appellation's mailing list should contact infor@rutherforddust.org.

This map is available for purchase through the Rutherford Dust Society; contact info@rutherforddust.org

Joseph Perrulli Is Up to his Neck in Glassware!

Not just any glassware, mind you; stemless, plastic, shatterproof, recyclable, elegantly shaped, thin-walled and totally transparent. Oh, and ideal for wine.

The glasses are called Govino, which Joseph, a local St. Helena resident, designed and brought to market this year with financial support from LA partner Boyd Willat, himself a brainiac entrepreneur.

And unlike Govino glassware, which won’t shatter, even if you stand on it, the plastic glasses are a smash hit, breaking all sales expectations.

Boyd Willat and Joseph Perrulli, the inventors of Govino. Boyd’s earlier claims to fame: he invented the daily planner called Day Runner, as well as the easy-to-hold Sensa Pen.

“I always thought of myself as a budding inventor,” says Joseph, now 47, who tried all through the 1990s to bring any number of whacko ideas to market, including a hands-free dog leash.

“I thought I might want to be a stunt driver, or an actor, in Hollywood,” says Joseph who, instead, in 1998, got the bright idea that what the world needed was a better plastic wine glass.

He says that he found those cheap, poolside, snap-on stem, plastic glasses, with lips as thick as Joan Rivers’, totally offensive. “I asked myself, ‘Why couldn’t I make a decent glass out of plastic that looks and feels like a Riedel glass?’”

Joseph and Boyd spent nine years understanding why no one had broken the (injection) mold of poorly designed, poorly manufactured plastic glassware. It was a hard act to pull off.

“We traveled to four continents and visited a dozen plastic manufacturers to find one who could make Govino out of PETG,” says Joseph, summarizing their nine-year odyssey.

In the end, they found a firm, which could make their curved, easy-to-hold glass out of glycol-modified, polyethylene terephthalate.

If that’s a mouthful, you can pretend that you know more than the guy sitting on the barstool next to you; if he’s drinking out of a Govino, tell him he’s drinking out of a new-age plastic called PETG, appreciated for its stiffness, toughness and impact strength.

Better yet, tell the dude on the barstool that his Govino contains no BPA, which, you tell him, is the short form for “Bisphenol A,” which Canada has banned from bottles, including baby bottles, and which is under review by agencies here in the US.

In the last short while, Bisphenol A has become controversial because it is believed to mimic estrogen when consumed in sufficient quantities and thus could induce human hormonal responses. Or so they say.

"We are ready for your close-up, profile shot, Mr. Govino." Notice the indented ridge for your finger, which helps you hold the bulbous, sensually curved Govino glass. Govino looks like it's made of glass, and drinks like it too, but, in fact, it's p-l-a-s-t-i-c!

About the actual glass: I know this sounds stupid, but Joseph and Boyd have actually designed a plastic glass that is stunning, sensual and sexy. These are not terms usually found in the same sentence as “plastic.”

When one picks up a Govino plastic glass, though, there is a certain visual and tactile richness that makes the wine being sipped more compelling than had it been poured into, and sipped from, a regular wine glass.

The one element of use that needs attention is how to wash Govino glasses. They appear to make it through the wash cycle of just about any home dishwasher, but Joseph recommends pulling them out before the drying cycle begins.

In my commercial Hobart glass washer, which heats to 190 F for a 100 percent bacterial kill without soap, I had mixed results with Govino glassware. One load washed and rinsed perfectly, but one load, which hit the highest heat, melted, resembling glassware that might have been designed by Salvador Dali.

Let’s face it: “Melting Govino Glassware” is not ever going to be a collectible the way Dali’s “Melting Clocks” (The Persistence of Memory) has become. So don’t fool yourself about the investment opportunity if you overheat yours the way I did mine.

Joseph’s wonderdog, Miles, has absolutely NOTHING to do with this story, but napaman.com believes that Dogs Make the World a Better Place to Live and so whenever anyone profiled in this space has a Wonderdog, the pooch’s photo is included!

To date, sales of Govino have been brisk, particularly in the Bay area. Joseph says he is beholden to local wineries and retailers in Napa Valley for help in establishing his brand.

“Frog’s Leap started the ball rolling, serving wines at a Leap Year party in Govino glasses,” says Joseph.

“Sunshine Foods Market, in St. Helena, was our earliest retail supporter, followed closely by Leslie Rudd, who put them in his Napa Valley Dean & DeLuca and Oakville Grocery locations,” Joseph adds.

Cindy Pawlcyn became a big fan of Govino and offered one each to 800 guests at her Mustards Grill 25th Birthday Party last week. One of the guests was Christian Moueix of Dominus fame, who took such a liking to Govino that, the next day, he ordered hundreds for his winery.

And that’s how this Govino thing is snowballing; you see ‘em, you touch ‘em, you drink from them and … Presto! You’re a Govino Convert. Who needs Riedel when you’ve got unbreakable, shatterproof, recyclable, SEXY and SENSUAL Govino?

Retailers charge $2 to $3 per Govino glass and Joseph alerts napaman.com readers to be on the lookout for a stemless Govino PETG Champagne flute as well as a Govino PETG decanter. They’re showing up in the marketplace soon. But remember, you read about them here first.

If you are a retailer and want more information about this plastic glass, or if you are a consumer who wants to learn more about this invention, go to www.govinowine.com.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some sexy, shatterproof, see-through drinking to get to…

Happy 25th Birthday, Mustards Grill!

The sign says it all – Sorry, everything is delicious!

Cindy Pawlcyn threw a party last night for 800 friends and her best customers to celebrate the 25 years that she has operated Mustards Grill.

It should have been the other way around; WE should have thrown the party for Cindy, because SHE is the one who has made our lives so rich, so wonderful, so full of taste.

Mustards Grill chef and owner, Cindy Pawlcyn. For the record, the James Beard Award-winning cookbook author also co-created many other Bay-area legendary eateries, including Fog City Diner, Bix, Roti, Tra Vigne, and Buckeye Roadhouse.

I have long argued that Mustards Grill may be “the best neighborhood restaurant in the United States.”

For one thing, it has consistently served perfectly grilled meats and other tasty dishes for 25 years. In the restaurant trade, consistency is the hobgoblin that operators try to wrestle to the ground. Cindy has consistency locked in a full nelson, tied in knots, and has stood victorious over it for 25 years.

Cindy’s pulled pork, for example, is the best example of this classic sandwich on this side of the Ozarks, and maybe the other side, too.

Her hanger steak is, quite simply, the most flavorful and fun steak served in Napa Valley.

And her Mongolian Pork Chop – well, don’t get me started. The sign out front, describing this dish, which has never come off the menu since it was introduced in 1986, says it succinctly: “Almost a Million Sold.”

Those who would disagree with my statement, that “Mustards Grill may be the best neighborhood restaurant in the country,” would probably, at the very least, concur that it is one of our nation’s most important restaurants, in the same way that Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse, in Berkeley, CA, is critical in a gastro-cultural sort of way.

Alice is all about organic fare, sustainable gardening, know-thy-supplier and such; Cindy supports many of the same ideals and has mastered, if not created, what has become known as the California Grill Kitchen. As far as I am concerned, Cindy put California grill cookery on our country’s culinary map.

So last night, to celebrate the 9,082 days that she has opened her doors (and that’s a lot of swinging action on those doors…), thrown hard wood onto the house smoker, and brought smiles to many of us, Cindy Pawlcyn threw a humdinger of a party. In spirit, it was warmer than a late harvest, Indian summer.

Some 38 local wineries poured their wines at outdoor stations set up in the organic garden beside the restaurant. (These gardens produce about 20 percent of all the herbs, salad greens and vegetables consumed at the restaurant.)

Talk about a “garden party!” Cindy’s 25th birthday bash was thrown in the organic garden adjacent the restaurant. Amid haricots verts and beds of lush green herbs, guests sipped killer reds, sparkling whites and quaffed legendary ales.

At other stations, Cindy’s talented cooks and waitstaff served highlights from her 25-year menu; there were sliders (miniature burgers in tiny buns), barbequed pork served with Cindy’s compelling OOOEEE! sauce, succulent baby back ribs and XXL-sized Hog Island oysters.

The wine highlight was a 27-year-old Robert Mondavi Reserve, brought to the party by Michael Oullette, who had once been a general manager at Mustards and who left to start up his fun-named Zinfandel called Blockheadia.

Wineman and former Mustards G.M., Michael Oullette, pours the 1981 Mondavi Reserve Cab, which he brought to the party. Only in Napa Valley does BYOB mean Bring Your Own Bomb – a six-liter bottle!

“I wanted to celebrate the memory of Bob Mondavi (who died several weeks ago), so I brought this bottle, which Bob had given me in 1995,” explained Michael. And what a bottle! Six liters of ethereal juice! The 1981 wine tasted fresh, was well fruited, and wasn’t pale at the rim, or tired. Thanks for sharing, Michael! What a pity Bob wasn’t on hand for the event; he would have had such a good time, having had so many wonderful dinners and wines at Mustards Grill.

As good a customer as Bob may have been, Carol and I probably top his attendance record at Mustards. Over 25 years, I have personally dined here more than 500 times. I think the “odometer” on the hostess’ computer program, which keeps track of guest’s visits, has gone around several times with my reservations, reaching a number that computer programmers never figured anyone at Mustards Grill would reach. It’s a bit like an old Mercedes hitting the 1 million mile mark, causing the odometer to rotate through to 000,001 and start counting miles from scratch, all over again.

Behind every successful man, they say, is a successful woman. The reverse appears to be true at Mustards and at Cindy’s two other Napa Valley properties, Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen and Go Fish. At these establishments, very capable, very talented and very dedicated, men run the kitchen under Cindy’s direction.

Erasto Jacinto and his brother Pablo, the executive chefs of Mustards Grill and Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen respectively. They started as dish washers with Cindy and worked their way up to run the kitchens of the two restaurants.

Erasto Jacinto started as a dish washer at Mustards in 1986 and worked his way up to become head chef; his brother, Pablo, took the same route and wound up head chef at Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen. Three of the most talented chefs in the country help keep Cindy’s fish restaurant, Go Fish, in St. Helena, on even keel, too. In this group I include Sean Knight, Victor Scargle and Ken Tominaga.

Cindy, Emiko Tominaga, wife of Ken Tominaga who is Cindy’s partner in the fish restaurant Go Fish, and Chaco, the oatmeal-colored miniature Poodle.

Cindy had a radiance about her last night that was nearly palpable. She is recently newly married, her three restaurants are full most nights, and she has reached an age and level of achievement that enable her to look back and highlight her best creations. Any one of these reasons would have given Cindy cause to be radiant, but there might also have been this element at work: she was surrounded by 1,200 of her closest friends, allies, supporters and co-workers and they were on hand to celebrate HER. And by my reasoning, they did her proud.

If you have never eaten at Mustards Grill – you must do so at least once in a lifetime. If, on the other hand, you are a regular, you have a long way to go to catch up to me for most memorable meals enjoyed here; I stopped counting at 500 visits. But hope springs eternal and you can always try… call 707-944-2424 for a reservation.

Mustards Grill is at 7399 St. Helena Highway, north of Madison St., the main road off the highway into Yountville.

An Icon is Dead. But Even More Upsetting, so is My Friend.

You will have read it elsewhere first, so the news on this screen is not so dramatic, yet it is still so fresh in my mind.

Robert Mondavi, known as Bob to his friends, has died today at the age of 94.

If it weren’t for Bob, I wouldn’t live in Napa Valley and you wouldn’t be reading this.

He built this...

… but he did so much more. Bob Mondavi influenced EVERYONE in Napa Valley wine circles and is the Dean Emeritus of Wine in Napa Valley, if not America.

Bob called in 1980, urging me to come report on a new promotion, The Great Chefs of France Cooking School. He wanted to prove that American wines were every bit as good as classic French wines from Bordeaux and Burgundy and that his Mondavi wines paired exceptionally well with great food.

I was then Food Editor and Restaurant Critic of the largest newspaper in Canada (The Toronto Star, one of the five largest daily circ papers in North America), Bob stated his intention – that he wanted to convince food writers like me that his wines were on par with the Great Wines of France.

Exactly 28 years ago this very week, I flew to Napa Valley to cover the cooking classes of Jean Troisgros, whose family ran – and still runs – what is considered by many the single greatest restaurant in the world (Restaurant Troisgros, in Roanne, France).

We cooked with Jean for three days in Oakville, at the epicenter of Napa Valley and late into the night, I sat with Bob and Jean in the winery’s Vintage Room, swirling and sipping the greatest Bordeaux and best young Burgundies and Bob put his own Cabs and Pinot Noirs up for comparison.

Jean and I were incredibly impressed at the quality of Bob’s wines and I was so overwhelmed with the three-day writing assignment that I called home and told my wife that “one day we are moving here to Napa Valley.”

The place, the people – and particularly Bob Mondavi – had shook me to the core; I was not a greenie off the boat, struck by big lights or celebrity. I had traveled the world, been a foreign correspondent for years in Africa, had enjoyed dinners at the homes of world leaders and had spent time with some of the world’s top chefs, researching and writing profiles for various media.

No, what Bob introduced me to was a lifestyle, a persistence for “excellence,” and Napa Valley resonated within me in a way that no other place had ever done before, or since.

It took me 17 years to make the move to Napa Valley happen; we first had to get our kids to and through college but when the coast was clear, we upped and moved and became permanent fixtures of Napa Valley in 1997.

And I owe my life today to Bob and his dedicated and wonderful wife Margrit Biever Mondavi, who invited me to this valley, who became friends over the years that we have lived here, and who showed America how wine could become an instrumental part of the dinner table. And how good wine could be made in this nation.

Tonight, the wine industry mourns a fallen leader, a giant, an icon. But I mourn the loss of a friend and mentor.

My first glass at dinner tonight will be raised in Bob’s memory. He showed me – he showed us all – a way to live our lives; to not give in, to follow one’s passions and do it kindly and with humility.

I already miss you, Bob. Big time.

Honk if you love Zinfandel & Art!

I love his wine.

I love her art.

Art and wine merged – on a double magnum of America’s best Zinfandel!

“And now, for the first time ever, they are available together!”

Sounds a bit cheesy, like an infomercial offering two things merged, which previously had only ever been available separately.

But trust me, this pairing of wine and art is original. And what a stunning gift it makes.


To honor the sounds of Joni Mitchell, Layla Fanucci etched and painted this portrait of the singer on a double magnum of Rob’s 2005 Monte Rosso Zinfandel.

The Wine: Charter Oak Zinfandel, my all-time favorite Zin, is made by Rob Fanucci, in St. Helena. By day, Rob is a lawyer; on weekends and nights, he is an old-fashioned, hands-on winemaker, like his grandfather Guido Ragghianti, who taught him how to make wine.
Until now, Rob’s wine has only been available in 750 mL bottles, but for this new, husband-wife, wine-art project, Rob is bottling double magnums of his top wine.

The Art: Until recently, Rob’s hyper-talented wife, Layla, mostly painted cityscapes on canvasses so large that you needed your own personal cathedral in order to be able to hang one. These are stunning, large images. But now Layla has started to work on nano-sized (at least for her!) projects – personalized, etched-and-hand-painted wine labels – of any image you ask her to paint – applied to Rob’s double magnums.

So now you can get the best of Rob and Layla.

The pair will introduce their collaborative work at ZinArt, a casual party they are hosting at the winery on Charter Oak Ave., in St. Helena, Saturday May 24. The party starts about 4 pm and runs until they run out of Rob’s wine. Rob and Layla have asked me to extend an invitation to readers of napaman.com, so we’ll see ya there.

In the interest of remaining an honest, objective, reporter, I need to disclose my relationship with Rob and Layla, who over the last five years have become close friends.

Rob Fanucci, winemaker

Five years ago, I fell head-over-heels crazy for Rob’s Zinfandel when I discovered it at a tasting. It was so profound that I approached Rob, asking if I might help him pick fruit and make wine at the next harvest. This annual event has become one of the highlights for me of living in Napa Valley. And the Zinfandel and Petite Sirah that Rob make are among my all-time favorites. He has a knack for turning these otherwise badass, high-alcohol bruisers into elegant wines. As you know, “elegant” is not a word commonly associated with Zinfandel, or Petite Sirah.

Layla Fanucci, artist

As for Layla, she has an infectious spirit, a boundless amount of energy and do-goodness about her. For 25 years, she taught guitar; then one day, eight years ago, she put down her guitar and picked up a paintbrush and started to paint. Like Forrest Gump starting to run and run and run some more, she hasn’t stopped painting since.

Layla is set to start painting her largest-ever canvass – measuring 14 feet wide. “It will take me a year to complete!” she predicts.

For all these years, Layla has painted outside on a back porch, braving cold winds on winter days, and braving birds on warm summer days, which try to hit her colorful linen canvass targets with their droppings. Friends can hardly get through to Layla when she is in her paint trance; in this mode, you can’t stop her, or peel the paint tube out of her hands.

Today, two galleries represent Layla nationwide – Walter Wickiser Gallery in New York (210 11th Ave # 303, Tel: 212-941-1817) and Christopher Hill Gallery in St. Helena (1235 Main St., St. Helena, Tel: 707-963-0272).

Layla’s interpretation of Wall Street, NY.

Layla has two basic themes; she does massive cityscapes with layers of paint in which the light and color seem to radiate from out the back of the painting. She has painted such diverse cities as Barcelona, Paris, Berlin, Istanbul, Chicago, New York, San Francisco and Florence.

The Zinfandel Mind # 8

Her other theme is a series of richly colorful, hallucinogenic images, which bear a common wine theme. She calls the series, with numerical coefficients, things like Zinfandel Mind # 11, or Zinfandel Mind #8.

Wanting to bring her art and Rob’s wine closer together, Layla recently got the idea to put her images on his wine bottles.

The project has been an immediate success and as Layla is willing to customize the images she puts on bottles for clients, there appears to be no end to the commissioned bottles she may etch and paint.

Here’s how it works: if you buy a double magnum (that’s four bottles of Rob’s killer Zinfandel) and Layla finishes the label with one of her own images, the bottle is $1200.

If you give Layla a photo of someone you’d like painted on the label (makes a great birthday, wedding, anniversary, or Christmas gift), the cost is slightly higher. How much? As they say on menus for the daily catch – price available on request.

l
Great art (Layla’s), great wine (Rob’s), commemorating great naan (Fabulous Flats) and a great guy (Sam), my bakery partner.

In fact, I couldn’t think of a more original, or more personal, gift than Layla’s painted bottles to give to my bakery partner, Sam, who turned 60 in February.

I also wanted to commemorate a significant milestone in the bakery we co-founded four years ago – we’ve just baked our 30,000,000th hand-stretched naan (Indian flatbread) after a year of production!

So I hired Layla to personalize a bottle of Charter Oak Zin and apply a hand-painted portrait of Sam holding a package of our International Fabulous Flats™ Tandoori Naan.

Rob filled the bottle with his glorious 2005 Charter Oak Monte Rosso Vineyard Zinfandel. The fruit comes from 100+-year-old vines on a slope in Sonoma County. Only a handful of old-time winemakers can get their hands on this premium-quality hillside fruit, today owned by Gallo.

Sam Ajmera, my bakery partner, proudly displays his birthday gift. “The bottle made turning 60 painless!” says Sam.

Sam was tickled with the gift, as Charter Oak Zinfandel is one of his favorite-ever wines.

Or as they might say in a MasterCard TV ad:

Wine: $200 (equivalent of four bottles of Charter Oak Zin)
Original, personalized, etched and hand-painted label: $1,000
Total cost: $1,200
Look on the face of the person you gift: PRICELESS.

Layla and Rob Fanucci

Going forward, any etched bottles, which Layla hand paints, will be filled with Rob’s exquisite 2006 Napa Valley Zinfandel, grown on his family’s vineyard in St. Helena. This wine is tweaked with a touch of nearby Fulton Vineyard Petite Sirah.

For the record, Rob bottled some of this 2006 Petite Sirah on its own (only 125 cases of this exceptional elixir) and every time I taste it, I slap my forehead, recalling how good it is. In fact, I have yet to spit out this wine any of the dozen times that I have now professionally tasted it.

If you are free Saturday, May 24, come to the ZinArt party. Layla’s canvasses will be on display (and for sale). Rob will be pouring his wines, also for sale.

If you wish to read more about these local art and wine heroes, go to:
www.laylafanucci.com or www.charteroakwine.com

As a PS, let me add these tasting notes to the wines that Rob will be pouring at ZinArt. Because even if you choose not to get an etched, hand-painted double magnum, the wine, in 750 mL format, is a MUST HAVE for your cellar.

Tasting Notes

Overall, I believe that the 2006 Charter Oak wines may turn out to be the single greatest vintage Rob has have ever produced. There is a purity of fruit, a finesse and elegance, which are uncommon even in his normally marvelous wines, which show a balance not typical of most California Zins.

In my opinion, Rob’s 2006 Zinfandels surpass his previous Zin zeniths. And he has knocked the ball right out of the park with his 2006 Petite Sirah.

In fact, the 2006 Charter Oak Petite Sirah is one of the best wines that Rob has ever made. For sure, it is the best Not-Zinfandel that he has ever made, hands down.

Even though this wine has recently been bottled, it is an expressive, big-but-surprisingly-balanced wine. Tons of ripe black raspberry on the nose and palate; there is a pleasing crescendo of ripe fruit flavors through the swallow and then a hint of dark, 70% cocoa and a whisper of black cherry on the finish. I scored this Petite Sirah 97 points, but for the life of me, I can’t explain why I didn’t rate it 100.

(What is it with wine writers that forces us to restrain our enthusiasm for a “lesser grape” like Petite Sirah, saving the really big, perfect scores for Cabernet, or Chateauneuf du Pape?

When I think about it now, at the time of writing this piece, I have never tasted a more perfect Petite Sirah… so YOU go figure what the score should be!)

Rob’s 2006 Charter Oak Napa Valley Zinfandel is made with fruit from vines planted in St. Helena, where his grandfather planted vines nearly 100 years ago. Stumpy and spindly (the vines, not his grandfather!), they have been pruned to produce small, highly concentrated, grapes. This wine has a generous hint of ripe blackberries and a spicy, tweaky finish from the addition of some killer Fulton Petite Sirah. 96 points.

Rob’s 2006 Charter Oak Monte Rosso Zinfandel, made with fruit from the famed Monte Rosso vineyard, in Sonoma County, has bright red and black fruit flavors, shows no prunish edge (in some vintages, Rob adds second- or even third-pass fruit, but not in 2006 and it shows). 95 points.

Oxbow Public Market – Top New Attraction in Napa Valley!

For years, Napkins (the residents of Napa, as I like to call them) have drooled when they visit San Francisco’s famed (and did I say Wonderful?) Ferry Building Marketplace on the Embarcadero.

Well, they’re not drooling any more. The same mind that brought life, artisans, chocolate, a wine bar, caviar, oysters and a bookstore to the revitalized Ferry Building in San Francisco has done it again, this time in the town of Napa.

That mind, by the way, belongs to Napa Valley resident Steve Carlin.

Steve Carlin, the spirit, brains and brawn behind Oxbow Public Market

At the turn of the year, Steve, who is founder and CEO of Oxbow Public Market, along with a small team of smart guys and smart money, opened the Oxbow Public Market on a bend in the Napa River beside COPIA (the American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts). The team dreamed up, built and populated the property over a two-year period. Total cost to open the doors? About $11 million, a sneeze compared to the near $70 million that was needed to open the doors at COPIA next door.

Hallelujah! The still-in-its-infancy Oxbow Public Market is a charmer, a disarmer, a welcome divertissement for downtown Napa. EVERY SINGLE TOURIST WHO READS THIS MUST ADD A PIT STOP AT OXBOW MARKET TO HIS/HER “EATINERARY” OF NAPA VALLEY.

Oxbow Market is a collection of (eventually) 14 interior stalls and five exterior, or adjacent, businesses supplying mostly local, mostly organic, mostly sustainably produced foods. The good stuff, the tasty stuff, for visitors and locals alike.

Carlin has said that his goal was to recreate, albeit on a more compact scale, the great markets of North America – San Francisco’s Ferry Building, Seattle’s Pike Place and Vancouver’s Granville Island. A month after the formal opening, I’d say he’s succeeded beyond anyone’s expectations, certainly mine.

Oxbow Public Market is a statement about tasty, sustainable, mostly organic foods, it’s about locally grown produce (farmers in outdoor stalls complete the interior stall offerings) and about Bay-area- and Napa Valley-based artisans selling what they make, treasure, or revere. I guess you could summarize and say, above all, it’s a Place about Passion.

About Oxbow Public Market

The 40,000-square-foot marketplace, which includes a scenic outdoor deck with seating along the Napa River, is open seven days a week, 10 to 7 pm weekdays, 9 to 6 pm Saturday and 10 to 5 pm Sunday.

Currently open at the Market

The smartest way to review the stalls and stores at Oxbow is to group them geographically.

While Oxbow is small, you’ll want to stay for a bite, meander through the various stalls and generally lose yourself in sensual pleasures – food, wine, chocolate, tea, coffee, cheese and ice cream. So plan on spending a few hours at the very least.

To help plan your visit, here’s an overview of what’s at the market on a geographic, not alphabetic, basis:

Stalls on the west side of the Market

Pica Pica Maize Kitchen

Arepas, which are grilled white corn flour flatbreads, are the national food of Venezuela. And given their popularity at Pica Pica, and the line-ups they create, they could soon become the national dish of Napa.

Adriana Lopez Vermut and her family, who run a number of restaurants in Caracas, decided to take the plunge and open the first restaurant in North America serving arepas, and their sweet culinary counterpart, cachapas. For the record: both are made daily on site from corn flour and both are wheat- and gluten-free.

Luis Sosa, general manager of Pica Pica, presents a breakfast cachapa filled with cheese and ham. For the record, Pica Pica means “magpie” – the bird.

Arepas can be lined with ten different protein, or fruit, fillings, including chicken salad, skirt steak, black beans, tofu and plantains, cheese and ham, or even a poached egg.

What’s the one thing you insist visitors try when they ask, “What’s special?”
A Pepeada arepa, which is a freshly pressed corn cake heated on a griddle, sliced and filled with a chicken and avocado mixture seasoned with cumin, garlic, and Serrano chile. $7.25.

Fête

For those who don’t speak French, fête is both a verb and a noun, meaning “to celebrate,” or it’s the event itself, a celebration.

And what a fête this stall is, filled with charming accessories for home entertainment. Need to pamper yourself, or find a killer hostess gift? You’re likely to find it here. Consider: Heath ceramics from nearby Sausalito, or a set of exquisite Laguiole cheese knives. Maybe madame would be interested in a stunning argent (silver) tray from Argentina… or some gorgeous hand-etched Venetian glassware? Or consider fine table linens from France and Italy…?

Shop owner Jackie Caldwell-Rhoades advises customers to “buy once, and buy well,” because you will keep the items that you acquire here for a long, long time. There is something timelessly elegant about the items she selects to sell.

What’s the one thing you insist visitors try when they ask, “What’s special?”
It’s difficult to identify one thing that fits all needs, or all homes, so Fête manager Kathleen de Vries suggests “the elegant paper celebration crowns,” which can be worn at parties, or dinners by the celebrant of the event, the person having a birthday, or who is celebrating a major achievement. $16 a crown.

Five Dot Ranch

When the butcher at the stall of Five Dot Ranch tells you the family history, it makes you think of Ben Cartwright and his sons on the Ponderosa.

Five Dot is a seventh generation cattle ranch run by the Swickard family, today based in Susanville, Lassen County, CA.

The original brothers, so the story goes, called themselves “dots,” for no apparent reason. Hence the origin of the ranch’s name.

Folklore aside, what Five Dot brings to Oxbow is 100% northern California beef from Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties. The cattle are range-fed and all-natural, free of hormones and antibiotics. All the beef, with the exception of thin cuts like flank, hanger, and skirt steaks, is dry-aged 21 days.

Richard Barlow, a master butcher who has been in the meat and restaurant business for 35 years, came out of retirement to “have some fun” and work at the Five Dot stall. “This is by far the best beef that I have ever eaten!” he says. He’s holding what he says is his tastiest steak – a well-marbled, dry-aged, rib-eye.

What’s the one thing you insist visitors try when they ask, “What’s special?”
The 21-day dry-aged, heavily marbled rib-eye steak at $22.95/pound. “It’s one of the best pieces of steak you will ever eat!” says butcher Richard Barlow.

Three Twins Organic Ice Cream

This two-year-old, novel ice cream company, based in San Rafael, makes organic ice cream in flavors and colors as original as the story behind the venture.

Neal Gottleib, returning from a Peace Corps assignment in Morocco, moved in with his twin brother, Carl, and Carl’s then-fiance Liz, herself a twin. Neil started referring to the threesome as “The Three Twins,” and when he later decided to start America’s first organic ice cream chain, that’s the moniker he applied to the enterprise.

A dozen different organic ice creams are offered daily, though there is seasonal rotation coming from a total selection of some 30 flavors. All inclusions are also organic – the cookies and fruit snippets. The waffle cones, too, are organic, made, as you watch, on a small kitchen-sized waffle griddle that sits upon the counter.

I love the playfulness of the stall at Oxbow, the whacko signs and the inventive overhead conveyor contraption.

But I also love the ice cream and what Neil is attempting to do. By this summer, Neil intends to move his ice cream-making operation from San Rafael to Oxbow.

What’s the one thing you insist visitors try when they ask, “What’s special?”
Dad’s Cardamom Ice Cream. Why? For one thing, it’s totally different than all other commercial ice creams. It’s a very clean, delicate tasting vanilla that is scented almost more than being flavored with freshly ground cardamom, which Neil gets from his neighboring Oxbow stall, Whole Spice.
The cardamom ice cream, like all flavors, comes in a “Teensy” size for $2.25, a single scoop for $3.25… and runs on up to that $85,000 price tag on the sign above. Who ever said organic ice cream was cheap?

Heritage Culinary Artifacts

Lisa Minucci, the owner of this sweet stall, must have a screw loose. Or, at the very least, a corkscrew loose.

Lisa, who was sommelier at the very popular Martini House, in St. Helena, decided to sidestep her career and start something new. Now, in addition to writing a newsletter for sommeliers, Lisa hunts down wonderfully whimsical vintage farm signs and antique kitchen implements on her travels and then offers them for sale at her Oxbow stall.

Looking for an unusual gift? How about a heritage corkscrew, a weird bottle opener, a well-used serving utensil, or culinary curio? Chances are you’ll find something at Lisa’s Heritage stall.

What’s the one thing you insist visitors try when they ask, “What’s special?”
Not really a valid question here as there is total rotation of inventory and no two pieces are alike. This is one of those times when the answer to this common question is probably “everything!”

Whole Spice

Talk about a real mom and pop shop – this is it! Ronit (mom) and Shuli (pop) Madmone are taking their first gamble at retailing by bringing their exquisite line of freshly ground spices to the Oxbow Market.

Shuli Madmone opened Whole Spice with his wife, Ronit.

Shuli, who grew up in a family of spice traders, grinds and blends his spices in nearby Petaluma and offers about 300 different spices and 50 proprietary blends at his Oxbow stall.

Looking for paprika? Shuli has five different types including Hungarian, Spanish, Israeli, a smoked paprikash and a sweet paprikash.

Looking for salt? Look no further. Shuli has 12 different kinds including gray, pink, smoked, Hawaiian gold, and Hawaiian black.

Want to turn that cup of black coffee into something exotic with no added calories? Add ¼ teaspoon per cup of Shuli’s Hawaj blend, a tasty chai equivalent for java consisting of ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves and cardamom.

Whole Spice offers 300 spices in bulk, or pre-packaged in jars.

What’s the one thing you insist visitors try when they ask, “What’s special?”
Zhug, a fiery Yemeni blend of tianjin chile, garlic, coriander, cloves, cilantro, salt and cardamom, which is to be sprinkled over salads, fish, soup or grilled meats. A 50 gram packet of zhug is $5.50.

Stalls on the east side of the Market

Anette's Chocolate Factory

Shopkeeper Lisa Pike helps customers sort through snack options – beer brittle, chocolate truffles, or ice cream toppings, what’s it gonna be?

For 17 years, sister and brother Anette and Brent Madsen, have been making chocolates down the block on 1st Street. You see their tasty Beer Brittle and assorted line extensions (Fiery Beer Brittle, Wine Brittle, Kentucky Bourbon Brittle) all over town in independent grocery stores. The couple figured they needed to reach out to the 4 million visitors we attract in Napa Valley, many of whom will make the pilgrimage to Oxbow Public Market.

What’s the one thing you insist visitors try when they ask, “What’s special?”
Beer Brittle. It has a playful yin-yang flavor thing going on with salt and sugar duking it out on your palate for dominance, and there’s a pleasing peanut-y finish, which draws you back for more. $9.95 for a half-pound bag.

Kitchen Library

Photographer Steven Rothfeld, many of whose books grace my shelves (he shoots the photography for Patricia Wells’ cookbooks, and I have long treasured a book that he did on French signs called Entrez, which I bought long before I ever met Steven) decided he needed more mishagas in his life; so he opened a very personal, tiny stall, offering books, curios, culinary and stationery accessories, which he personally loves. If an item is sitting on Steven’s table, it has his personal endorsement of being wonderful, unique, and ownership-worthy.

Steven also sells prints and images – of his own work and of others – and has lots of hand-made things, which you won’t find at other retail stores.

Steven Rothfeld.

What’s the one thing you insist visitors try when they ask, “What’s special?”
“That’s like asking me which of my children do I like more, or which book that I have produced do I like more?” says Steven, responding to the common question.
“I’ve chosen every single thing in the store for a personal reason. These are things I love and live with.”

Folio Enoteca and Winery

What a claim to fame – the smallest bonded commercial winery in America! The man behind the concept is Michael Mondavi, whose family ran one of the largest wineries in the country. Michael, whose gone from big to small, actually makes wine on site and, as well, serves a number of brands from his Folio portfolio.

Oh yeah, and there’s great food, too.

Gregg Lamer, manager at Folio, says that they make more than 1,000 cases per year of Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc in the 80 square feet devoted to winemaking on site. That’s a neat trick - like displaying all of Imelda Marcos’ shoes in a phone booth!

At Folio, you can sip through different flights of wine, or order a glass, or bottle, of the wines made by Michael Mondavi’s family -- I’M, Hangtime, or Oberon. Better yet, marry them to tasty offerings created by one of my favorite Napa Valley chefs, Sarah Scott. I’ve long encouraged Sarah to go out on her own to start her own restaurant; until she does, this is one of the few spots in the valley where you can taste her splendid work.

Sarah Scott, executive at Folio Enoteca.

What’s the one thing you insist visitors try when they ask, “What’s special?”
A Past (04), Present (05), and Future (06 – from barrel) flight of Oberon Cabernet Sauvignon, $12, with a side of Sarah’s scrumptious, southern-style, 3-cheese, Mac & Cheese, $5.

Tillerman Tea

David Campbell, former CEO of a popular Stags Leap District winery, decided to follow his passion, which was his second favorite beverage – tea.

David Campbell, founder of Tillerman Tea.

Last year, David left the wine world and started Tillerman Tea, sourcing more than 35 whole-leaf teas through the entire color/flavor spectrum – white, green and black. The teas are sourced in China and Taiwan, some are sold loose, others are encased in silken sachets.

At the Oxbow tasting bar, five organic house teas are poured free daily. David Wong, who has the formal title “director of tea culture and education,” will graciously lead you through your tasting, which you will find as detailed as any tasting you may have had at a local winery.

What’s the one thing you insist visitors try when they ask, “What’s special?”
“Chen Huan Tang is a tea master from Taiwan, one of the world’s great tea specialists,” says David Campbell with reverence. “We offer his Alishan Oolong tea, which looks peculiar but which has an exceptional taste.”
After the leaves of this tea are oxidized and roasted, they are dumped into large muslin sacks, which are rolled by hand, forcing the leaves inside to curl into small clumpy balls that look a bit like green nasturtium buds. In a way, the Alishan Oolong resembles wet clumps of grass that have been scraped off the blades of a lawn mower used on a dew-stained lawn and left to dry. They’re that shade of green. Anyway, when you add water, the curled-up balls relax, swell and release their tasty tannins. $11.50 per 25 grams, which will make at least 20 cups of tea.

Rôtisario

Perhaps you have been to France and seen those rotisserie trucks roll up to a local farmer’s market and wondered aloud, as I have, “why hasn’t anyone brought these trucks to America?”

Thomas Odermatt, “The Prince of Chicken,” as he is now called, sends his chicken rotisserie trucks to 25 Bay-area farmers’ markets weekly during the warmer months.

Thomas Odermatt must have been standing beside me and heard me speaking to myself, because in 2002, the Swiss-born, son of a master butcher founded his Bay-area business RoliRoti. You have likely seen Thomas’ trucks parked at the Ferry Building Farmers Market or have seen them roll up to most other weekly Bay-area farmers markets. They’re the trucks with an open side of juicy, turning, “rotisserizing” Fulton Valley free-range chickens.

Now Thomas has brought his clever rotisserie system to Oxbow Market, opening his first land-based, chicken-on-wheels business, but without the wheels.

Come and get it! Thomas says this Fulton Valley chicken is perfectly cooked. The potatoes he offers are cooked in the hot natural fat that drips off the rotisserie’d chickens onto the spuds below.

What’s the one thing you insist visitors try when they ask, “What’s special?”
The signature dish; the Rôtisario Chicken Plate for $9.50, which includes your choice of white or dark meat (but not both), a green salad with leafy organic greens, and roasted potatoes richly flavored with chicken juices.

The Olive Press

When we first moved to Napa Valley in 1997, once of the first things we did was to harvest our olives and make oil. As we had a rather small crop, we sought out a competent source to help us custom crush and in the process were introduced to The Olive Press, then located in Glen Ellen.

It was a tiny operation then, staffed by a few knowledgeable people. Today, the business has moved to a new building on the property of the Jacuzzi Family Winery on Arnold Drive (Hwy 121) and now it’s staffed by a lot of knowledgeable people.

Coming east to Napa County, and shedding their Sonoma-only presence, The Olive Press offers Oxbow Public Market visitors a chance to taste through seven different olive oils (some are flavored, some are blends, some are varietals).

On any day, you can taste through a selection of four different olive oils, three proprietary blends and three fruit-flavored olive oils. The tasting is free.

Not down a quart of oil? Looking for olives instead? Shopkeeper Cynthia Morgan is happy to walk you through a selection of cured olives.

What’s the one thing you insist visitors try when they ask, “What’s special?”
Arbequina olive oil, pressed from those little brownish olives that are often put out in Italian restaurants. “I like the flavor of this oil,” says shopkeeper Cynthia Morgan, “it’s not too strong, not too mild.” A sort of Goldilocks of oil, if you permit, not too big, not too little. Just right. $26/500 mL bottle.

Exterior/adjacent retailers

The Oxbow Wine Merchant and Wine Bar

It’s the best – if not longest – honkin’ wine bar in Napa Valley. I love the thick, 70-running feet of white oak, cut from a single 100-year-old tree; I love what they serve on top of it, too. Great food and great wines in tasting flights. And like those at an airport – these are flights you do not want to miss!

The menu changes regularly and seasonally as do the wines, so without being specific to the image above, just understand that the three amigos who run this place (and the San Francisco Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant, as well), inherently nail the food/wine pairing in spades. Choose a platter of cheeses, nuts and fruit and you will be amply rewarded with a flight of wines suggested by the barkeep.

It’s hard to imagine that you are in Napa Valley and have run out of wine, but let’s pretend that you have. Your cellar is bare. So you head to the Oxbow Wine Merchant and ask them to fill up your fridge, your pantry, your cellar, and maybe your garage, too. Because they can; they stock more than 1,000 different wines, every one of which staff members have tasted and know. It is from this inventory that the flights and by-the-glass wines originate.

The Wine Merchant hasn’t been open a month and already weekend nights are starting to be THE meeting place in Napa town; you may have thought that Five Dot Ranch, next door, was THE place to go for alluring meat… but on Friday night, that bulls-eye moves west about 20 feet… to the Wine Merchant Bar.


The amazing smoked salmon BLT on Model Bakery whole-wheat.

What’s the one thing you insist visitors try when they ask, “What’s special?”
The signature sandwich, which can be paired with a flight of tasty Pinot Noirs, is the Smoked Salmon BLT (pictured above). Here’s a generous mound of smoked salmon, apple wood-smoked bacon, lettuce and tomato, sandwiched between toasted slices of Model Bakery whole-wheat, which have been brushed with a zippy pesto mayo. $12 for the sandwich, wine flight extra.

The Oxbow Cheese Merchant

Riccardo Huijon, Melissa Crosby and Lassa Skinner, the cheery cheese mongers who will greet you in the northwest corner of the Oxbow Wine Bar.

The owners of the wine bar also decided to offer a small selection of retail cheeses. They pulled in some serious talent, cheese mongers who know cheese the way the guys behind the bar know their wines; and they encouraged them to purchase more than 100 different cheeses from around the world. Their personal favorites, stuff that is seasonal, sensational, sensual.

It is good to finally catch up, by the way, with Riccardo Huijon, who disappeared off the radar screen at Dean & DeLuca, where I used to patiently wait in line for his attentive, enthusiastic, cheese service. Now he’s at Oxbow Cheese, inside the structure that houses the Wine Bar.

What’s the one thing you insist visitors try when they ask, “What’s special?”
The three cheese mongers said that it was really difficult to name just ONE cheese to answer this question, but in the interest of identifying one cheese out of a hundred that they would suggest to customers, they named Goat’s Leap as THE cheese to try. This is the only cheese made in Napa Valley, produced in St. Helena. I love the creamy, goat-y, rich and balanced taste of this fromage, an equal to many of the French goat cheeses you have tasted in your life.

Taylor's Automatic Refresher

Rare, rare, rare, like the ahi tuna they serve here; you are not likely to ever see this sight in your lifetime – NO lineup at Taylors! This is what the Oxbow location looks like one minute after they open the doors. By two minutes, you’ll feel like you’re in Disneyworld during spring break, it can get that crowded.

One of Napa Valley’s original food concessions is on a tear. After the Gott family took over Taylor’s Refresher about eight years ago in St. Helena, they built a satellite location at the San Francisco Ferry Building. The two locations vie for which one has the longer line-ups for burgers, a killer ahi tuna sandwich, and the best milkshakes this side of the Rockies (Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect $200, Do not do anything else until you have had Taylor’s espresso bean milkshake; that’s not a suggestion – that an order!).

Now there’s a third, new location – at the Oxbow Public Market and who’s surprised? The line-ups are just as long here! The public has an unquenchable hunger for good, inexpensive food, beer and wine, and Taylor’s fills this need.

What’s the one thing you insist visitors try when they ask, “What’s special?”
We send all our visitors from out of town to the original Taylor’s location in St. Helena, which is closer to our home. The signature dish and signature beverage are: Seared rare Ahi tuna filet with ginger wasabi mayo and Asian slaw on a toasted egg bun. $13.99. The signature beverage is the espresso bean milkshake, described above, and large enough for two to share. $4.99.

Just west of the Oxbow Market, yet still part of it, are two retail stores that must not be overlooked – The Model Bakery and The Fatted Calf.

The Model Bakery

This will give you some idea of the selection of baked goods they make…

… and of the tasty breads, too, which rival the best made anywhere in the Bay-area.

One of my favorite pit-stops in St. Helena, after I finish my morning exercise, is at The Model Bakery on Main St., where they serve a mean Peet’s latte and some of the tastiest baked goods in Napa Valley.

Under the direction of Karen Mitchell and Sarah Mitchell Hansen (mother and daughter team), The Model Bakery is turning out hearty country breads that are in the league of those baked by Steve Sullivan at Acme Bread in Berkeley, or of those baked by Thomas Keller’s crew at Bouchon Bakery in Yountville. Many Model breads even surpass these exalted benchmarks.

The Model breads are exciting, crusty, they are breads with superb “crumb” as the soft center is called. There are times at home, when we have a slice of the pain au levain, that we recall that in all the dinners in France on our last trip, we didn’t have a bread as good, as crusty, as memorable as the Model pain au levain. Hats off to Karen and Sarah and to their new wizard head baker, Philippe Garcia.

What’s the one thing you insist visitors try when they ask, “What’s special?”
Karen Mitchell has a hard time identifying the one thing you have to try; “I’d say try any of the breads made with organic flour – we’re making baguettes, boules, batards, probably 20 different breads. We bake seven days a week; there has never been a bakery in the town of Napa offering this quality, or freshness, of breads.”
And just when I thought this was her choice for “must-try,” she hmmmmed out loud to herself and added, “but maybe I should say the “must-try” is a freshly baked English muffin, which we serve for breakfast, filled with fresh scrambled eggs, Tillamook Cheddar and lean Canadian bacon. (NY chef) Mario Batali ordered a few dozen at Christmas, claiming that he’d heard these were the best English muffins in America.”

The Fatted Calf

Sunlight glares off the refrigerated display case at The Fatted Calf – but that’s not all that glares here; there is a glaring fact that you are in the presence of some very knowledgeable, very dedicated, very caring charcuteristes.

Remember the names Taylor Boetticher and Toponia Miller. Yes, they are uncommon names but then, this husband and wife team have an uncommon profession – they are serious charcuteristes in a country that is obsessed with leanness, diet, and avoidance of fat.

That’s Toponia above, displaying a tray of just-made crepinettes an artisanal sausage – hand-pattied, wrapped in pork caul. It is a fabulous forcemeat of rabbit, lamb, walnuts, shallots and herbs that are hand-slapped into patties.

Taylor and Toponia met at the CIA (Culinary Institute of America), in Hyde Park, NY, and decided to move west for adventure. Toponia became chef at San Francisco’s MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) and Taylor oversaw meat sales at the Meat Market at Café Rouge, in Berkeley. They knew that one day, they would make their own line of sausages, and when Steve Carlin came a’callin’ (or in their case, a’caulin’), they rose to the self-imposed challenge.

Sausage maker Antonio Jeronimo smiles, having just made two types of small salami. The meats, pates, terrines, and sausages change daily at The Fatted Calf.

What’s the one thing you insist visitors try when they ask, “What’s special?”
We let Toponia off the hook on this question, for like a few other merchants at Oxbow, she answered that it would be impossible to single out just one of her artisanal products.
“Today I might say that THE thing to try is our terrine forestiere, made with rabbit, duck and black trumpet mushrooms, but tomorrow it could be one of 30 other sausages that we make – like our summer Basque Sausage, which is ideal for grilling.”

Opening in late Spring:

Kanaloa Seafood

A full-service seafood purveyor that will provide premium-quality shellfish and locally caught fish.

Ritual Coffee Roasters

Many say Ritual makes the best coffee in San Francisco. We’ll find out just how good it is when the Mission district coffee purveyor opens at Oxbow.

Opening in early Fall:

Hog Island Oyster Company

Modeled after its oyster bar at the San Francisco Ferry Building, Hog Island Oxbow will serve premium-quality, fresh-raised oysters on the half-shell, as well as baked oyster classics, organic salads and a daily changing seafood entrée.

For further information on any of the merchants above, contact Oxbow Public Market at 707-226-6529, or visit the website at: www.oxbowpublicmarket.com.

Enlightened about Darkness! 6th Annual “Death by Chocolate” Festival at COPIA

There are 199,000,000 links to “chocolate” on Google and there were just about as many references – and chocolate samples – at COPIA this weekend, where the 6th annual “Death by Chocolate” Festival was held.

Children who attended the day-long chocolate event loved the chocolate fountains – one gushing dark chocolate, one gushing white chocolate.

COPIA, in case you have been in a chocolate-induced coma for the past decade, is the American Center for Food, Wine and the Arts, in Napa. How appropriate that the center, known mostly for wine, hosts this annual deep, dark, delicious chocolate event, because it turns out that chocolate has many of the same properties as wine.

For starters, dark chocolate has many of the same antioxidants as wine and the raw ingredient – cacao – even has healthful antibacterial agents.

“Our roasted chocolate nibs have nearly 65 times more antioxidants than broccoli,” says Shawn Askinosie, who attended the event. You’re going to hear more about this extraordinary chocolate maker from Springfield, MO, in the paragraphs that follow, so pay attention. Hint: He’s on the final exam.

What’s more, chocolate is easily as complex as wine; taste any three of the hundred small-batch, artisanal chocolates sampled at COPIA and you’d be shocked at the differences in mouthfeel, flavor, attack, release, length and finish – terms customarily used to describe wine. But they work just as well for chocolate.

The Festival this year was punctuated by a series of seminars, panels, and workshops, and concluded with a three-hour walk-around wherein 800 attendees sampled the best premium chocolates and chocolate-based confections made in America. Imagine – no limits, as many of the best chocolates as you could eat for nearly half-a-day! This was an assignment that Napaman had been dreaming about for weeks in advance.

In fact, I found myself in training for the event, having purchased a kilo of premium chocolate (70% cacao) from Italy to better understand what American chocolate makers – and chocolate consumers – are up against.

Napaman’s Gold Standard

The chocolate that I hold as a standard to beat is the tablet from Amedei, in Tuscany, whose Venezuelan-based chocolate, called Chuao, is a gold-medal winner in my humble, cacaoic opinion. (I made that word up, so don’t look for it in your online dictionary.)

I love the unctuous, complex, caramel reveal as the Chuao slowly melts on your tongue; I love the chocolate’s gorgeous, velveteen mouthfeel, and long, lingering finish filled with plum and dried fruits. Like a good wine. The acidity in the Chuao chocolate is perfect, too. It leaves your palate clean and you hankering for another gnaw at the bar.

My pleasure at COPIA was finding three stunning American-made chocolates that, in their own way, are also standards to beat, and one of them is quite simply, the best chocolate in America.

# 1 bar in America, according to Napaman

The Askinosie 70% cacao dark chocolate made with beans from San Jose Del Tambo, in Ecuador, is a stunning chocolate achievement, particularly as this single-origin chocolate contains no lecithin (an emulsifier usually added to commercial chocolates for mouthfeel) or vanilla (natural or artificial, usually added to boost flavor and length of finish).

The ingredients of this exceptional bar are simply: cocoa beans, sugar, cocoa butter. Period. You start with great stuff, you wind up with great stuff.

Shawn and Caron Askinosie produce what I believe is the best chocolate made in America. Caron’s blue gloves, by the way, are NOT a fashion statement, but were worn so that she could hand out single-origin chocolate drops that were the size of rhinestones that Dolly Parton would wear.

Shawn Askinosie, a former criminal lawyer, recently left a successful 20-year law practice to start making chocolate (he never lost a case – so watch out Hershey because he’s approaching chocolate-making with the same energy and determination!). Shawn’s M.O. is to find small, regional bands of cacao growers, encourage them to grow, ferment, and dry their beans in a particular way, and then actually share the revenue stream with them on an open-book basis. A one-man version of Ben & Jerry. Though it’s hard to tell if Shawn is the Ben or the Jerry in this scenario. What we do know is that his chocolate brings as much pleasure -- and as wide a smile – to one’s face as any Ben & Jerry flavor.

My tasting notes on the Askinosie Ecuador-based bar: “Light cigar aromas on the nose and early on the palate as the chocolate starts to melt; on the attack, flavors of forest floor and deep unsweetened cacao, followed by a rifle barrel-focused intensity of ethereal dark chocolate robed in velours. Sensationally complex from start to finish. This is the Romanee-Conti of American Chocolate.

Gary Guittard, 4th generation family member, President of Guittard.

I rediscovered my favorite San Francisco-made chocolate, brought to COPIA by fourth generation chocolate maker Gary Guittard. I recently conducted a thorough tasting of virtually all the premium chocolates in America for a consulting project and rated Guittard’s 65% cacao, Sur Del Lago, Venezuelan chocolate in my top three.

Sorry for the opened bar; I needed a chocolate fix and opened this bar, which I’d bought for the photo shoot.

I love the complexity of this bar, the rich, red fruit aromas, the stunning, slow release of different chocolate notes and the acidity, which zips up the finish. And then, after that very last swallow, there’s a twinkle of lingering astringency, as though you’ve just had a cup of great Irish breakfast tea.

Often I find that food and wine writers, who are always chasing the “next new thing,” forget old friends and former favorites. I am as guilty as the next writer. I recall writing a story about John Scharffenberger and his sidekick/partner Robert Steinberg just after they started up Scharffen Berger Chocolate. I recall loving their energy, dedication and chocolate. The pair went on to reap a huge public following and last year, Hershey bought them out.

At COPIA, I revisited the “blue label” Scharffen Berger 70% Cacao dark chocolate, which is a blend of eight different beans. This bar has great length, is extremely satisfying, and strolls to the finish line with a measured, well paced, chocolate intensity. It has what you might call a chocolate cadence, a sequence of perfectly paced tastes throughout the melt, chew and swallow.

Discover Chocolate Seminar

Before they let guests loose on the 39 chocolate makers, vendors and retailers who were present, COPIA hosted a series of morning seminars and panels to help consumers better understand the world of chocolate.

Clay Gordon, who calls himself “the Robert Parker of chocolate,” leads a morning tasting session at COPIA. Five kinds of chocolate at 10 am – my kind of schooling.

Clay Gordon, originator of chocophile.com and author of Discover Chocolate, led a tasting of different chocolates and confections to explain different methods of manufacturing and offered hints of what to look for when tasting chocolate.

About the growing use of numbers to sell chocolate (you often see a 65%, or 70%, or even 85% figure, in the corner of many premium bars, proclaiming the percentage of cacao in the bar), Gordon had this to say:

“This is strictly a marketing gimmick. The number tells you nothing about the quality of the chocolate. At best, this is a disingenuous practice, at worst, deliberately misleading.”

Gordon went on to give a wine analogy. “You wouldn’t go to a wine store and ask for a 15.5% alcohol wine, or a 14.7% alcohol wine because it tells you nothing about the quality of the wine… so why would you go to a store and ask for a ‘70% cacao’ chocolate bar?”

Gordon said that somehow, marketers have convinced consumers that 70% cacao is a relevant and important number and that bars containing smaller percentages of cacao are to be dismissed.

Gary Guittard had much to say about the same subject in his seminar, which followed.

Guittard Tasting Seminar

Gary Guittard

Guittard said that the rush to use numbers to quantify the percentage of cacao in chocolate bars, a practice of which his own company is guilty, is both meaningless and misleading. (Give the guy credit for two things: He makes great chocolate and he’s also bluntly honest.)

Guittard dispelled another myth in his seminar that is worth sharing: “There is no industry-regulated use of the terms ‘semi-sweet’ and ‘bittersweet.’ One company’s ‘semi-sweet’ chocolate may be another producer’s ‘bittersweet.’” Essentially, these are (mostly) subjective expressions of sweetness levels in chocolate. The federal labeling requirement that touches on this matter says that chocolate called 'dark,' 'bittersweet,' or 'semisweet' must contain a minimum of 35 percent cacao and less than 12 percent milk solids (more milk solids than this and the chocolate has to be called milk chocolate). Beyond this, labeling is left in the lap of the manufacturer, which is why the terms 'semi-sweet' and 'bittersweet' appear to be interchangeable once the minimum levels are met.

The Future of Chocolate - Expert Panel

From left to right, Shawn Askinosie, Timothy Childs, Gary Guittard and Chuck Siegel; their respective affiliations are listed on the slide above them; they assembled to discuss fair trade and issues related to organic certification.

In one of the morning’s more interesting sessions, four chocolate experts gathered to discuss relevant issues that are alarming the industry.

Foremost is the increased demand for chocolate and the shortfall in world production.

Clay Gordon, who moderated the panel, said: “The world produced 3 million metric tonnes of chocolate last year – but this was a shortfall of some 250,000 metric tonnes.”

Interpretation: Look for dramatic price increases for your favorite brown treat.

And the price increases are only going to get worse as China and India become mainline chocolate consumers. The experts are talking about a worldwide demand for chocolate that may grow by 50 percent over the next few years.

And no one’s planting more Theobroma cacao trees to meet the anticipated demand. They probably couldn’t even if they wanted. For one thing, cacao trees only grow in a narrow band about 15 degrees north and south of the equator. No matter how much the super industrious wine growers in Napa Valley and Sonoma want to convert their vines to grow cacao, it just ain’t gonna happen.

During the session, Timothy Childs, of TCHO Chocolate, pointed out that “most cacao farmers never taste the finished chocolate whose raw materials they supply. We intend to change this.”

Childs, like Askinosie, takes a hands-on approach to producing chocolate and wants to rewire the way chocolate commerce has traditionally been conducted. These producers want to know their farmers, want to share revenues with them, want to oversee production from farm to finished good. They are mavericks in a world dominated by “the big guys,” like Hershey, Nestle, Callebaut.

But every industry has a pioneer or contrarian, and often times, they go on to great success. Look at Michael Dell, who transformed the way computers were sold. Maybe, just maybe, these boot-wearing, forest-stomping, chocolate contrarians will start a revolution to change the chocolate industry’s dynamic.

The good news is that even if they don’t succeed in changing an entire industry, consumers can still enjoy the labors of their work; their bars are world class, as the tasting at COPIA proved.

Other brown highlights at COPIA

Mona Keady, the bright light behind Raffiné, a Danville, CA-based confection company, makes filled chocolates. Note: Mona, like many exhibitors at the COPIA chocolate event, doesn’t make her own chocolate; she buys chocolate from producers and further adds her own touch – liquid centers, ganache fillings, etc. Within the “chocolate industry,” a distinction is made between “chocolate makers,” who take cacao beans and process them into finished chocolate, and “confectioners,” who take some one else’s finished chocolate and further process it to make their own tasty creations. One such chocolate confectioner is Michael Recchiuti, of San Francisco, who did not participate in the COPIA event, but who is a stunning – and glaring – example of someone who takes chocolate from “chocolate makers” and turns it into some of the most flavorful chocolate confections made in America.

Timothy Childs, chocolate maker, and Zohara Mapes, assistant chocolate maker, at Tcho Chocolates. They are conducing a crazy, vote-on-line focus group, asking consumers to register their comments about several un-launched chocolates. The chocolates displayed for comment at COPIA, two rather granular, Ghanaian offerings, were not inspiring. But word is that TCHO will launch several formal, packaged chocolates this spring, and we look forward to reviewing them then.

Kelliann Reginato and Jessica Bell from LaLoos Goat’s Milk Ice Cream Company were on hand to serve two flavors of chocolate ice cream – Deep Chocolate and Chocolate Cabernet – made with goat’s milk at the Sonoma Country dairy. I know, sounds weird, “chocolate-flavored goat’s milk ice cream.” But it tasted great and was a pleasing intermezzo from all the heavy-duty, industrial-strength, astringent chocolate everyone else was serving.

Sir Edmund Hillary – “Please, call me Ed!”

One of my greatest pleasures as a journalist has been the ability to meet famous people and boyhood heroes throughout my career.

In the 1970s, I traveled in Africa with famed anthropologists Louis and Mary Leakey, and also had the good fortune to have dinner with Haile Selassie, the Emperor of Ethiopia, in his Imperial Palace, in Addis Ababa.

One boyhood hero whom I thought I would never meet was Sir Edmund Hillary, who was the first to scale Mt. Everest with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay in May, 1953. But 12 years ago, in serendipitous fashion, we wound up having lunch together and had quite some fun, too.

In 1996, I got to meet and have lunch with Sir Edmund Hillary.

Sir Edmund Hillary came into my life in Toronto while I was Chairman of Fund-Raising Activities for UNICEF Canada. He was making one of his sweeps through North America for the UN Children’s Fund and stopped in Toronto for a day to meet UNICEF locals.

We had lunch with a few of the highly dedicated UNICEF staff. Over soup and a sandwich, Sir Edmund admonished me for repeatedly sticking “Sir” in front of his name, and said, “Please, call me Ed.” Which, of course, turned the session into a much more relaxed, productive affair.

As it turns out, “Ed” died this week at the age of 88 in New Zealand, where he lived, and while this website is not about beekeepers or mountaineers, both of which Ed was, it IS about life, what constitutes a healthy one (wine and food, of course!) and the pleasures of the table, which is where I met Ed.

Over lunch at Sutton Place Hotel, I asked Ed if he wouldn’t mind drawing something – to provide us with an autographed image that we could then auction at a forthcoming fund-raising event.

Always chipper and agreeable, Ed said of course, so I ran down the block to Curry’s Art Store to purchase a large artist’s pad and some inky pens and then raced back to lunch.

5

Ed drew a few simple lines and said “That’s me standing on the top of Everest,” and signed the drawing.

The image that Ed Hillary drew – that’s him on the tippy-top of Everest.

We put Ed’s drawing up for auction at our annual fund-raising event where, I recall, we raised close to $125,000 in one night for UNICEF.

Carol, my wife, knowing how much I revered my lunch with Sir Edmund, placed the tippy-top, Everest-like bid for the auctioned drawing, and won it! The rustic drawing (Ed was a better mountaineer than artist) has hung in my office ever since, a great souvenir of a great man who did a whole lot of great things for mankind as a dedicated philanthropist.

During our time together, I got to ask Ed many questions. He answered all of them with a twinkle in his eye. He was affable, had no airs, no attitude, no ego. Oh that today’s celebrities were as down to Earth as Ed (an ironic expression to use for a guy who had been at the top of the Earth!).

I asked Ed: “What kind of clothing did you wear for your Everest ascent?”

Ed replied: “We climbed a long time ago, long before they invented polyester, nylon or any of the climbing materials that trekkers use today. In fact, I just wore my heaviest wool tweed and a scarf!”

I had one other question, which led to a long, colorful reply.

Me: “Why do I always think of you and (runner) Roger Bannister in the same breath…? I was a child when you scaled Everest, but something in the back of my mind ties you to Bannister who broke the 4-minute mile…?”

Ed: “Funny you should mention Roger because we became good friends after I came down the mountain and before he broke the 4-minute mile (May, 1954).”

“Before Tenzing and I had even started down Everest, the whole world had learned, via radio, of our accomplishment. By the time we reached base camp, we were seemingly world-famous.”

“Immediately, the Queen (of England) radio’d that we were to be knighted and invited us to England for the occasion. By the time we got to London, however, June (Hillary’s wife) and I had been wined and dined and feted in capitals around the world.”

In England, I met Roger (Bannister -- who was a neurologist/academician at Oxford) who asked, ‘Edmund, would you permit me to do some medical tests on you to determine just what it is that you have that gave you the super-human stamina to ascend Everest? I’d like to figure out what physical advantage you have over others.’”

Ed continued: “’I said of course,’ so Bannister proceeded to poke me with needles, took blood, and put me through a series of medical tests.”

“As I say, June and I had just spent a month being wined and dined by world leaders. By the time we met Roger we’d had two fortnights of caviar, excessive amounts of Champagne and mounds of foie gras every day and night to toast our Everest achievement. A few days after Roger conducted his tests, he asked me to come ‘round to his office for the results. Roger looked at me, looked down at my medical record, shook his head and said, ‘Quite frankly Sir Edmund, I’ve analyzed your results forward and backward and can’t, for the life of me, figure out how you ever made it up the mountain. You’re a wreck!’”

REAL Oatmeal – The Breakfast of Champions!

Let’s hear it for John McCann!

No, not the Presidential hopeful. That’s not a typo.

I’m talking about John McCann, the elder, the guy who started making steel-cut Irish oatmeal 150 years ago and whose commercial descendants still produce the tasty breakfast cereal the same way today.

My dad, Bill, loved making REAL oatmeal on cold winter mornings when I grew up. As we lived in Westchester County, north of New York City, whenever it snowed, or dipped into the minuses, my dad would either make us REAL oatmeal, using McCann’s, or he’d pan-fry some minute steaks. One breakfast menu lowered cholesterol, the other raised it. Either way, though, breakfast was a major taste hit when my dad cooked for us!

The problem that most people have, though, with making McCann’s is that the hard-as-BBs oat grains take 30 to 45 minutes to make from scratch and you have to stir much of the time, or the porridge burns. And who’s got that kind of time to spend on breakfast?

My dad, Bill White, LOVED making oatmeal – the night before!

But my dad developed his own method of preparing this exceptionally tasty, exceptionally healthy cereal, an oatmeal shortcut, which he passed on to me:

Start the oatmeal the night before! In a saucepan over high heat, bring 4 cups of water and a pinch of salt to boil. Add 1 cup of McCann’s Irish oatmeal, stir once, remove the saucepan from the heat and cover. Say goodnight, Gracie.

In the morning, simply reheat the swollen grains, which will have absorbed ALL the water! They’re fully precooked, have all the natural goodness and flavor of the oatmeal that you otherwise would have spent 45 minutes making.

To serve, simply reheat the porridge over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, for about 6 minutes… and you have REAL, authentic, unprocessed, non-GMO, whole-grain oatmeal on your table. In six minutes!

Prepared this way, McCann’s oatmeal loses a bit of crunch that is apparent when you make the cereal from scratch in 45 minutes, but the trade-off -- to let the porridge make itself while you sleep! – is worth this very slight loss of textural bite. Besides, who ever said oatmeal had to be al dente anyway?

My dad’s “shortcut oatmeal” has tremendous nuttiness; if you’ve added enough salt, it has a clean, ocean-like flavor, a perceptible minerality, an ethereal, camp-like outdoorsy-ness.

Add golden brown sugar, milk, cream, maple syrup, or raisins to complete the dish to your liking.

Over the years, it hasn’t always been easy finding the 28-oz. tin can of McCann’s steel-cut oatmeal; not all grocers carry it. And when they do, many charge too much.

These days, though, Trader Joe’s, which is growing ubiquitous across the country, carries this sensational oatmeal and I haven’t found anyone getting below Trader Joe’s price -- $4.99 a tin.

When it’s snowing, blowing, cold, rainy, gray, sleeting, hailing, or pitch black outside, who ya gonna call for comfort? Forget Ghostbusters! Call for McCann’s steel-cut Irish oatmeal – it’s the only way to survive winter’s bleakness!

Profile: Catherine Bergen of Made in Napa Valley

I dropped in on a friend yesterday, someone I admire for single-handedly changing the way people think about food and Napa Valley in the same breath. In a profession (commercial food) dominated by Big Firms, most of them run by men, Catherine Bergen is a refreshing change. And her dog, Jane, is an original, too.

Catherine Bergen and her wonder dog, Jane, the effervescent Jack Russell Terrier who goes everywhere with “mom.”

I pulled Catherine from her office; we sat on a sun-dappled bench, on the bank of the Napa River, beside her 14-year-old, still-expanding, food business (officially called Tulocay and Company) and exchanged updates. Catherine’s were so big, they’re newsworthy.

Catherine is the creator of Made in Napa Valley, a line of premium sauces, condiments, dry rubs and ice cream toppings that you can’t help but notice on visits to specialty food stores, high-end grocery outlets, places like Crate & Barrel, Williams-Sonoma and Cost Plus World Market.

Catherine’s news: she’s taken on two investment partners and they’re expanding the enterprise, prospecting for gold in them thar hills. And grocery aisles.

“We’re moving into a 50,000 square-foot facility that we’re building from the ground up,” says Catherine. The new facility, next to Napa Airport, south of Napa town, will open next spring.

“In addition to making all our products there, we will conduct cooking classes on location; visitors will be able to take a glass-paneled tour of our production facility and will also be able to taste a lot of our products in a tasting/café/bar area,” says Catherine.

Can you identify a tastier, silkier, more sensual commercial chocolate, or caramel, sauce?
1) If so, I want to know what it is…. and
2) Your prescription drugs are way too strong, because the ONLY answer to the trick question above is: THERE ISN’T A BETTER SAUCE, NOT ANYWHERE. Period.

The products that I most admire Catherine for inventing are three dessert toppings, which, if they were wines, would each be rated 100 points by Robert Parker. Think of these as tasty, cult toppings, the Screaming Eagles of Saucedom.

My favorite is MINV (Made in Napa Valley) Pure Dark Chocolate Sauce made with Kona Coffee. If I could only take one chocolate sauce to a dessert island, it would be this. It has a richness and intensity associated with premium quality couverture chocolate, yet has a silken texture that one would associate with velour, or satin sheets.

Mind you, there is nothing shabby about MINV’s other chocolate sauce – Pure Dark Chocolate Sauce made with Cabernet Sauvignon. It has more of a milk chocolate-tasting finish, compared to the darker, brooding Kona-infused sauce.

And let’s not forget the sensational, sensuous Vanilla Caramel Sauce made with – are you ready for this? – Chardonnay! One spoonful leads to…. another… and another… Basically, the stuff’s addictive and should be on the government’s Controlled Substance list.

But Wait, There’s More!

I asked Catherine to reveal some of her new, soon-to-launched, products.
They include:

MINV Artichoke Condiment is made rich with Parmesan cheese, it is goosed with capers, tweaked with citrus and then the afterburners are set aglow with a good hit of roasted jalapeno. Just enough flavor and acid to draw you back for another flavor hit.

MINV Tropical Fruit Salsa is IMPOSSIBLE to stop eating. It has a mild, fruited, curry-like front end and a stunning, chile-induced finish that goes on and on.

These new products will soon be available in Napa Valley at Sunshine Foods, Dean & DeLuca, Oakville Grocery, Copia, Napa General Store, and the Carneros Inn, as well as at Adronico’s, Draeger’s and Mollie Stones in the Bay-area.

As with all MINV products, the labels of these two new condiments include a cartoon image of Catherine’s wonder dog, Jane. “I don’t go anywhere without my little Jane,” says Catherine, “ so I figured that none of our products should leave here without Jane either.”

Catherine’s 7-year-old Jack Russell Terrier, Jane, became the official mascot of Made in Napa Valley years ago and now, if her image were to be removed from the label, consumers would likely comment that something comforting, cute and endearing has gone missing.

Another new series of products that Catherine will launch this fall: “Gifts to Go,” a line of (approximately) $25 condiment gift sets. These include a gift pack with two Simmer Sauces, a gift pack with Barbecue Sauce and two tasty new mustards, and a gift pack with a fancy-dancy Dipping Oil.

That’s a lot of tasty stuff from a woman who grew up in San Diego not knowing what she really wanted to be when she grew up. “I was a licensed stock broker, a real estate agent, a bookkeeper, a hairdresser, a dog-groomer,” says Catherine. Then, one day, I attended a seminar in LA, given by Marianne Williamson. The title of the session was ‘Return to Love.’ I’ll never forget it. In the middle of the lecture, she said, ‘Do what you LOVE and the money will follow.’”

“That lecture changed my life. I knew that I wanted to be in the food business but didn’t have a clue how to do it or where to do it.”

Catherine Bergen at home -- my home! -- for a photo shoot.

Catherine’s story zigs and zags a bit, but within a very short period, she found herself in Napa Valley and, 14 years ago, started Tulocay and Company, which specialized in producing etched bottles of premium-quality olive oil – the first in the US.

Catherine’s earliest national customers included Crate & Barrel, Pier 1 Imports and Cost Plus World Markets, but always for private label (store brand) merchandise. “I knew that to sustain my business, I had to invent a line of shelf-stable, all-natural foods that these same customers would take and promote…. the origins of Made in Napa Valley."

To learn more about Catherine’s products, or to sign up for her biweekly newsletter, or to discover about two bazillion recipes, suggesting how to use her tasty sauces, dry rubs and condiments (and don't forget the ice cream toppings!), go to www.madeinnapavalley.com. It’s that simple.

Honk if You Love Tomatoes!

2,500 people, lovers of Lycopersicon esculentum, descended on Kendall-Jackson’s Wine Center, a few miles north of Santa Rosa, today, to tease their palates with 184 varieties of heirloom tomato.

This was the 11 Annual Kendall-Jackson Heirloom Tomato Festival and it was the best I’ve yet attended.

More than 60 Bay-area restaurateurs and purveyors of North Coast foods were on hand to feed guests if and when they tired of sampling a tentful of tomatoes, which included such oddball heirlooms as Stump of the World, Fuzzy Bomb, Believe it or Not, Paul Robeson, Julia Child and one called San Francisco Fog. How appropriate.

I tasted through many of the varieties and concluded that the most flavorful and intensely focused tomatoes were the smaller, cherry-sized tomatoes. In particular, I liked three varieties called, in no particular order, Tonadose des Conores, White Rabbit and Sweetie.

Among recognized Bay-area restaurants participating were Nectar, Syrah, Zazu, Brannan’s Grill, and Madrona Manor. Purveyors of fine foods included the Jimtown Store, Bellweather Farms, Aidell’s Sausage, and Bear Republic Brewery.

In case you have been living in a cave the past decade (is Osama Bin Laden with you by any chance…?), heirloom tomatoes are the “hot” fruit in California food circles these days.

The definition of what constitutes an “heirloom tomato” is controversial. For sure, everyone agrees that an heirloom tomato is an open-cultivated cultivar of tomato whose seeds have been handed down over multiple generations. Another rule that everyone upholds: the seeds have never been genetically modified.

Ripe heirloom tomatoes can be green-striped, screaming orange, school-bus yellow, or purple and bruised like a bad black eye. They taste, well, tomato-y in a way that no commercial supermarket “tennis ball” tomato (describing their texture as much as their taste) ever does.

Some growers insist that the seeds for heirloom tomatoes must be more than 100 years old. Others claim that they must be more than 50 years old. There’s a school, too, that claims the seeds only need to go back to the end of World War II, at the outbreak of widespread hybrid breeding by national agricultural seed companies.

As we are at the height of tomato season, walk into any restaurant in Napa Valley just now and you will find a salad made with heirloom tomatoes, usually a mélange of four or five types, chopped or sliced and drizzled with balsamic vinegar and a premium quality extra-virgin olive oil.

The rule for participating restaurants and catering companies at the Heirloom Tomato Festival was that they must prepare dishes with at least one type of heirloom tomato.

My favorite offering of the day, from Equus Restaurant in the FountainGrove Inn, Santa Rosa.

I tasted through the soups, dips, sauces, spreads, juices, ices, salads, and sorbets with my son, Jason, and we agreed that the single tastiest item that we had all day was the Blackened, Pulled Pork & Brandywine Tomato concoction, served at the Equus Restaurant booth. Equus is the restaurant at FountainGrove Inn, Santa Rosa. The spicy, bite-sized creation is the work of talented executive chef Jeff Reilly, who was on hand, busily making up samples to keep ever-growing lines of hungry guests moving.

The artful creation described below, paired with a KJ Vintner's Reserve Syrah. Major yum on both counts.

Kendall-Jackson offered wine-food pairing demonstrations throughout the fairgrounds; I thought the attempt to marry K-J Vintner’s Reserve Syrah with a Cherokee Purple Tomato & Caramelized Squash creation, made with Bellweather Farms Pepato (cheese), actually worked well, which you might not anticipate, given the number of zippy ingredients.

The 2,500 or so tickets that are sold each year for the Kendall-Jackson Annual Heirloom Tomato Festival go on sale each July 1. And they mostly disappear before Independence Day, three days later. So mark your calendar for July 1, 2008, to get your tickets for next year's festival. Get them at www.kj.com, or call 800-769-3649. This year, tickets cost $55 each – but for this amount, you get to eat and drink your weight in tomatoes, a small price to pay for tomato glory.

Ground Broken on Napa Valley’s, Frank Gehry-designed, Hall Winery!

They broke ground today on the southern fringe of St. Helena for what is likely to become one of the valley’s landmark drawing cards – a winery designed by the world’s leading architect, Frank Gehry.

The sign out front – today. Who knows if the font will change in the future... perhaps to something more dramatic, echoing the architectural originality of what Frank Gehry is doing to the winery’s roofline?

The ground-breaking ceremony, at Hall Winery this afternoon, follows four years of extensive planning, community input and design consultation and precedes a period of just about as many years, the time that it will take to build the multi-structured winery.

“Build” is a bit of a misnomer, because part of the project, financed by winery owners Craig and Kathryn Hall, aims to uncover a small winery building called Peterson-Bergfeld, that was built in 1885 and then covered up by a larger winery facility in 1910. People driving by the property today, and I am one them, never, ever have an inkling that inside the large warehouse building is a smaller, older winery building dreaming to see daylight again. Like a genie from a bottle.

“We’re doing the inverse of what the French did at the Louvre,” says winery owner Craig Hall. “They hired I.M. Pei to flank an old building with a new structure (the glass pyramid). We’re doing just the opposite; we’re going to flank Frank’s contemporary, undulating structure, our new Hospitality Center, with the historic, 122-year-old, Peterson-Bergfeld building. It will be a central feature of our new winery.”

Oh that it were that simple.

The Project

In reality, according to winery president Mike Reynolds, the Hall Winery Project will take up to four years to complete and will have three distinct stages. The intent is to allow the Halls to continue to make wine in their existing facility and operate their tasting room while building a new winery all around – and over – themselves.

The centerpiece of the completed winery will be the Gehry-inspired Hospitality Center where all future tours will end. Over this tasting room will be a dramatic, undulating roof similar (in originality, flow and movement) to the world famous structure that Gehry designed for the Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain. The winery roof is being called “a wooden cloud,” “an homage to the trellises found in Napa Valley,” and “a covered ballroom.” Take your pick.

What it is not is forgettable. It is unlike any other structure in Napa Valley. It outdances Michael Graves’ wonderful and whimsical architectural flourishes at Clos Pegase; it goes beyond many of the design elements of Herzog & De Meuron, whose work at Dominus, in Yountville, is so respected.

Gehry’s choice of materials for the Hall project and the design itself are not as flashy as what was chosen or drawn for the Guggenhiem in Bilbao, Spain. Or maybe they are and we’re just used to that shiny, undulating roofline that initially looked as though it would be more at home in a kids’ playground than atop one of the world’s great art collections. It's likely that, once opened, Hall Winery will be talked about in the same breath as the Guggenheim, which raises the level of all the boats, or wineries, in Napa Valley as a tourist destination.

Visitors to Hall Winery over the next three-to-four years, will be greeted by this matchstick model of how the finished winery will appear.

The small, matchstick’d architectural model that guests “oooohed” and “ahhhhed” over this afternoon helps one understand what the finished property – with multiple buildings – will look like. The thing, though, about these small models is that elements that are supposed to have a WOW factor often lack sizzle. The undulating trellis over the Hospitality Center on the scaled model, for example, looks more like a crushed Panama hat than it does a splendiferous, original Gehry roofline. But give Gehry and the local architect of record, Jon Lail, a chance to do their magic and we are all likely to be drooling over the completed winery.

Contrary to what many locals anticipated, the finished Hall Winery will not have an undulating, highly reflective titanium roof like the one on the Guggenhiem, nor like the flashy roofline of the Hotel Marqués de Riscal, a Starwood property, in Rioja, Spain, which Gehry also designed. (For the record, that roofline looks like a squashed, pile-up of Nascar race vehicles after multiple rollouts on a wet track. The Hall Winery roofline’s a whole lot more organic in structure, and a whole lot more organic in material, certainly if they opt to build it in wood.)

A close-up of the “undulating, trellised roof line” that will be the hallmark of Hall Winery.

Gehry says his team hasn’t signed off on the final materials of the undulating winery roof. It may be made of solid wood, or of laminated wood, or of a new material called icrete, which Gehry describes as “a dough-like mixture like pasta dough.”

“You mix icrete, extrude it through a roller and shape it over a form. When the material hardens, it has the shape of the thing it was draped over.”

Gehry and his design partner, Edwin Chan, admit that they do not yet know the tensile strength of icrete and so, before signing off on its use, tests are being conducted.

Gehry explained to guests at the ground-breaking ceremony what was wrong with each of these 40 mounted wall models, why they were rejected in the four-year design process.

To invent and fabricate the shapes of their highly visible undulating roofs, Gehry’s team turns to aviation software – the programs used to build planes. “Our finished blue prints are reliable to 7 decimals of accuracy, despite their complexity,” says Gehry.

The Players

Craig Hall is chairman and founder of the Dallas-based Hall Financial Group, one of the nation’s largest private equity firms. Kathryn Hall is, in her own right, a successful businesswoman, a community activist and former American Ambassador to Austria, serving two Presidents, Clinton and Bush (the Elder).

Craig and Kathryn have a passion for wine; her family first purchased vineyards in California 30 years ago. Today, the couple own 3,300 acres in Sonoma and Napa counties of which 490 are planted with vineyards, according to Mike Reynolds.

At one point in the ground-breaking festivities today, the business side of Kathryn shone through and it was one of those moments when I would love to have stood up and shouted, with a raised fist, “Good on ya, girl!” for her exuberant entrepreneurial spirit, reminding all those gathered what was going to pay for all the Disney-like pixel dust about to be sprinkled on Highway 29.

Here’s what Kathryn said: “In addition to being a place of architectural grandeur, designed by the world’s greatest architect, we want to make great wine! THAT IS OUR END GOAL.”

Amen, Kathryn, you nailed the purpose of the whole event in six simple words. "We Want to Make Great Wine!"

I have no doubt with Kathryn and Craig, Mike Reynolds and Robert Wilson, winery GM, driving this project – and the winemaking activities – the team will be wildly successful.

In addition to the main winery on Highway 29, where Gehry will wave his magic wand, transforming the property into a world-class, wine destination, the Halls have a second, smaller winery in Rutherford, where they make premium, small-batch wines. (It’s good to see somebody upholding the philosophy: you can never be too rich, too thin, or own too many wineries.)

(L to R) Kathryn Hall, Craig Hall, Frank Gehry and Edwin Chan stand beside a hole in the ground where the new trellised Hospitality Center will magically appear. “Architecture is a lot like a magic trick,” Gehry told me. “You work on a project for many years and then one day, all of a sudden, a building seems to be standing there on its own. And you ask yourself, even though you’ve been on the project for four years, ‘How did that get there?’”

Frank Gehry. Okay, what hasn’t been said about him? The genius who fought Bilbao residents, convincing them to let him design and build the world’s first undulating titanium canopy and stick it on their local Guggenheim, is now 78.

“This will be the first winery I have ever designed and built in the U.S. and it will likely be the last,” Gehry told me. “It will have to be. I am too old to be commissioned for another winery.

What else hasn’t been said about the genius, who told me “you shouldn’t copy nature because you will fail. And you shouldn’t copy history (architecturally speaking) because you will trivialize the past.”

Here’s something we didn’t know about Gehry: When he goes out to dine, his wife orders their wine.

“She knows more about wine than I do,” giving weight to that old adage: Behind every successful genius is a woman… who orders the wine.

Gehry was dressed a lot like Steve Jobs today. All black. Black shiny loafers, black socks, black pants, black tunic, black sports jacket. Just the opposite of his outrageous, original, outlandish, attention-grabbing buildings, which are as sculpturally breathtaking as they are architectural triumphs. It appears Gehry saves the flash for his designs, preferring to dress more casually.

Gehry’s architectural associate, Edwin Chan, a thin, young man who worked with Gehry on the Guggenheim Bilbao project, was also present today. He, Gehry and some 200 other staffers look after a total "of about five projects that are presently in the design stage."

“It’s about all we can handle at one time,” Gehry told me.

The Hall Winery project will bring many elements of life together – Art, Wine, Architecture. The finer things in life," Chan summed up.

The Calendar

The Gehry-designed, Lail-built, Hall Winery will open sometime in 2010, according to winery president Reynolds, “though we won’t put a month on that just yet.”

In the meantime, starting this very weekend, and continuing throughout the entire construction period, Hall Winery will offer special daily tours of the Gehry project. Visitors who arrange in advance, will be able to tour the exhibition of Gehry-driven designs and concepts, which guests were invited to see today. Really striking stuff, especially when you see how many iterations, how many generations of design, were rejected with the goal of reaching Architectural Nirvana.

Tour takers will also be treated to a tasting of current-release Hall wines and a tasting of future wines from barrel. The fee for all this is $25 per person. For locals, and out-of-towners, a complimentary tour of the architectural exhibit will be offered on Sundays. For full details, or to book a tour, contract Hall Winery at 707-967-2620. Tell them you learned about the tours from napaman.com... and you will get absolutely nothing special in return, other than probably a genuine smile.

The Financing

No one associated with the project will comment on the final cost, partially because not all services and materials have been chosen. But given the extensive lead time to finalize a design that would please neighbors and the Napa County Planning Commission, the choice of architect, and the cost of building anything in Napa Valley these years, the completed Hall Winery will most likely rank as the most costly, most heavily trafficked, winery once it opens in 2010, or thereabouts.

“We will be permitted to have 500 visitors a day,” says Hall Winery president Reynolds. When I pointed out that nearby deli’s have as many as 2,000 visitors on a busy summer Saturday, and suggested that Hall Winery may have to develop a “By Appointment Only” policy, Reynolds quickly countered, “That would be a nice problem to have.” Indeed.

Winery president Mike Reynolds, who has the last word in the story, and, by the way, the last photo, too!

10 Reasons I LOVE Napa Valley

The best way to determine what's really meaningful to you where you live is to play this game: pretend you are moving out of your community to a town far away. Ask yourself, "What are the things I would miss most if I moved away?" This will help identify your favorite reasons for living where you live.

Drum roll, please.... these are the Top Ten Reasons I love living in Napa Valley (in no particular order)... the things that I would miss most, if I moved away.

1. Mustards Grill.

I've often told Cindy Pawlcyn, owner of Mustards Grill, in Yountville, that I want to write a book titled: "Is Mustards Grill the Best Restaurant in America?"
For one thing, this would ignite a firestorm of controversy among foodies, who would argue that they can name other restaurants more deserving, etc. But I have reviewed restaurants professionally for many years and believe there is justification to call Mustards Grill "The Best Damn Restaurant in America. Period."
Without question, Alice Waters runs "the most important restaurant" in the US (Chez Panisse), and Thomas Keller runs "the two most prestigious restaurants" in the nation (The French Laundry, in Yountville, and Per Se, in New York), but Cindy has, for 24 years, run a consistent, and consistently tasty, diner, turning out grilled dishes of sublime pleasure.
Mustards' pulled pork sandwich with Cindy's famous "OOOEEE!" sauce is worth a 300-mile detour. I have never had a better hanger steak served anywhere. And before they started to tear the Romaine leaves in Mustard's Caesar Salad, it was the best version of it in Napa Valley. Today, that title -- Best Casear Salad -- is shared by two local eatieries, Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen, in St. Helena and Bistro Don Giovanni.
Other DON'T MISS dishes at Mustards include: the dazzling Crispy Calamari Slaw appetizer, the pork chop, which has been on the menu since Day One, and the grilled rabbit and polenta entree. I get goosebumps thinking about this dish, which Cindy once tried to take off the menu but locals hollard so loudly that she was forced to bring it back!
I have eaten at Mustards since it opened, surpassing 400 times, maybe 500 times, and it is as good now as it has ever been. If I were to move away from Napa Valley, I would miss my regular visits. I love table 36 and my advice to you is NOT to fight me for it if we show up on the same night -- because I will win! Carol and I love the staff here -- they are like Family. Which is how they make us feel. But in truth, they make everyone feel this way; even first-timers leave feeling sated, exuberant and happy. (This is also a true-ism at Bistro Don Giovanni... see below.). Mustards Grill is located just north of the town of Yountville, off Hwy 29. The actual address is 7399 St. Helena Hwy. (Hwy. 29). Tel: 707-944-2424.

2. Bistro Don Giovanni.
There is something magical about this restaurant; does it serve the best Italian food you will ever find in a restaurant? No. Is the pasta ethereally light and homemade? No. But there is something about the room, the service, and the intensity of flavors that make me as happy as I can ever be at a table. It is the reason that we chose to spend our 30th anniversary at Bistro Don Giovanni. We could have spent it anywhere in the world, but Napa Valley is our demi-Paradise and for sheer giddy pleasure, you can't have more fun at a restaurant than at Don Gio.
The wine list is large, as are the portions, and the Caesar Salad here is still, after a decade, tied for tops in the valley.
Without exaggeration, I have eaten here well more than 300 times, and still eagerly await my next visit.
On occasion, they serve the best burger in the valley, and often, we roll our eyes in orgasmic appreciation at the perfectly grilled whole fish of the day, boned tableside by the trained, always spirited, wait staff. And one more thing -- the fig and caramelized onion pizza is a seasonal showstopper appetizer that makes me long for fig season. In fact, I am more moved to tears of joy by the anticipation of eating this pizza than I am by the anticipated achievement of Barry Bonds who may break Hank Aaron's home run record.
The restaurant is located at 4110 Howard Ln., just off Hwy. 29, in Napa. Tel: 707-224-3300.

3. No Parking Meters.
Napa Valley is about 30 miles long and three miles wide. The biggest town, Napa, has a population closing in on 100,000. The next biggest towns are St. Helena, Calistoga and Yountville -- and no where, not in one of these towns, is there a parking meter. This alone is enough of a reason to live here. Talk about cutting out urban stress; we live in wine country amidst several of the greatest restaurants in America and can drive to them and park FREE everywhere with a two-hour limit. Can you imagine an urbane world without parking meters? (Don't imagine it for too long -- we don't have space for you and your family to move to Napa Valley!)

4. Pain au Levain Bread at the Model Bakery, St. Helena.
I used to think that the best bread in the United States was the Pain au Levain made by Acme Bakery, in Berkeley. It was. Until Model Bakery, owned and operated by the mother-daughter team of Karen and Sarah Mitchell, came along and started producing a version of this lightly soured, oversized, crusty, golden bread. (PS: The secret to keep one of these fresh breads fresh is to take it out of the paper bag immediately upon getting it home; wrap the bread in a clean tea towel and store it in a cool part of your kitchen. A bread wrapped like this can last up to a week without gettng hard or stale. Cut off slices as you need them, but then rewrap the bread to keep it from staling.) The Model Bakery is at 1357 Main St., St. Helena. Tel: 707-963-8192.

5. Sunshine Market, St. Helena.
How does one small, 10,000 square-foot food store cram in so much great stuff?
We are SO very lucky to have the family-run Sunshine Market in our lives in Napa Valley. It's like having Balducci's, Dean & DeLuca, a knowledgeable wine merchant and a convenience store all rolled into one. The Smith family does a sensational job of catering to the locals' tastes; fish, meats, cheese, produce -- and really esoteric stuff. The wine section is as good, if not better, than what you will find in many metropolitan wine stores in this country. They have $5 wines and $225 wines, labels that you will recognize and brands that are unknown. Last week, I discovered a half-case of 1970 port that was, in all fairness, perfectly priced with what I have been seeing on the internet. I make a point of telling friends visiting the valley to stop at Sunshine because it is a unique treasure to Napa Valley. There are many, many wineries and a lot of restaurants but there is only one Sunshine. Sunshine Market is at 1115 Main Street, St. Helena. Tel:
707-963-7070.

6. Robert Mondavi.
If it weren't for Bob, I wouldn't live in Napa Valley. In May, 1980, while food editor and restaurant critic of Canada's largest newspaper, The Toronto Star (really one of the top five largest newspapers in North America), I was invited to attend one of Bob's heralded Great Chefs of France Cooking School classes; he had invited Jean Troisgros, one of the planet's greatest chefs (from Roanne, France), to cook and teach for three days at the Robert Mondavi Winery. I attended as a paying guest. (The Star never accepted freebies; if a story was worth covering, the Star paid the price to maintain editorial integrity. For five years, I traveled around the world in search of great food, great stories, and great chefs and ALWAYS the Star paid in full.) Even though I had been a foreign correspondent in Africa and had traveled around the globe making films, when I landed in Napa Valley, I KNEW intuitively that I would one day live here. HAD to live here. For the first time in my life, I had found a place that resonated so deeply within me that I knew I HAD to live out the rest of my life in this place. If it weren't for Bob Mondavi, and the exceptional lengths to which he went to introduce me to the culture, wine and the food of this valley, I would be living elsewhere. Thank you, Bob. You are proof that one man can fully alter the expectations, visions and life of another
person.

7. Cameo Cinema, St. Helena.

If there is a more charming, more intimate, more alluring theater in America, I can't imagine what it would look like. 10 seats?
The Cameo, owned and operated by Charlotte Wagner (of Caymus Vineyards fame), is a 104-seat cinema that shows artsy, contemporary films for a week at a time. The seats are covered in red-wine velours, and the back two rows are love seats so that you can really cozy up to your date. Going to the first-run shows with dinner to follow is one of the highlights of the week. No line-ups, no hassles.
The Cameo is in the two-block stretch of Main St., which constitutes most of downtown of St. Helena. The actual address is 1340 Main St., St. Helena. Tel: 707-963-9779.

8. Walks in the vineyard with Linus.

Carol, Linus (a Golden Doodle) and I are often joined by our good friend Wendy and her Golden Doodle, Bailey, for our five- to nine-mile walks through the vineyards surrounding our home. We traipse past the most famous, certainly the first, vineyard in America, called To Kalon (Greek for highest beauty), named and planted in 1868 by Napa wine pioneer H. W. Crabb and we talk about life while the dogs chase rabbits up and down the rows of vines, exhausting themselves and never bringing anything home other than a good case of exhaustion.
These walks, the fresh air, the Big Sky, are among my most pleasurable moments in Napa Valley. They are joyous, simple, and rejuvenate the spirit the way a two-week trip to Provence might do. But all we have to do is walk out the door to experience this calming, warm and sunny Nirvana.

9. Home-grown, organic heirloom tomatoes.
From mid-August through mid-December, we harvest five to seven pounds of Carol's organic heirloom tomatoes EVERY DAY. We fenced off a 1,000-square-foot garden where Carol works her magic, making plants produce prodigious amounts of dinner greens. The heirloom tomatoes tower over Carol at 9-feet, providing a rainbow of tasty, colored tomatoes -- purple Cherokees, green-striped tomatoes (which are screamin' green when perfectly ripe), and mottled red-orange tomatoes that are large enough to be used as doorstops, but juicy and tasty on the inside.

10. The porch.
There is something calming, centering, comforting about sitting on a covered porch and watching the world roll by. We sit on ours and watch hummingbirds suck the sweet nectar out of vintage rhododendron blossoms; in the morning, we sip espressos on the porch and watch a flotilla of hot air balloons ascend from Yountville.
A good day starts as a "five-balloon morning," or an "eight-balloon morning," giving some hint of the sweetness of the air and intensity of the blue sky that day. My best day ever was a "13-balloon morning."
To sit on the porch and watch the hot air balloons silently float over head brings the same inner focus as a meditation session at a holy ashram.

Springtime means tulips

Springtime means tulips
Originally uploaded by napaman.

Visited friends in Vancouver, BC, last weekend. They had a gorgeous arrangement of tulips on their kitchen table.
I hopped up on a chair and shot them from above, then filtered out
extraneous details...