"napa valley" news and stories

I posted recently about investing in wine futures vs. the stock market; now a Napa wine company has tied them together. Here's how it works: you pre-buy a bottle of Napa Cabernet Sauvignon for $39, which is already a fairly good deal for that region, where most Cabs run much higher. The penny-pinchers at Bailout Wine record the Dow Jones closing value on the day you buy the bottle, and when it's officially released on August 14, 2009, you'll get $2 off for every 100 points the Dow has dropped since you first signed up.

If in the unlikely event that the Dow goes up, you're still set: the $39 price is the ceiling.

My favorite part was the caveat at the bottom of the "How it Works" page: "Note that if the price per bottle should go below $9, we have to charge you $9/bottle for legal reasons. But that will be the least of our concerns." Umm, yeah. At least you'll have a nice Cab to drown your sorrows in.

• Everyone is eating quinoa these days.
• Napa wine has changed in the past 30 years.
• When I make a sandwich these days, I find myself using focaccia more and more.
• Are you familiar with Montreal smoked meat?
• This chocolatier moved from New York City to Amesbury and found a new career.
• Restaurant reviews: Machu Picchu Charcoal Chicken & Grill, Webster Hall, Benatti, and Chau Chow.
• This week's recipes: Thai Dressing, Grilled Lamb Steaks with Farro, Olives, and Almonds, and Ice Cream Pie.

Valentine's Day is a little more than a week away and so it is time to start celebrating all things chocolate. Our friends over at Culinate are hosting a contest in which they'll be sending both a reader (and their guest) and a food blogger (as well as their guest) to Copia Center's Death by Chocolate Festival in Napa Valley. Entering is easy, just head over to the Culinate contest page, sign up and choose your favorite food blogger. You enter yourself when you vote and put your preferred blogger one step closer to winning as well.

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They went to New York first, but this week, the inspectors for the Michelin Guide made their designations around the San Francisco Bay area. 356 restaurants were listed. 23 received one star (*), four received two stars (**), and only one restaurant received the coveted three star rating (***): Thomas Keller's The French Laundry in Yountville (Napa Valley).

It's not totally surprising, as Keller also received three stars for his restaurant Per Se in New York. However, some folks, like Paul Franson, a wine country writer and author of the weekly Napa Life newsletter, were surprised that more restaurants didn't receive the highest rating.

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If this isn't an American dream story, I don't know what is. Ulises Valdez left the tiny village of Los Cuachalalates, Mexico, for Mexico City at the age of 10 to work for his uncle. After moving around from place to place, he eventually crossed the California border and made his way to Sonoma County's Dry Creek Valley. There, he worked the fields, eventually gained citizenship, struck up a partnership, bought out his partner, and in July of this year, Valdez Family Wines launched.

The Chronicle's Wine Selection of the Week is Napa Valley Syrah. Of the 21 wines they tasted, three received three out of four stars (***): 2004 HdV Carneros Syrah, 2004 Sand T Cellars Brookside Vineyard Napa Valley Syrah, and 2004 Novy Page-Nord Vineyard Napa Valley Syrah.

To go with that Syrah, there is a recipe for Sausage and Lamb Bolognese. The Cheese Course is Comte,a A cow's milk cheese from the Jura mountains of eastern France, near the Swiss border, which a former Bay Area chef hand picks from the aging caves in France.