The Culinary Timeline is a side-project that I've been working on since October. I'm hoping to have most of it complete by the end of January, with any luck. Until then, updates around here will be weekly, rather than twice weekly. Do stay tuned.
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Located deep within the golden foothills of Amador wine country, Dobra Zemlja Winery is a modest little outpost, nestled among the ancient oak trees that dominate the rolling landscape. The winery, which was founded in 1995, is the livelihood of 74-year-old Milan Matulich, a Croatian-born winemaker who has farmed the 50-acre property for nearly 25 years.
I trekked up to Dobra Zemlja based upon a pretty tenuous notion: that Matulich might make wine in the same style as fellow-Croatian Mike Grgich, the proprietor of Napa’s famed Grgich Hills Estate. In terms of their ages, Matulich [... read more ...]
I visited the Martini House for its “Killer Tomato” dinner last week, which was the latest installment of the restaurant’s annual tomato-themed event. Each year at the height of heirloom tomato season, chef Todd Humphries assembles a four-course menu based upon the delicious, perennial summer fruit (which, contrary to botanical opinion, was deemed a vegetable by the U.S. Supreme court in 1893).
While the “Killer Tomato” dinner is served on the restaurant’s front lawn, a campy film from the “Attack of the Killer Tomato” series is screened for the Martini House guests. This year, the [... read more ...]
Having visited Chappellet a handful of times over the last few years, I have long considered the winery to be one of the greatest destinations in the Napa Valley. Perched atop 640 acres on Pritchard Hill, Chappellet offers stunning views of the surrounding Vaca Mountains, while offering its guests an amazingly consistent portfolio of Bordeuax-style reds. In addition to these sensory delights, Chappellet also holds a unique position within Napa’s history, being just the second winery built after Prohibition, in 1967.
I visited Chappellet again last week, and tasted a flight of the winery’s current [... read more ...]
With so much emphasis placed upon Burgundy and Bordeaux these days, the demure wines of Beaujolais receive very little attention among wine critics. Of course, this type of elitism has become endemic among wine writers, since wine has been subject to rampant deconstruction in recent years. Thanks to the dreaded 100-point scale (coupled with some outlandish flavor descriptors), the casual enjoyment of wine seems to have become a quaint afterthought for the dedicated aficionado.
In “I’ll Drink to That,” author Rudolph Chelminski helps to remove some of the pretense surrounding wine by extolling the virtues [... read more ...]
Despite their proximity to the City of Napa, the handful of wineries along Big Ranch Road receive very little attention compared to their counterparts along Highway 29 and the Silverado Trail. Of course, most folks who visit the Napa Valley are blissfully unaware of Big Ranch Road, which runs between Highway 29 and Silverado, but dead ends near Oak Knoll Avenue. Although this oversight is hardly criminal (much of the wine along this stretch is indeed lackluster), it should be noted that Robert Biale Vineyards definitely warrants a visit from anyone who has a penchant for Zinfandel.
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Despite its spike in popularity over the last five years, Pinot Noir remains rather uncommon here in the Napa Valley. With the exception of Carneros — the coolest and southern-most region in Napa — this fickle Burgundian varietal is simply ill-suited for the valley’s warm summer climates. Besides, Cabernet Sauvignon has long been crowned the king here in Napa. To be sure, this valley will never be synonymous with Pinot Noir, and driving up Highway 29 in search of this varietal is a fool’s errand. That is, unless you’re headed to Failla Wines in St. Helena.
I had a fantastic tasting at Realm Cellars today, which included an impressive flight of the winery’s three current releases. Realm, which produces its wines on the Chateau Boswell property along the northern end of the Silverado Trail, has only been a label since 2002, but the winery has quickly built a reputation for crafting quality wines from some of Napa’s most renowned vineyards.
My favorite wine of the day was the 2005 Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, which displayed a seemingly effortless intensity. Realm’s portion of the Dr. Crane Vineyard is an austere [... read more ...]
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