Really Nice!

Oh, and Kitchen Basics in the Market is also for sale.

There's a new butcher moving in to the Market in the space under Matt's that opened up earlier in February this year. I forget the name, but there's a coming soon sign on the refrigerated case.

Bargreen-Ellingson on Mercer is another option. You might find what you're looking for in the back room. 1275 Mercer Street Seattle, WA 98109 Local: (206) 682-1472 Toll Free: (800) 525-0131 Fax: (206) 682-2367 General Manager: Jeff Gentling Store Hours: M-F 8a-6p Sat 9a-1p

Is this the place that has a big "Wholesale Liquor" on the side of the building?

Okay, it's a Friday afternoon and I'm bored at work so I'll pick a nit with this. So my map drawn by Americus Vespucius and printed just today is still good today? Okay, like I said, I'm bored. Sorry. Here's another one you can call. And Ladera is not in this list from winecountry.com.

How's this one? Winery finder.

This should do it... Napa Valley.

Mary, welcome to Egullet! Your reference to Casa Nuestra Winery caught my eye as that's a winery I've been wanting to hit. Here is the itinerary for the trip I had planned for September, but had to cancel. This will be the first year in five that I haven't visited The French Laundry. The ones in blue are wineries I've visited more than once and return to on each visit. I plan my 'attack on the valley' by geography. You can get a lot more accomplished by focusing on specific areas than you can by ping ponging back and forth. Monday South Napa Usually I arrive early afternoon so there isn't a lot of time for more than one or two wineries. Nicholson Ranch http://www.nicholsonranch.com 4200 Napa Road Sonoma, CA 95476 Tel: (707) 938-8822 Domaine Carneros http://www.domaine.com 1240 Duhig Road Napa, CA 94559 JR's Wine Shop: Take winery list and scope out prices. Usually it's cheaper here than at the winery. http://www.jvwineandspirits.com/ 426 First Street, Napa, CA TOLL FREE (877) 4-MYWINE Tuesday North Silverado Trail Calistoga Cellars http://www.calistogacellars.com 1170 Tubbs Lane, Calistoga CA 94515 888.393.WINE 10AM - 4:30PM, Closed Tuesday & Wednesday By appointment only Vincent Arroyo Winery http://www.vincentarroyowinery.com 2361 Greenwood Ave., Calistoga, CA 94515 Tastings: 10:00 - 5:00 daily Zahtila Vineyards http://www.zahtilavineyards.com 2250 Lake County Hwy, Calistoga, CA 94515 Tastings: 10 - 5 daily Tastings by appointment 707.942.9251 On the edge http://www.onthedgewinery.com 1255 Lincoln Ave., Calistoga California 94515 Tastings: Sunday- Thursday 10-5:30ish Friday - Saturday 10 - 8ish Silver Rose Cellers http://www.silverrose.com 400 Silverado Trail, Calistoga, CA 94515 Tastings: 10:00 - 5:00 daily Open to public Dutch Henry Winery http://www.dutchhenry.com 4310 Silverado Trail, Calistoga, California 94515 Tastings: 10:00 - 5:00 daily Appointments preferred 707.942.5771 Sterling Vineyards http://www.sterlingvyds.com 1111 Dunaweal Lane, Calistoga, CA 94515 Tastings: 10:30 - 4:30 daily Tours: By appointment Phone: 707.942.3344 Casa Nuestra Winery http://www.casanuestra.com 3451 Silverado Trail North, St. Helena, CA 94574 Tastings: 10:00 - 5:00 daily Tours: By appointment Toll Free: 866-844-9463 Robert Sinskey Vineyards http://www.robertsinskey.com 6320 Silverado Trail Yountville, CA 94599 707.944.9090 Wednesday CA 29 Niebaum Coppola - Oakville Olive Oil Company Sullivan Vineyards http://www.sullivanwine.com/ Register for tasting online 1090 Galleron Road, Rutherford, California 94573 877-244-7337 Flora Springs - Dean and Deluca Prager Beringer - CIA Thursday Oakville Grade and Sonoma Hess Collection Chateau Potelle Ledson Winery & Vineyards http://www.ledson.com 7335 Sonoma Highway Kenwood, CA 95452 tel. +1 800.539.2331 Open daily 10:00am - 5:00pm Chateau St. Jean 8555 Sonoma Hwy Kenwood, CA 95452 Family Wineries of Sonoma County Tasting Room About five or six wineries are here. 9200 Sonoma Highway Kenwood, CA 95452 800.833.2882 Friday South Silverado Trail Luna Vineyards http://www.lunavineyards.com 2921 Silverado Trail, Napa, CA 94558 10:00 - 5:00 daily Tastings by appointment Phone: 707.255.2474 Regusci http://www.regusciwinery.com 5584 Silverado Trail, Napa, CA 94558 10:00 - 5:00 daily Open to the public Stag's Leap Wine Cellars http://www.stagsleapwinecellars.com 5766 Silverado Trail, Napa, CA 94558 10:00AM - 4:30 PM Daily Pine Ridge Winery http://www.pineridgewinery.com 5901 Silverado Trail Napa CA 94558 (800) 575-9777 Silver Oak http://www.silveroak.com 915 Oakville Crossroad, Oakville, CA 94562 Monday through Saturday from 9:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. Return to JR's Wine Shop and purchase wines. Edited by the welcome committee.

Let's see... the Bourdain dinner is on a Monday... think they'll be serving any fish dishes?

From volume 1 I'm making her master recipe for oven-roast chicken and peach tart. I thought I'd take a look to see what tributes would be on http://www.juliachild.com. What a horrible hijacking of a url. EDIT by moderator: I'm going to do something we almost NEVER do--which is insert a notice into a user post. The reason being that the URL indicated above seems to lead to a site which tries to install and run a Java application. Now I can't tell you offhand what this application will do to your PC, but I want to warn our users that very frequently this is how Spyware gets onto your PC. So my advice is to take Really Nice's word that this isn't a legitimate Julia Child site and don't click on this or otherwise visit this URL. If you DO, please answer "No" or "Cancel" to any questions they may ask about installing or running anything.

I just made reservations for Andrea Immer, Anthony Bourdain, and Jacques Pepin. If anyone wants to to make a financial contribution to the Really Nice! dinner fund, PM me.

Let's see, in the 25 for $25 deal last March, Ethan Stowell of Union decided to join that party. Someone needs to go in and tell him about this promotion and then convince him that he's just a neighborhood restaurant. Mmm... monkfish!

Just called Serafina's and talked to John. They are taking reservations; here's what's known. When: Monday, November 15 Time: 6:30 P.M. but this might change Cost: Estimated to be around $90 to $100 per person Can't wait!

Follow up to the original column.

Is it possible that something was either on the bottom of the glass or on the shelf that made the base stick? I don't think sales is the right department, after all, their main concern is sales; not refunds. Pedro is right, try the customer relations department. I don't know about the 'honesty level' on this but... You could buy another one. Replace the good one with the broken one and bring the box back to the store and...

Hey! Who invited all these New Yorkers in to our forum?

Ah, I can smell the harvest now...

And Mumm Napa Valley crushed 40 tons of pinot noir at its Rutherford winery on Monday, July 26.

Feta cheese from Greece too. For what it's worth, here's the text from the BATF Code of Federal Regulations discussing how to refer to "sparkling grape wine." This is actually an interesting read as you progress towards the bottom of the document. Did you know that 259 grape varieties have been approved by the Director for use as type designations for American wines? And that Rulander is an approved name substitute for Pinot Gris?

Just a guess, but I'm willing to bet you can find it at Vintage New York. "Robert Ransom and Susan Wine" there's a joke in here somewhere...

Don't tease me like that!

Ah, good point. I have one of those that also has five holes at the bottom of the funnel to help disperse and aerate the wine as it goes into the decanter. Fortunately, our coffee maker requires a large filter so it sits nicely in the Riedel as it filters through. If it's a good wine (totally subjective, I know), I'll spend at least two weeks planning the meal around it!

The Cellaring of Wine thread made me think of this very question. Glad you asked because I'd like to know too. In 2001 I came upon a 1982 Chateau Figeac. It was a splendid wine that lasted in the decanter for 15 minutes. At that time everything in the wine dissipated. We had (maybe) 3 ounces each of great wine. The remainder was undetectible. Through various experiments I've come to the conclusion to decant the tannic, younger, red wines. I've had guests over when I've opened an '82 Lafite or an '81 Grange and we simply decant in the glass. It's amazing how a wine evolves in a glass over a couple of hours. With these older wines that have sediment, I take the out the 'ol coffee filter and run the remaining inch or so from the bottle and pour it through the filter into the glass. It's not classy, but I've spent too much money to lose a wine again in 15 minutes.

I do not believe they will decompose. I saved trimmings from my vines from the previous season and all they did was get hard. That's when I would throw them in the wood-fired pizza oven about a minute before tossing in a pizza. And they sell for about $5 a small handfull. There is a market for it, you just need to find a buyer. (Bbq stores, farmers markets...)