As I spent 2009 combing the Napa Valley for great wines (the one definite perk of living here and being in the wine business), I decided to pay special attention to the Cabernets that were priced at $50 or less, hoping to compile a list of favorites. As I have already done with some of [...]

During the heights of harvest and crush, I’ll often promote Calistoga as a potential refuge from the Napa Valley’s tourist congestion (of course, it requires a trip up to Mendocino wine country to truly leave everything behind). But even in the winter, when things around the entire valley go calm, Calistoga still has its merits. [...]

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I spent Saturday evening at the Third Annual Harvest Dinner at the Bale Grist Mill, hosted in conjunction with Slow Food Napa Valley and the Silverado Brewing Company. The event was held to raise money for the mill, which was originally constructed in 1846, and is the only operating mill of its kind [...]

In many ways, I consider Calistoga to be a destination unto itself, a town somehow removed from the rest of the Napa Valley, not only geographically, but in its attitude as well. With the exception of Castello di Amorosa, the gauche opulence that pervades many parts of the Napa Valley seems to be mostly absent [...]

I took a little road trip up to Calistoga this afternoon: a barbecued tri-tip sandwich from Buster’s was my original objective. Along the way, I decided that I should probably stop by to taste the new wines at Vincent Arroyo, since they had just released their newest vintages on Labor Day (an annual tradition at [...]

These days, most of the folks who are familiar with Charbono tend to be the old timers. These are the people who remember when Inglenook was one of the Napa Valley’s most reputable wine producers, long before corporate ownership ran the brand completely into the ground (as corporations tend to do). Inglenook, for a good [...]