As you might have noticed, I’ve been laying low for the past week or so, studying for my Certified Specialist of Wine (CSW) exam in September. Just to set the record straight, I don’t feel like any of these fancy certifications are necessary to enjoy wine, but I was fortunate enough to earn a CSW scholarship when I took the top prize at the 2009 “Battle of the Palates,” a blind tasting competition sponsored by the Napa Valley Vintners back in May. So even though I would’ve probably never signed up for this coursework on my own, I have [... read more ...]
|
|||||
 
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. • • •
  |
Terra in St. Helena, CA: Requiring pants since 1988 (not a bad thing at all, really). If you ever want a truly visceral Napa Valley experience, I recommend strolling into Pancha’s in Yountville after midnight on a weekday. More than any other place in wine country, Pancha’s is the home-away-from-home for the hospitality industry. It’s where cooks and servers go to get a drink after work, and where cigarette smoking indoors is still the norm (and not just prevalent, but practically required). Above all else, it’s a bar where people know people, and the close-knit, insular nature of [... read more ...] It’s been over a year since I reviewed “The Billionaire’s Vinegar” by Benjamin Wallace, and so when I learned about Michael Broadbent suing Random House for libel this week, I had to revisit my notes on this best-selling book. Although many details of the text remain a bit hazy, I certainly don’t see what the 82-year-old Broadbent stands to gain from this lawsuit, nor do I see how he can possibly win. From what I do recall, “The Billionaire’s Vinegar” seemed extremely well-researched and impeccably thorough. I would certainly recommend the book to anyone who has not yet read [... read more ...] Handsome devil: winning smile, ornery tendencies. As I have mentioned on this blog before, I’ve been living without television for quite some time, which means that Bravo’s “Top Chef” phenomenon has mostly passed me by. I did meet Marcel Vigneron from Season Two when we were both in chef school, and I can safely say that I established my dislike for him long before the rest of America did. Marcel’s pompous bravado was no act for television, but he did prove great for ratings, which cannot be denied. Still, from my own perspective, it simply proves that the [... read more ...] 2003 Ridge Del Carlo Zinfandel: Originally offered as a Ridge wine club release, I purchased this bottle from their Lytton Springs tasting room without ever previewing it. For the most part, it’s rare that I would ever buy before tasting — especially from a tasting room — but I’ll often give Ridge Zinfandel the benefit of the doubt. Given its Dry Creek pedigree (one of my very favorite appellations), it seemed like a worthy gamble. That being said, the wine was good, but not remarkable. Although I cannot remember the specifics in terms of pricing, it was most likely [... read more ...] I just placed my order for the 2007 releases of Chasseur Pinot Noir, thanks to a friend who has been on their mailing list for quite some time. I’m looking forward to putting some of these wines alongside the wines of some other Russian River and Sonoma Coast producers, hopefully in a blind tasting. I’m not quite sure when this event will ultimately happen — I do want to give these wines a little bit of time in the bottle — so it should probably be at least a year away, maybe even a couple of years. For me, [... read more ...] Not your typical Southern-style pulled pork, but pretty good… Anytime but now, anywhere but here: As tourism in the Napa Valley begins to hit its peak during the months of September and October, I tend to do as much as I can to remove myself from the situation. I make no apologies about it. Destinations like Sonoma, Mendocino, and Amador County earn additional appeal this time of year, inspiring road trips to more remote and more relaxing wine-growing regions. As a Zinfandel fanatic, I often turn to Sonoma’s Dry Creek Valley for great wine and relative solitude (even [... read more ...] I uncovered a small tidbit of information today regarding the restaurant scene in Downtown Napa, which continues to evolve at an impressive pace. Although this news may not be as earth-shattering as the story I broke back in June about Morimoto coming to Napa, I do feel that this recent development does bode well for the city’s culinary landscape. Anyhow, from what I understand, Bui Contemporary Vietnamese Cuisine will relocate from North Berkeley to Napa within the next few months, slated to take over the space at 976 Pearl Street, the former site of Kelley’s No Bad Days Cafe. [... read more ...] With 2007 being a banner vintage for Russian River Pinot Noir, I have been making a concerted effort to get over to Sonoma to scoop up some of these current releases (as well as piggy-backing some orders with friends who are on exclusive mailing lists — such as the list for Chasseur Wines — which has just made its 2007 selections available). Today, I made a long overdue trip to Papapietro Perry in the Dry Creek Valley, an area that not only has some of the best Pinot Noir in Sonoma, but some of the best Zinfandel, as well. [... read more ...] C'est Bon: Diver Scallops with Sweet Corn Maque Choux In general, I’ve always felt that scallops and sweet corn complemented each other quite nicely, which ultimately inspired me to prepare the dish pictured above. To be honest, however, the specific notion of diver scallops with sweet corn maque choux struck me as a true revelation the other day, and I wondered why I hadn’t thought of this particular combination sooner. Then I googled “scallop maque choux” and found that Emeril Lagasse has already created this dish, along with a recipe. Oh well, I’m sure that Emeril wasn’t the [... read more ...] |
 
• • •
 |
 
|
||
|
© 2012 The Accidental Wino |
|||||
