melkor

It's interesting, I suspect that table is the one I had dinner at a few weeks prior to your visit. Personally I preferred sitting there, we had a late (9:15) seating and by the time we were at our table (45min of champagne and apps in the garden) the room was empty and it felt like we were the only people in the place. This table that you were first offered was on the right side of the small room with one small window and an open doorway to the larger dinning room to the right of the lobby?

I currently like Rudy's best. Karen's wine is nice as well, it is definitly better balanced, and I suspect it would be my favorite if I were tasting them side by side with 5 years of bottle age. At the moment Rudy's shows lots of bright fruit and really well integrated tannin, I suspect it won't go the distance the same was Karen's and Ken's wines will, but it's what I'd pick if I were pulling a bottle out of the set today. I still can't make up my mind about letting zinfandel age. I've had some great older zins but I'm not sure they are better than they would have been young.

I've had all three of the Tres Sabores from 99, but I have no tried the 2000s yet. The story behind them is that the owners of Williams Ranch wanted to show what affect winemakers have on the final product - all three winemakers (Ken Bernards, Karen Culler, and Rudy Zuidema) get equal portions of the Williams Ranch vineyard and they dictate when the grapes are harvested from their section (I don't believe they have any say in the trellising or other vineyard variables). Once the grapes are brought in each winemaker vinifies their grapes differently. All three winemakers make good wine, but the real attraction for Tres Sabores is to taste them all together - none of the wines will knock your socks off but they do a great job of illustrating different vinification techniques. If I had an odd bottle sitting around, I'd grill up a steak and open the bottle. It's good juice, I suspect you'll enjoy it.

I thought I'd update my vanilla extract project, 4 months since my last post about it. I've now got a pint (minus a few ounces that have been used already) of stronger-than-normal vanilla extract, the vodka flavor/smell has gone away and I've just been using this extract for all things that require it. It's definitly a good way to make use of over-the-hill vanilla beans. It took about 3 months from when I started until the extract was strong enough to be useful.

It's definitely possible to have a great meal at Tra Vigne, but they have been very inconsistent from visit to visit. I've had some great meals there and some awful meals there - the wine service has been at best acceptable and at worst offensive and their menu is more or less static, your unlikely to find the best local ingredients being showcased on their menu. I'd say you've got a 75% chance of having an excellent meal there on your first visit and that your opinion of the restaurant is likely to go down the more you eat there.

In Healdsburg, eat at the Dry Creek Kitchen, call ahead and get a reservation. Near there visit Rafanelli and Quivera. Once your back in Napa, I'd skip the Culinary Institute and Tra Vigne. Terra is better than both for a similar price, La Toque is better (the French Laundry is the only place better in the valley) but it is twice the price of Terra/CIA/etc. Don Giovanni is excellent; ZuZu in Napa is also good. Bouchon Bakery is a great stop on the way through the valley for a cup of coffee (get a latte) and pastries. As far as wine goes, see about visiting Pride on Spring mountain (between Sonoma and Napa). Quintessa is nice, but they charge $25/taste. Domaine Carneros has a very nice tour (focused on sparking wine). How many days are you going to be in the area? What plans have you already made?

I've yet to taste it, I've spoken to the good people at sweet marias about it (they used to carry it) they say its reasonably good coffee, and very overpriced. I think I'd try it if I could buy it unroasted, but I'm not willing to seek it out.

I'm with Jason on the Riesling recomendation. The 2001 and 2002 germans are really outstanding. JJ Christoffel and Dr Loosen are the two producers I'm drinking the most of recently.

If your going for a pink sparkler with the tuna, check out Paul Bara Rose. If you can find it, it's great juice at a reasonable price.

Suzanne, considering that probably about 90% of everyone who was around us was gay, I just felt that it was an incredibly amazingly stupid thing to say aside from his obvious asshole-itis. We coulda been killed! I've tried to make better choices in my life since then, esp when I fly across the country with someone I think Suzanne was talking about this: That definitly cracked me up...

I'm in Napa. I'd love to have a brick oven, but I can make do with the gas grill to bake bread in a pinch. Next natural disaster we can have an egullet potluck at my place.

I'm all set for whatever happens. Backpacking gear, hundreds of pounds of canned veggies from the garden, a chest freezer full of wild salmon/beef briskets/turkeys/chickens, gas grill, smoker, and 350 bottles of wine to wash it down with. Buying flour/sugar/etc in 50lb bags at cash and carry means I've got several months worth of bread and pasta supplys if all else fails I'll be stuck eating baguettes made on a pizza stone in a 600 degree grill and washing it down with bottles of champagne.

To my nose Brett is more of a band-aid box smell and TCA is more of a 'someone strained this through a gym sock' smell. But overall I agree with you, and I also generally find them to be equally welcome in the wine I'm drinking melkor, A small bit of brett is normal in certain Bordeaux. Ducru is pretty bretty. It is hard convincing those customers who know what TCA smells like that brett is a different thing. People aren't loving the 'it's wet dog, not wet cardboard' explanation?

To my nose Brett is more of a band-aid box smell and TCA is more of a 'someone strained this through a gym sock' smell. But overall I agree with you, and I also generally find them to be equally welcome in the wine I'm drinking

Start the day at Copia, visit the gardens, and check out the Forks in the Road exhibit upstairs. Check the website to see if there are any food or wine classes that interest you. Have lunch at Taylor’s Refresher in St Helena - they have great burgers, amazing garlic fries, fish tacos, and a stellar wine list (for a burger stand). It'll be packed full of locals, one person should grab a table in the back and another should stand on line. You'll likely have lunch for $20 for two. After you have lunch, go across the street and do a quick tasting at Merryvale - they are great people and they have good wine. From there head south a little to Zinfandel Lane, cut across on Zinfandel to the Silverado Trail and head south to Joseph Phelps for their patio tasting (nice people, great wine, amazing view and very very relaxed). Skip the CIA, go from Phelps go south to Yountville, (cut across on Yountville Cross Rd), have dinner at Bistro Jeanty or Bouchon. Both are in the same price range as the CIA and both have much better food than the CIA. If you'd prefer Italian to French food, continue south on 29 and eat at Bistro Don Giovanni. If you've got some time to kill between Phelps and dinner (you'll have 2 or 3 hours most likely), you can stop by one of dozens of wineries – Mumm’s not a bad place to spend an hour drinking sparkling wine – or go to Bouchon Bakery in Yountville and grab a few things to snack on. There are a few nice parks in town where you can relax and have a snack and enjoy the weather.

What a strange thing to say, Stone. I couldn't disagree with you more. Surely sarcasm, right? no one could ever say that eGullet members are slow to pick up on sarcasm...

4 or 5 years, about 400 bottles. Mostly california, german, and australian. Its in a vinotemp cabinet, which is full.

Last week in Napa I got santa rosa plums blueberries raspberries valencia oranges and eggs

check out wine-searcher.com to find most any wine anywhere. It's $5.67/bottle at Pop's and $6.95 at Sherry Lehmann. Congrats on your first post

Before I moved out to CA I lived 4 miles away from said smokehouse of the catskills. A website they have not got. You can smell bacon smoking for a mile in every direction. It's definitly worth a visit.

For really good meat I prefer salt and pepper, sometimes rubbed with a clove of garlic. Not a chance would I do that with a good cut of meat.

One of my favorite ways to grill lesser quality steaks is to mash a garlic clove, some salt, some pepper, some sugar together in a mortar and pestle, then mix it with a few tablespoons of butter then rub it onto the steaks and grill. The sugar seems to improve the crust on the steaks.

Retsina is by far the worst wine I've ever had. I've had a few good greek wines but I can't for the life of me remember the producers names.

No idea, I haven't seen anything saying how long the offer is good for.

Your missing the point, it has nothing to do with being cooked in the K nor does it have anything to do with being dry when it leaves the smoker. This is a smoked brisket pre-steaming: The meat directly out of the cooker is not pastrami because it has not had the final step in the pastramization process. It is simply a different product after extended exposure to steam. Give it a try.