Since the Napa Valley is about food and wine, a great complement to wine-tasting is food-tasting, and there is no better, authoritative place to receive food education than at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone.  As the CIA is situated in the heart of the Napa Valley, visiting this National Register Historic Landmark is a great way to pace your wine tasting experiences.
With the lastest Flavor Bar, the CIA fills a spectrum of educational experiences for food enthusiasts at all price points that range from the 15-20 minute Flavor Bar to one-hour cooking demos to two-hour, six-hour and multi-day …

Given that Yountville has some of the greatest restaurants in the country, it was fitting when the Kelleher family sought a new chef for Brix Restaurant in late 2008 that it select an iconic chef like Anne Gingrass-Paik.  Having begun her career with Wolfgang Puck at Spago in LA in the 1980’s and then as executive chef at Postrio and Hawthorne Lane in SF, Chef Gingrass-Paik has perfected the art of California Cuisine which focuses on the use of fresh, local ingredients and infusing them with international flavors. From bold and …

The Napa Valley Mustard Festival not only celebrates the warmth of the yellow mustard flowers in bloom, but also the wealth of great chefs that we have in the Napa Valley.  Chef Gingrass-Paik of Brix Restaurant loves the slight bitterness and heat of mustard and over her illustrious career at Spago, Postrio and Hawthorne Lane, has made it in several ways.  She loves the sweet-hot of Italian Mostardo di frutta which is made with candied fruit, a great contrast served with salty prosciutto.  She also makes an asian style mustard with …

Cakebread Cellars commitment to food extends beyond its wines.  As part of Cakebread’s community outreach, Culinary Director Brian Streeter visits the Mount George elementary school in Napa once a month during the school year to educate the children about where their food comes from, to gain confidence with cooking and to experience international cuisines.  For example, a recent class centered around the different flatbreads of the world.  Chef Streeter has only two rules that he gives the children at the outset of each class.  “You cannot say yuck,” in part …

If you are travelling to Bordeaux, you probably love food and wine.  Some of the specialties of Bordeaux given its proximity to water are duck, foie gras and lamprey eel and you will find some of the best entrecote (beef) dishes anywhere.  Lest you think Bordeaux is all about heavy food, don’t worry, there is also a good choice of seafood such as salmon, sole, cod, sea bream, oysters and shrimp.  There is a great balance of foods and restaurants to choose from and plenty of wines to pair
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La Brasserie Bordelaise at 50 Rue Saint Remi serves …

One could spend days in Jerez being amazed by the infinite pairings of dry sherry with food, if mostly to overcome the incongruity of pairing a moderate acid, non-fruity, fortified wine with seafood.
My revelatory meal was at the Restaurant “El Marques” in Jerez where we had an all-sherry pairing dinner.  Our starter was a plate filled with carpaccio of cod topped with an olive and lime vinaigrette, a crepe filled with smoked salmon, guacamole, cray fish and baby onions, and thin slices of king prawn dressed simply with local extra-virgin olive oil and Jerez vinegar and Maldom …

We have all been trained to espouse the necessity of acidity in wine to pair with food.  But how much is the right amount?  Being an “acid freak”, I have always relished the rieslings, gruners, sauvignons, chenins, pinot noirs and cabernets, et al, with my food, regardless of the dish.  But on recent trips, a couple of wines have changed my perspective, one of them being sherry.  Sherry is the most under-appreciated wine in the world.  For years, wine writers and sommeliers have been saying that Sherry is “the next big thing” …