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.

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.

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.

The San Francisco Chronicle Wine section has officially moved from Thursday to Friday.

Wine tasting isn't exactly a cheap pastime, but still, California wineries drew more visitors than Major League Baseball in 2003. Because tasting rooms are a critical source of income for many wineries, they're stepping up wtih creating fancier, more elaborate :destinations." If you're planning to go tastin gin the Wine Country, the Chronicle aslo has tips for how to do it like a VIP, and ratings/reviews of tasting rooms. This week, the ylook at Coppola and Parducci, both of which get three out of four stars (***).

The Wine Selection of the week is South Central Coast Zinfandels, which "could convert Zinfandel naysayers by demonstrating that high alcohol and fruit can be present but not overshadow the wines' other charms."

To pair with the Zins? Braised meatballs. If you're drinking something along the lines of "a red wine that is not too serious or weighty, such as a California-appellation Merlot," then pair it with Beecher's Handmade Flagship, a Cheddar-like cheese from Seattle.

The question is, would you really go all the way to the Napa Valley wine country and not taste wine?

Doubtful.

However, Mimi Sheraton thinks that Napa has enough of a gourmet food offering - farms, cheesemakers and restaurants - that one could skip the vineyards, particularly during the September harvest season.

Her reasoning is multi-fold. The region benefits from the lingering after-effects of culinary giants like Alice Waters, Jonathan Waxman and Jeremiah Tower. There is also a branch of the CIA, Greystone, in the town of St. Helena, where Sheraton recommends appetizers (rather than a full meal). In the town of Napa, Copia, the American Center for wine, offers classes, demonstrations and tastings. There are farms thar provide the local restaurants with fresh ingredients, and the restaurants themselves are notable: La Toque, Mustards Grill, Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen, Terra, and of course, Thomas Keller's Bouchon and French Laundry.

Still, I think I'd want to squeeze in at least one vineyard.

So what's the excuse then? Too busy reading slashfood? Can't possibly miss the next episode of Lost? Got a bone in your leg?

If you have always wondered about the process of winemaking - I mean who hasn't? tiz the stuff of dreams afterall - but just can't make it to a vineyard then head on over to VOA News. Here you will find a download narrated by Elaine Lu who wanders through the 40-hectare Bouchaine Winery in Napa.

It covers all the good stuff - drip navigation (oooo), grape picking (wow!) and even mentions Bix measuring (steady at the back there) and moves on to such wonders as barrel aging and bottling. Go on you know you want to...

The Food section yesterday mentioned it, but today's wine section gives full attention to the re-enactment of the 1976 wine tasting, "The Judgment of Paris," in which California proved that it could make wine as good as any other region in the world with Napa Valley Chardonnay and a Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Saturday's Napa/London simul-tasting resulted in another California sweep, thirty years later.

The feature story may have been California vs. France, but the wine selections this week are from other parts of the world. Bargain Wines lists Italian Pinot Grigio, all for just around $10. The Wine Selection of the Week is German Riesling, with a focus on 2004. There's some good information about what "Spatlese," "Auslese," and "Eiswein" mean, as well their list.

Spicy foods have typically been a tough pairing, but this week's Riesling is a perfect match. The recipe is for Five-spice Fish with Sweet and Sour Sauce. The Cheese Course is from Andante Dairy in Sonoma, called Nocturne, a soft cow's milk cheese. The suggested pairing is a medium-body Pinot Noir.

As is the case with these things the battle over Two Buck Chuck having Napa on the label has finally been settled. The wines, officially called Charles Shaw made the headlines as being of (generally) reasonable to good quality at just $1.99.

A lawsuit was brought against the producers, Bronco Wine Co., by the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control after a request from the Napa Valley Vintners trade group. The wines label ran counter to a 6 year old state law that at least 75% of the grapes used to make wine must be grown in the county named on the label.

Bronco Wine Co. agreed to drop "Napa" from the label of a wine made with grapes grown outside Napa Valley wine region. Two of Bronco's Napa-named wines will contain Napa grapes, the company said.

No newspaper worth its weight in matzo doesn't have a story related to Passover. The San Francisco Chronicle dishes out some artichokes and fiery horseradish sauce. To change up the sweets filled with matzo, potato starch makes a sponge cake covered with berries.

It started with the Ferry Building Marketplace at Embarcadero, and now gourmet "food malls" are sprouting up all over the Bay Area.

The CIA at Greystone has expanded its program to include a full-fledged culinary program, just like its New York headquarters.

On the dining scene, watch the chefs at Rogue Chefs. John Bentley's gets a re-visit and an updated review, as does Cortez.

Baseball season has kicked off, and at Bay Area stadiums, the food has kicked off, too, with offerings beyond hot dogs and peanuts.

Pan-roasting the last of winter's vegetables gets praise, with a recipe for caramelized vegetables.

Thomas Keller is building a tiny empire over in the Napa Valley

 

 

Winemaker Don Sebastiani & Sons has released its 2002 Used Automobile Parts. Huh?

The wine is a new luxury label that follows the trend of somewhat offbeat names for wines. At Don Sebastiani, they've already got names like Screw Kappa Napa and Smoking Loon as part of their Three Loose Screws group. Used Automobile Parts is a red table wine, a blend of 43% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Petite Verdot, 10% Cabernet Franc, 9% Malbec, all from the Napa Valley. According to the winemaker, UAP pairs "best with the quality cuts of beef."

Yes, for some reason, used automobile parts with my prime rib is so wrong, it's right.

[via: Luxist]