For David Pack, legendary musician, Ambrosia lead singer and Grammy award winning record producer, his latest project, Napa Crossroads, is one he’s been dreaming of for 30 years. That’s when he first started visiting wine country. He calls Napa “my secret place, my magic spot, heaven on earth.” The wine bug bit David, and he says “I was one of those geeky guys who would boil off the wine label and put them in a book with tasting notes.” He learned as much as he could about grape growing and making wine, reading books and talking to everyone he knew. David still has those wine journals. A fortuitous meeting with Jeff Gargiulo, owner of Gargiulo Vineyards in Oakville started David’s journey to producing Crossroads. He was performing at the winery’s harvest party in 2005, where David Duncan, CEO of Silver Oak Cellars also happened to perform with some other local…
A Nose for Wine at Morlet Family Vineyards
“These are my diplomas from Galimard.” Luc Morlet and his wife Jodie proudly hold up not one, but two certificates he earned at the Galimard Perfume Factory in Grasse, France in 2008. “I liked it so much I went back a second time,” he says. For two days this Napa Valley winemaker learned the art of perfumery and blending fragrances at Galimard’s Studio des Fragrances. Aromatics, you see, are a driving force in Morlet’s winemaking at Morlet Family Vineyards. It shows in a wine he calls La Proportion Dorée. “The Golden Ratio,” as this wine is named, “is the concept of three, a pyramid with the Semillion being the strong base, then Sauvignon Blanc in the heart and the point is Muscadelle,” Luc says. By the time Luc went to Galimard he had already developed this blend, but the reason for it made sense after he learned about how perfume…
Wine For Your Skin: 29 By Lydia Mondavi
Say the Mondavi name and one word pops into your head – wine. Another word should come to mind too – grape seeds. That’s right, those beneficial, high in anti-oxidant little seeds, which add tannin and flavor to red wine, are about to go big time. Lydia Mondavi isn’t a winemaker, she’s a skincare and cosmetics expert. She’s bringing all the goodness of the grape seeds from Napa Valley to your skin on a Target shelf near you. This month 29 by Lydia Mondavi rolls out nationwide at Target, part of the retailer’s new luxury beauty beauty department. “They called me out of the blue,” Lydia says, explaining how the collab between her established skincare and makeup line 29 Cosmetics and Target came about. Her brand was selling well at Cos Bar in Aspen, Co., and the Cos Bar owner, who has partnered with Target on other projects recommended 29 Cosmetics.…
A New Start With a First Crush at Continuum Estate
“This is from the first day of our first harvest in the winery,” says Tim Mondavi, holding a glass filled with a dark purple liquid. “This was one week ago today, Cabernet Sauvignon that’s just down the hill from here. It’s an early harvest for the vintage and it shows great promise.” Tim is speaking to the folks he and his family have invited to the blessing of the grapes for the 2013 first crush at the new Continuum Estate winery. It’s a family effort by Tim, his sister Marcia Mondavi Borger and Tim’s four children Carissa, Carlo, Dante and Chiara. This blessing of the grapes is not only a celebration of harvest, it is a milestone for Tim and Marcia’s family. The 2013 vintage is the 100th year anniversary of Robert Mondavi’s birth, the family patriarch. Thanks to Robert’s belief that his and other Napa Valley wineries could…
The Legacy of Prohibition on Wine 80 Years Later
There have been many books and films made about Prohibition, the era of the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that banned the production of alcoholic drinks for commercial sale and transportation from 1920 until 1933. A new film focuses on how the wine industry rebuilt itself after Repeal and the effects and lasting legacy of Prohibition. Can’t get wine shipped to your house? Blame it on Prohibition. Can’t buy wine on Sunday? Another legacy of Prohibition. Today, December 5, 2013 is the 80th anniversary of Prohibition’s Repeal. “There is no question that the legacy of Prohibition continues,” says Carla De Luca Worfolk, director of the documentary America’s Wine: The Legacy of Prohibition. She wanted to look specifically at the wine industry. “We thought what would be most interesting and relevant to people is to understand the implications of that period and why that history is still important and relevant…
Wine From Under The Sea
You’ve probably heard stories about shipwrecks discovered where bottles of wine were found. Some of the wines uncovered have been 100 years old or more. There’s been interest in what these wines taste like and how well they did – or didn’t age – in their watery cellars. That’s the inspiration behind Mira Winery’s “aquaoir,” a clever play on the word terroir, which means how a wine expresses the soil and climate it grows in, among other things. “Our inspiration was to try something different, so we did an experiment,” says Mira Winery President Jim “Bear” Dyke. He’s hosting night six of a seven city tour, dubbed the “Are You Dirty or Wet Tour” (they gave out concert t-shirts), a blind tasting of the 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon, one land aged the traditional way, in a dry cellar, and one ocean aged at the bottom of the sea. To their knowledge,…
Cakebread American Harvest Workshop Day 4 and 5
Today is our last full day of the Cakebread Cellars American Harvest Workshop. After a very long day of picking grapes, making pottery and cooking dinner for 65 yesterday, we’re up early again, gathering at 6:30 am for a drive to the coast. We’re visiting three artisan purveyors, Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company, Hog Island Oyster Company and Della Fattoria, a bakery, and in my opinion the best bakery in the United States. I love their pumpkin seed and polenta breads. I have been to all of these places, on video shoots when I was producing the TV show In Wine Country. But I was always working and didn’t experience it as a regular visitor might. It’s about a 90 minute drive from Napa Valley to Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese, in the Point Reyes National Seashore. While the marine layer is thick this morning, the scenery, with the water…
Cakebread American Harvest Workshop Day 3
Morning Day 3 On our third day of the American Harvest Workshop at Cakebread Cellars we have a super early call time uggh — 6:30 am so we can go pick grapes. Lucky for us they didn’t have us get up for a 2 am night harvest. Breakfast waiting for us in the vineyard again, the sweetest strawberries and pastries from Bouchon Bakery, good fuel for the work ahead. We’re picking in the Foster Road vineyard in Carneros, and these grapes go into the reserve Chardonnay. Quite a big responsibility our crew has, we better not screw it up. The most important thing is that we start and end with 10 fingers. I’ve picked before, but it’s always fun to be in the vineyard, wrangling clusters from the vine, and tasting a few sweet grapes as you pick. In no time at all we’ve filled two bins and send them…
Cakebread American Harvest Workshop Day 2
We start day two of Cakebread’s American Harvest Workshop at Suscol Springs Vineyard ranch in south east Napa, where there are vineyards as far as the eye can see. I’ve never had breakfast in a vineyard and this one is a treat – a Mexican breakfast, huevos with red sauce and tortillas. Day one was a great introduction and I can’t wait to see what today brings. Mark McDowell, the chef from Hawaii, brought a gift with him – fresh strawberry papaya – yum! With full tummies we set off into the vineyards with Bruce Cakebread, who was at one time the head winemaker. He talks to us about Napa Valley – what makes it unique as a wine growing region, thanks to the soils and climate. Bruce Cakebread. Courtesy Cakebread Cellars Hard to believe this ranch was a cattle grazing pasture up until 2007 when the Cakebreads planted Cabernet…
Cakebread American Harvest Workshop Day 1
Right in the middle of harvest, the busiest time at any winery, Cakebread Cellars in Napa Valley invites five chefs from around the world, a group of local artisan food producers and food and wine enthusiasts to take part in the American Harvest Workshop, a five day intensive on food and wine. It’s a hands-on program, with the chefs and other participants literally getting their hands dirty, picking grapes, harvesting veggies from Cakebread’s winery garden, and creating and cooking two five-course dinners for 65 people. As we gather on day one for orientation and a tour of the garden, I can’t help thinking this feels a little like Top Chef. No, it’s not a competition, but the five chefs will be working together as a team, and this is the first time they’ve met each other. Culinary Director Brian Streeter, who is our leader for the workshop, has them choose…