I asked a handful of my favorite up-and-coming winemakers, such as Kenny here, to answer a few questions about things I thought readers would like to hear about. Read on for his responses, and check out his winery, Hobo Wine Company, if you'd like to taste Kenny's take on the great world of wine.

Interview with Kenny Likitprakong

Sonoma native Kenny Likitprakong has long made wine for others, but lately scratched his entrepreneurial itch and began making wine for his own label, Hobo. Just a few years later Kenny has two additional wine brands, Banyan and Folk Machine, and between them all he makes an eclectic mix of wines from appellations throughout California. For the back story on the Hobo name, visit Kenny's site.

- best white under $10, hands down?
Domaine des Liards Berger Frere Montlouis Sur Loire

- best red under $10, hands down?
Domaine de la Damase Vin de Pays de Vaucluse

- your favorite pink wine?
Domaine Ameztia Etxaldea - Irouleguy

- fav bubbly?
For the money, Roederer Mendocino County Brut

- fav new "hip" wine region?
The Rockpile AVA in Sonoma County

- a really great glass of wine, to me, is like working on a math problem while sitting in a hot tub, having my feet rubbed and my back massaged, and listening to John Coltrane.

- best white over $30?
Marcel Deiss Schoenenbourg

- best red over $50?
Littorai Hirsch Pinot Noir - Sonoma Coast

- best wine you've ever had?
A Bordeaux I bought in Paris for 20-30 francs and drank in a dirty motel room close to the Gare du Nord after sleeping in door wells the two previous nights.

- quick advice for the wine novice?
Trust yourself!

Taste his wines

Posted by Courtney at 10:00 AM • Comments (0)

I was asked to do a guest blog for Glam.com - which went live today - and decided to answer this question as part of my entry. It seemed like the right thing to do, given the site. For those who don't know, Glam.com is one of the web's most highly trafficked lifestyle sites for women and covers everything from fashion to celeb gossip to, well, wine. Some of my favs featured include Hundred Acre Winery's "Gold" Chardonnay blend, which includes consumable fleks of real 24k gold, and Piper-Heidsieck's "Dressed" by Jean-Paul Gaultier, which arrives outfitted in a see-through red corset (the bottle, that is, not the delivery guy). Check it out here.

Posted by Courtney at 10:38 AM • Comments (0)

I asked a handful of my favorite up-and-coming winemakers, such as Ames here, to answer a few questions about things I thought readers would like to hear about. Read on for Ames' responses, and check out his winery, Medlock Ames, if you'd like to taste his take on the great world of wine.

Interview with Ames Morison

New Orleans native and former Peace Corps volunteer Ames Morrison powers his Alexander Valley winery with solar power and bio-diesel fuel. His "green" wines are made with sustainable and organic grapes and are quickly gaining the attention of critics.

- best white under $10, hands down?
Dr. Loosen Riesling "Dr. L"

- best red under $10, hands down?
E. Guigal Cotes du Rhone

- your favorite pink wine?
Domaine Tempier Bandol

- fav bubbly?
Veuve Clicquot La Grande Dame

- fav new "hip" wine region?
Central Otago New Zealand

- a really great glass of wine, to me, is like________
a time machine. It's like reliving the year in which the wine was made.

- best white over $30?
Didier Dagueneau Pouilly-Fume Silex.

- best red over $50?
Domaine de la Romanee Conti Romanee-Conti. I've only tasted this wine twice, but it is really beyond comparison. Sadly, it is quite a bit more than $50.

- best wine you've ever had?
Wow! So many, but I would have to say the Talbott Diamond T Chardonnay. When I drank it for the first time, it made me want to become a winemaker.

- quick advice for the wine novice?
Get to know your local wine merchant. This person has a vested interest in teaching you about wine, and they often derive particular pleasure from finding and sharing the great wine values. Anyone can recommend high-scoring wines, but these merchants revel in finding often overlooked gems.

Taste his wines

Posted by Courtney at 04:07 PM • Comments (0)

Seems tasting in the North Fork region of Long Island, NY has taken a - how shall I put this delicately? - raucous turn lately. A frightening but hilarious article in yesterday's NY Times talked of antics like naked drunken romps through vineyards and no-holds-barred drinking (er, pounding) in tasting rooms at some of the area's 30 wineries. Call it growing pains, if you will (New York wine country's only just now really taking off as a tourist destination) - I just call it sad.

pictured: my dear friend Kristin, a dignified bachelorette in Napa

Apparently, tasters who arrive in limos and buses tend to be the worst offenders. Bachelorette parties that end in brides-to-be grinding on top of tables are apparently not uncommon. One tasting room employee referred to the two kinds of tasters they receive as "Slobs & Snobs" - highlighting the strange and uncomfortable juxtaposition you get when a drunken bachelorette is seen grinding next to a seersucker-clad WASP-y type just trying to sip amidst relative peace.

Or, at least, not in a tasting room that's reminiscent of a strip club.

I don't have a lot of patience for groups like this at wineries. Sure - it's a blast to taste through wine country, and getting a little tipsy is often a part of that experience, especially towards the end of the day. But taking your clothes off and running through vineyards? Downing wine by the glassful such that you have to get sick in the spit bucket? Not okay.

I played hostess to a good friend's bachelorette in Napa two weekends ago, and I'm pleased to report that my group was much more low-key than some of those apparently cruising through the North Fork. We kicked the day off with Kir Royales in the limo, then hit up St. Supery in Rutherford for a super nice tour and tasting. We tasted from barrels and then we tasted extensively in the private salon there. Still, no table dancing.

We moved on next to Rutherford Hill Winery, where we tasted still more wine and had a delicious picnic lunch overlooking the Napa Valley below (with more wine, naturally). By the time we left everyone was well plied (but not plastered!) and we all agreed it was a lovely day. Table dancing ensued - but later that night, at a club. Actually, it was bar-top dancing, but at that point of the day who's really nit picking anyway?

My point is this: Celebratory occasions and groups DO go hand-in-hand with wine country, but respect and good manners are key parts to this equation. Wineries are hospitality businesses, at the end of the day, and aim to please visitors; many in the North Fork until lately didn't even charge visitors to taste their wines. Future visitors should thank them for their hospitality and courtesy with decent behavior. After all, there are plenty of strip clubs and bars back in the city. Save that *&#! for Scores when you get back.

Posted by Courtney at 12:41 PM • Comments (0)

A recent trip to the St. Helena Farmer's Market (located right smack in the heart of Napa Valley!) left a resounding "wow" on my lips for at least several days after. Everywhere I looked at the market - which runs every Friday morning from May through October - there was something to "wow" over - the impossibly bright freshly cut flowers, the unbelievably delicious artisanal cheeses from Raymond & Co. Cheesemongers, gorgeous veggies like this rainbow-stemmed organic swiss chard, and posh, leisurely-looking people strolling along, taking it all in.

Where do these people work, I thought? Knowing that the rest of my peers and, well, pretty much everybody I know who's not pregnant or retired was hard at work at that very moment made the impossible leisure-liness of the place that much more impressive. Clearly, Napa is the kind of community where you'll find hundreds of non-pregnant, non-retirement-aged folks spending several hours in the sun on a random Friday morning, free from the constraints of something so tedious as a job.

Bocce - Who Knew?
Plus, who needs work when you've got a killer game of bocce ball going? Bocce seems to me to be Napa's unofficial leisure sport, something I can attest to having now observed several courts in the backyards of posh local homes and wineries. According to The Napa Valley Register, Bocce is "enjoying a new renaissance in Napa," in good part because, as a source put it, "sipping wine and playing bocce seem to go together."

Bocce is an ancient game extremely similar to French petanque, a game I played a lot of last summer in the South of France. Essentially, teams compete to see who can toss a ball closest to a smaller target ball, called a pallino. It's super social, as you can see from these snaps of folks gathered around the bocce courts near the farmer's market. It's also a game I've rarely seen played outside of sun-splashed Provence, which probably shouldn't be such a surprise given Napa's penchant for - bingo! - sun and leisure.

Diet? What Diet?
Aside from the delicious cheeses and veggies, there was a fabulous Italian food purveyor called Mirella's where I fell prey to a tasty pastry concoction. It was a mini tart filled with dark berry fruits - a small pie, really - and I devoured it in record time. For a gal who's normally not partial to pastries, it ranked as one of the better things I've eaten in months. Apparently Mirella's panini are to-die-for too, but I drew the line after the tart. Carbs on top of pastry was just NOT happening, I resolved - not, at least, before noon.

I managed to get out of the St. Helena Farmer's Market without spending every last dollar in my wallet, but it was tough. Everything there is as expensive as it is impossibly beautiful: some of the better cheeses ran $35 a pound (I'm used to my "high-end" cheeses clocking in around $20) and the produce was, in my opinion, equally inflated in price. However, the quality of everything I sampled or saw seemed to be above and beyond what I'm accustomed to in most spots, so perhaps there's an argument there that it all makes sense.

Til Next Time
Or, maybe I was just out of my league! After all, this gal DOES have a job, and while I would have loved to hit up the bocce ball courts rather than head back to work, I opted for the latter. Gotta make some more dough so I can rationalize my next visit to the St. Helena Farmer's Market. Enjoy the pics!

For directions and more information, visit the market's site.

More Pics

Posted by Courtney at 12:03 PM • Comments (1)