I’m not sure if this qualifies as a tradition yet, but for the third year in a row, I spent Black Friday doing some wine tasting in Amador County. Coming from Napa, I almost feel like a bully passing judgment on Amador’s wine industry, so I make sure to approach everything with an open mind and a realistic expectations. But despite this mindset, I always manage to discover some really bizzaro wines in the foothills. At my first stop, which I won’t even bother to name, almost every single wine was suspect (for those who really need to know [... read more ...]
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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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Okay, so maybe this isn’t actually the most difficult wine quiz in the entire world, but it is extremely challenging. I created these 20 questions in order to help study for the Certified Wine Educator (CWE) exam in 2010. Therefore, at the risk of sounding elitist, this test is geared towards those who are already familiar with the 33 Grand Cru vineyards of Burgundy. If you don’t have that particular list committed to memory, then the following questions will be total Francophile gibberish. On the other hand, I would expect any Master of Wine or Master Sommelier to breeze [... read more ...] Vineyard in repose, Mendocino County. You can say what you want about Napa. I happen to live there. But for me, Mendocino County is Northern California’s true paradise. I spent the better part of the day in the Anderson Valley today, driving past dozens of miles of vineyards that have all slipped into fall colors. All of Mendocino County looked like the photo above, at least along the winding curves of Highway 128. Outside of wine country, the landscape is dominated by moss, ferns, redwoods and oaks. In the winter, every shade of green is on display.
Tandoori chicken with all the fixings… I’m all about second chances, but never third chances. As I had promised my readers a while back, I would eventually revisit Neela’s Contemporary Indian Cuisine to see how this much-needed Napa restaurant was faring six months after its opening. I finally returned to Neela’s about two weeks ago for lunch, inspired by the rumors that the restaurant had finally lowered its prices. With Neela’s, the quality of the food has never been an issue for me, since I was already well aware of chef Neela Paniz’s reputation from her days at [... read more ...] 
Yes, it does taste as good as it looks… Making great soup is a time-consuming endeavor, even though the end-product itself appears to be rather straight-forward. Unfortunately, there is simply no substitute for homemade chicken stock, which means that you’re looking at four hours of simmering just to get this one key component ready. Folks who buy their “broth” from supermarket shelves might as well just open up a can of Campbell’s, as far as I’m concerned. Store-bought chicken broth tastes like water when compared to homemade chicken stock. Plus, that weak-flavored, store-bought broth lacks [... read more ...] I made my first visit to Bardessono last night for the restaurant’s weekly Sunday Supper, a $39 four-course dinner which offers one of the best deals in wine country. My dinner last night was delicious, bordering on exceptional, and if the restaurant can continue along this path every Sunday night, then Bardesonno will easily become one of my regular haunts this winter. Of course, those familiar with Yountville dining will typically think of Ad Hoc when they think of a four-course prix fixe dinner, but I will go on record right now, and proclaim that last night’s meal at [... read more ...] |
 
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© 2012 The Accidental Wino |
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