Given the surge of interest in so-called adventure tourism, it's no surprise that extreme activities have finally made their way to wine country. From mellow outings like deep-sea fishing and balloon rides to truly adrenaline-pumping options like skydiving and trapeze training, the options themselves are as varied as the highs they inspire.

Baby You Can Drive My Car
One of the most hair-raising things you can do in wine country is get behind the wheel of an Audi R8 and brave the hairpin turns and dramatic elevation changes at Infineon Raceway just south of Sonoma. We like Audi's all-inclusive package, which encompasses a wine country back roads tour, two nights' five-star lodging for two, catered meals and a day of racing along the breathtaking...

Continue reading "Extreme Wine Touring" »

Posted by Courtney at 11:21 AM

As part of the promotion for the recent Uncorked! Wine Festival at Ghirardelli Square - at which I gave a food and wine pairing seminar to a packed room at Cellar 360, so fun! - I appeared on the Bay Area's popular day time talk show, ABC's View From the Bay. In this clip also featuring View From the Bay's Nick Smith and local chef Kasey Passen, I chat about the festival and wine pairings for two delicious dishes prepared by Kasey - a summer salad and super rich chocolate dessert. Pictured here, a very funny moment at the end of the segment when Nick couldn't fit his hands into the gloves they gave him to roll the chocolate - we were all cracking up.

The clip should be live for about 60 days. Enjoy! Click on "continue reading" for the link.

Continue reading "I'm On View from the Bay - Woo Hoo!" »

Posted by Courtney at 08:20 AM • Comments (0)

This is the first in a series of wine & food memories I'll be penning in the coming months. Enjoy ;)

The first time I went to Chez Panisse (to be honest, it was the Cafe at Chez Panisse, as I was a budding entrepreneur at the time and the cafe at lunch time was all I could afford) I brought a bouquet of roses for Alice Waters. I didn't know if she would be there, and I was rather embarrassed at my juvenile display of adoration (after all, I was all of 26 by then, and ought to have been well beyond the era of proffering gifts to authority figures, much like a schoolchild might offer up an apple to a first grade teacher)...

Continue reading "On Food & Wine, Fondly: Flowers for Ms. Waters" »

Posted by Courtney at 10:20 AM • Comments (0)

Whew! What a busy week it's been! I was down in LA to host a tasting of Israeli wines as part of the festivities celebrating the 60th anniversary of Israel, then gave a chat at the UCLA Anderson School of Business, where I spent two very happy (if busy) years not long ago, and even managed to fit in a couple of meals at two Angeleno eateries I've been dying to check out - Osteria Mozza (props go out to my friend the GM and wine guru-about-town, David Rosoff) and Comme Ca, a super cute new bistro on Melrose across the street from the always fab Lucques...

Continue reading "Busy Week + Chateau Alone" »

Posted by Courtney at 03:52 PM

"In most films, the cast is comprised of seasoned actors who possess a vibrant screen presence and innate ability to charm the audience. But for a handful of movies in which wine itself plays a major role, we might as well add "mouthwatering" to the list of qualities a cast may claim. Encompassing major motion pictures, documentaries and even a mockumentary, our list of top films for wine lovers covers lots of territory - affording viewers plenty to digest when it comes to wine and the silver screen..."

List includes

Sideways * Mondovino * From Ground to Glass * French Kiss * A Good Year * Corked * A Walk In the Clouds * Bottle Shock * The First Emporer * The Jefferson Bottles

Continue reading my latest Top 10 List at WineCountry.com

Posted by Courtney at 11:58 AM

What an absolutely gorgeous day. Enjoy this lovely orchid I stashed in a used Jurancon bottle, in celebration of a mellow March departure. On, April!

Posted by Courtney at 05:26 PM

Woo hoo! I'm thrilled to announce my contribution to this month's issue of Maxim, that venerable publication of scantily clad pretty young things and useful man tips on everything from screws to booze. Cue moi - I selected the wines and did much of the writing for the "Quaff On the Cheap!" piece in the Expert section of the March issue. I chose my fav five widely-available inexpensive reds, which they photographed for the very cool piece, and wrote up my thoughts on why they'll appeal to the mag's readers. Read on for the list of wines and a link to check it out! ;)

Continue reading "Score, A Direct Hit (Courtney Writes for Maxim)" »

Posted by Courtney at 04:33 PM

I was pretty psyched when BUZZLogic - a SF-based technology consulting firm specializing in social media - asked me to participate in this week's video log about my blogging exploits. Shot at District wine bar in SoMa last week, the eight-minute spot features social networking banter against the backdrop of a wine tasting (Cold Heaven Viognier, yum). My only gripe - why did I have to wear the "bag" dress? Seems to have added some virtual poundage, eek.

Check it out here!

Posted by Courtney at 10:19 PM

"As with so many things in life, trends in food and wine come and go. One season, chefs scramble to pair Riesling with faddish new foam sauces, the next they're matching up Cabernet with the likes of PB&J. But a handful of tried-and-true pairings consistently rise above these of-the-moment fads, delivering the unsurpassed pleasure that can only result from an absolutely perfect marriage of food and wine. Read on for my favorites, and bon appetit.

Champagne & Caviar
With a tagline like "Champagne wishes & caviar dreams" it's no wonder the popular TV show Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous was such a hit. But this famous food and wine pair have more in common than just air time..."

Continue reading my latest Top 10 list at WineCountry.com, about the all-time best food and wine matches.

Posted by Courtney at 11:57 AM

Do you ever get that feeling that you've done something wrong? That you've somehow ignited a really lethal chain reaction of bad karma that's impossible to get out from under? For me, this has for some reason taken place (the alleged bad deed followed by said bad karma response) and is causing an inexplicably large number of wines I'm opening to be "off." In the last few weeks I'd say close to 30% of all the wines I've cracked have been oxidized, corked or infected with brett, the icky spoilage yeast that some un-shy women at my last tasting declared smelled like a "stinky baby diaper." And it did.

But I wonder - Perhaps it wasn't something I did, but a recent spooky event that took place? Like the lunar eclipse? (These same well-plied women insisted it had to be due to the lunar eclipse.) Whatever it was, I'm crossing my fingers its ill effects go away soon.

Or, perhaps I should appeal to some arbiter of wine spoilage to let me off the hook? After all, I didn't get into this business to drink icky wine. But where to find this unidentified sketchy wine guru??? Oy vey.

Posted by Courtney at 10:42 PM • Comments (0)

As far as we're concerned, the Academy Awards are far more than just a glitzy star fest - they're one of the year's best excuses to break out a wine lineup as varied as the pictures and people being considered for the elusive Oscar. And whether your perfect pairing takes a cue from the films themselves or from something altogether more frivolous (yes, we're talking gowns here), come along for the ride as we riff on the program itself and some of this year's most celebrated films, suggesting wine pairings as we go. The envelope, please!

Verdicchio & Valentino

Viewers who think the red carpet is the real show come Oscar Day, listen up: The only thing better than seeing a superbly dressed starlet emerge from her limo is taking it all in while sipping a red carpet-ready wine. We like crisp, mineral-laced whites like...

Continue reading my latest Top 10 List at WineCountry.com

Posted by Courtney at 12:18 PM • Comments (0)

I snapped this at a tree trimming the other weekend in Sausalito. We were all asked to make our own ornaments using construction paper and other craft supplies (a la kindergarten), and I'm sorry to say this ingenious creation wasn't mine. The sentiments, however, are spot-on mine. Here's to hoping we all get lucky this holiday, hopefully with lots of good wine in the mix. Cheers!

Posted by Courtney at 08:01 PM • Comments (0)

I'm checking in (I know, at long last!) from this beautiful slice of northern Sonoma County where I've been spending some really nice QT with my fam over Thanksgiving. The sun setting on the Mayacamas is breathtaking, and I'm so thrilled to have been able to spend a few fantastic days relaxing in all this splendor after nearly two months of just about non-stop book touring.

Continue reading "Checking In from the Alexander Valley" »

Posted by Courtney at 04:30 PM • Comments (1)

Coming to you from sunny AZ, where I've just wrapped a TV segment and am literally running out the door to a signing put on by Phoenix's Changing Hands book store, Publishers Weekly's 2007 Bookseller of the Year! I love this very cute graphic they made to promote tonight's event. Nice! Also, I was amused to see several southwest stereotypes in full swing at my earlier TV interview, where just before I went on air to talk about Thanksgiving wines they had a gal with a petrified rattlesnake followed by an older gentleman showing his collection of pottery and paintings of the southwest landscape. I mean, how do you not love that?!

So far the only drawback to AZ is that my room service lunch came with a glass of stale wine. It will always smack of inappropriate to pull a "do you know who I am??", but have to admit that at that moment it crossed my mind. Have traveled too far to drink bad wine!! Still, I'm having fun.

More later, and thanks for checking in.

Posted by Courtney at 04:35 PM • Comments (0)

Armed with two delicious-sounding audio books (literally, one's about cooking school adventures in Paris) and several plum outfits, I'm heading out today on the first leg of my book tour. I'll be hitting up San Diego on Tuesday for a radio spot on the local NPR syndicate (I'll try to update the blog tonight with more info on channel & time) and a book party that night at Jonathan's in La Jolla. Wednesday I'll be signing at Borders in LA's Westwood area, then hosting a private bash the next night. If you're down south, I'd love to see you! Cheers, CC

Illustration by Donna Mehalko, as seen in my book, Hip Tastes: The Fresh Guide to Wine

Posted by Courtney at 12:19 AM • Comments (0)

After tons of anticipation, long hours and many lattes, the big day has finally arrived - today is the national launch of my book, Hip Tastes: The Fresh Guide to Wine! Inspired by the stylish and sometimes irreverent wine parties I've thrown over the past two years, the book brings the spirit of HIP TASTES Events to hip tasters all across the land.

Visit the brand new site dedicated to the book, hiptastesbook.com, to read early buzz (including a fab first review in the San Francisco Chronicle!), testimonials, retailer and book tour info, and to check out the fab "look inside the book" feature.

PS And, perhaps most importantly, please help me spread the word by sharing the news with friends, family members, coworkers, neighbors, social networks and whomever else you think would like to learn more about the good stuff, in style.

Cheers! CC ;)

Posted by Courtney at 12:32 AM • Comments (0)

It's been such a busy week with the impending book launch that I've hardly had a moment to jot down some thoughts and share pics from my AMAZING trip to Sonoma. It's rare that I take a break from work, and I definitely don't get out of the city enough, so when a winemaker friend invited me to go picking and shadow him for a few days during harvest (that's "crush" to the locals), I jumped at the opportunity.

Fresh back, I have to say that harvest is one of the most exhausting - and rejuvenating - times of the year in wine country...

Continue reading "Back From Harvest, But Still Crushing" »

Posted by Courtney at 04:18 PM • Comments (1)

I guess when you get two degrees from the same institution you've officially got a special bond with the place. There's no other way to explain the serious love I'm getting from my double alma mater, UCLA, which just published a fantastic piece on the new book and me at the Young Alumni portion of their web site. Check it out - they even created a freaking slide show of me!

What can I say, but Go Bruins!

Posted by Courtney at 06:38 PM • Comments (0)

It's an absolutely GORGEOUS night here in SF, and the earlier part of the eve found me reconoitering with a couple of friends at the Metro Bar on Market (yes, gay friends, for those familiar with the locale). Comfortably seated in our perch high above the Castro, we couldn't stop talking about our upcoming trip to NYC for my splashy book party. But - perhaps more importantly - we were also kibbitzing over the soon-to-come book blitzkrieg - as in PR blitzkrieg. How can we blow this thing out of the water, we wondered? What's the publicity stunt that will push the Hip Tastes book into hyper sales territory, into hyper-royalty-returns and all the fame and fabulousness that go along with it?

Continue reading "High Speed Chase In the Hip Tastes Van (Or, How I Promoted My Book to Great Success)" »

Posted by Courtney at 10:21 PM • Comments (0)

I'm picking grapes today and tomorrow with my friend Kenny in Russian River. This is my first foray into the real "getting your hands dirty" part of the wine biz, and I must say it feels long overdue. Kenny's been featured in the blog a bunch, so you can read about him here. I promise some fun tidbits about life "behind the scenes" during crush when I get back, so that those of you with office jobs rolling your eyes right now at my incredible luck can live vicariously. Maybe next year you'll play hookey and come with me, eh? Cheers.

Posted by Courtney at 12:36 AM • Comments (0)

How do you get a room full of executives to do the wave while one of their colleagues belts out Celine Dion's "Because You Loved Me" at the front of the room? First you give them lots of wine, then you mistake one of them for offering "Celine Dion" instead of "Semillon" (sounds like say-me-yon) in response to a question about common white grapes found in France. I'd been drinking a bit along with them (occupational hazard), but I think it's pushing it to say I was tipsy...

Continue reading "Semillon or Celine Dion? You Decide." »

Posted by Courtney at 08:12 PM • Comments (0)

Well, the time has finally come to try to transition from my trusty old (well, no longer so trusty) PC laptop to my sparkly new Mac. Trouble is, I had an easier time mastering the subtleties of financial accounting in business school than making this move. I bought the new goods - MacBook, lovely giant monitor, iPod, etc - from the Mac store nearly a month ago (don't EVEN get me started on that experience), and I'm still using my PC...

Continue reading "One Step Forward, Two Steps Mac" »

Posted by Courtney at 11:18 AM • Comments (0)

Wow, I was surprised to read in The Wall Street Journal that Cordier Mestrezat Grands Crus, a prestigious French producer of high-end Bordeaux, is making wine in a box...with a straw. Well, with four straws per box, to be exact. But what's even more interesting is the fact that the company is apparently launching the box in an effort to reach out to French "youths" (read: people in their twenties), who are drinking less wine over there than ever before. Hello, IRONY: all this, when at the same time American "youths" are drinking MORE wine than any generation before them. What's next, I wonder - a weird inversion of Franco-American youth culture, with American young 'uns sporting berets and carrying around baguettes in search of charcuterie and Nutella crepes, while - frightening thought - youthful Parisians hang out in Cubs caps fiending for "french" fries and hot dogs?

Decide for yourself here.

Posted by Courtney at 12:01 AM • Comments (3)

The transition from urban oasis to wine country outpost can be a bit bumpy for those accustomed to ready access to their favorite, hard-to-find beauty products. Whether your must-have item is a T. LeClerc lipstick or a Kiehl's lip balm (with SPF 4, thank you very much), until recently your chances of tracking it down in wine country were slim at best.

Continue reading my latest article at Winecountry.com

Posted by Courtney at 07:31 AM • Comments (1)

It's a dilemma perfectly fit for the new millennium: Two adventurous young ladies find themselves living in wine country with a hankering for high-end duds made in an environmentally responsible fashion. Problem is, finding so-called "green" high fashion in rural Northern California is like trying to track down a Michelin three-star in Bakersfield...

Continue reading my latest article at WineCountry.com

Posted by Courtney at 09:50 AM • Comments (0)

When I took a last minute trip to Sonoma last month "for vacation" I stopped by my favorite green winery, Medlock Ames (of course!). While I was there Kenny Rochford of Medlock caught me up on some new projects they've embarked on, including adding a sustainable vegetable garden to the property and fixing up an older building to make into a guest/hospitality suite. Besides hearing about all these goodies (and trying some fabulous soon-to-be-released wines!), Kenny showed me this cool biodynamic farming table, pictured.

Continue reading "Biodynamics Behind the Scenes" »

Posted by Courtney at 05:24 PM • Comments (1)

I've been in New York doing some early publicity for the book (official release date Oct 4, 2007), and want to share some AMAZING snaps I took in Central Park. Being here in late April means the city is FINALLY waking up from its long winter sleep, and everywhere I look trees are blooming and people are outdoors enjoying some of the first serious rays they've seen in a long time.

Continue reading "Spring in New York!" »

Posted by Courtney at 02:16 PM • Comments (0)

When you live and park in San Francisco the natives can get a little testy if you don't follow the tacit rules of the road. One of these is that you never, EVER take up more space than you need when parking your ride. There are, as this "charming" note left on my windshield reiterates, simply not enough spaces to go around - and certainly not enough for any one undeserving soul to take up more than her fair share.

Continue reading "Why I love living in San Francisco" »

Posted by Courtney at 10:13 AM • Comments (4)

Who needs celebrities when you've got star-caliber wine? I was thrilled to check out the brand spanking new Hollywood K&L store on a visit to the southland this weekend, and things are sure looking dapper there. Besides a super friendly staff, the spot's got A-list wine, a swank tasting area just primed for fabulous in-house tastings and an unbeatable location in the heart of revitalized Hollywood.

Continue reading "Hollywood High Note" »

Posted by Courtney at 06:01 PM • Comments (3)

Sometimes I forget that dining is a sport in San Francisco. And I don't mean sport in a fun, recreational sort of way - no, I'm talking competitive sport here. I was patently reminded of this the other night when I met a food publicist pal out for dinner without a reservation at new SF hot spot Salt House.

Continue reading "SF Dining As Sport" »

Posted by Courtney at 06:24 PM • Comments (1)

My mom always told me that really big projects, like, oh, writing a book, tend to be the most stressful near the end, just before you're finished. You'd think it'd be the opposite - more scary in the beginning - but instead, people tend to tense up the most as they round the final bend and glimpse the finish line up ahead. Such is the case for me, but in my instance I'd attribute the jitters over my project not so much to a spontaneous neurosis related to finishing my book but to a bizarre and frustrating cluster of incidents that've occurred over the last week.

Continue reading "Of Stolen Cars & Trannie Cats" »

Posted by Courtney at 05:54 PM • Comments (3)

This important discovery just in from the French: Bubbles in Champagne are excited by bubble-formation hot spots located in hollow cellulose fibers such as those found in cloth and textiles, including wool. These bubble "nucleation" sites are responsible for creating the bubble strains that course up your Champagne flute in animated streams. The more cellulose pockets in a stray fiber, the more animated the bubbly "regime," as the French dubbed it, will be.

Continue reading "For Best Performance, Wear Wool" »

Posted by Courtney at 09:04 PM • Comments (2)

I've got to thank my buddy Rick Dobbs over at The Mixologist blog for bringing something to my attention that has great bearing on the lives of hip cocktailers concerned with keeping their waistlines trim enough to fit into the latest Marc Jacobs creation. The University of Rochester, gravely concerned with the measurements of weight-conscious drinkers across the land, recently released a listing of the calorie content in many of the alcoholic drinks we enjoy regularly, including your average glass of red wine (70 cals), rose (just 62) and dozens of brands of beer such as Amstel Light (99) and Dos Equis XX Special Lager (156). The most caloric cocktail registered a whopping 789 calories (Long Island, baby) while a Margarita registered a still-high-but-not-quite-so-shockingly-fattening 300.

Continue reading "Alcopops Anonymous" »

Posted by Courtney at 09:02 PM • Comments (2)

Word has it that global warming has finally hit the wine scene in a major way. According to a report in respected British wine pub Decanter earlier this month, ice wine - the fabulously expensive dessert wine made from frozen grapes - won't even be produced in much of the world due to unseasonably warm temperatures.

'All hope is lost' is how Ernst Buscher of the German Wine Institute frankly put it to Decanter.

Continue reading "Hot Damn!" »

Posted by Courtney at 03:06 PM • Comments (1)

Ok, so perhaps that's a little extreme. But in preparing to tuck into the really serious, crunch-time phase of writing the HIP TASTES book, I've been stocking up on household provisions to such an extent that I actually feel kind of like I'm preparing to go to war or something. I mean, I just spent $312.56 stocking my fridge and pantry with all this stuff. I couldn't quite believe the bill at the cash register at Safeway - truth be told I don't know if I've ever spent HALF this much on groceries!

Clearly, tough times (and an impending deadline) lie ahead. But at least I can rest assured knowing that when they arrive I'll have plenty of Lean Cuisines/dehydrated fruit/microwave oatmeal/Q-tips/garbage bags/Swiffer mop replacements on hand to handle the situation. Phew!

In other news, read on for some fun New Years pics. - CC

Continue reading "Preparing for the Siege (and NY pics)" »

Posted by Courtney at 10:26 PM • Comments (1)

No, really: small child, make me a martini, stat.

Why on earth would small children mix cocktails? Because they've read the hip new mommy/kid book, "Baby, Mix me a drink" by Lisa Brown! The tiny tome, which is made from the same heavy cardboard-like unbending pages as all baby books (see if you can tear THESE pages out, tot!), features just five cocktail "spreads," but it's big on visual stimuli. Brown, an illustrator by day and full-time Mom, tells the "story" via images: the opening drink, a martini, is illustrated with a bottle reminiscent of Bombay Sapphire gin, a Vermouth-like bottle, a shaker & olives and a completed martini - all tied together with plus signs and finally an equal sign before the completed drink (i.e. this plus this plus this equals that).

Continue reading "Baby, Mix me a drink" »

Posted by Courtney at 08:32 AM • Comments (0)

Picture this: eclectic local art-smattered space teeming with Boho/grunge/fashionista types all tapping caffeinatedly away at Macs. The room buzzes not just with the effects of all the caffeine-induced energy but with something else as well - a low-humming excitement at just being there, amongst all the creative types. Translation: San Fran coffee haunt Ritual Roasters has got a very cool vibe, plus a very hip gaggle of hipster writer-types roaming around to match.

Continue reading "Cool Beans" »

Posted by Courtney at 12:35 PM • Comments (0)

What kind of wines would she recommend? What would be her wine and food pairing MO? I ask these - admittedly - seemingly silly questions in response to a delightfully hilarious article I just read at CreativeLoafing.com comparing sommeliers to superheroes. Seriously. Problem was, the piece assumed the super somm was a man. The author, one Taylor Eason (very funny dude, although perhaps a bit sexist), contemplated the anonymity keeping Spiderman and Superman from realizing their true fame, even ruminating at one point "If the public knew them, wouldn't they be showered in enviable perks and get all sorts of chick play?" Hmm. Just what, I wonder, would female superhero somms replace "chick play" with when it comes to rewards for their super wine deeds?

Continue reading "If Wonder Woman Were a Sommelier" »

Posted by Courtney at 09:16 AM • Comments (2)

I must admit I've been totally divided on whether or not to write about this. But, when I consider what I've slogged through in the last year in terms of starting up my own business, taking a little flack for an honest mistake doesn't seem all that intimidating. Then again, I'm sure there are plenty of folks out there who'll read this and decide that I'm a total sham. For those of you who choose the latter path, there's absolutely nothing I can do about it. I can only, instead, present things exactly as they happened and hope that you'll decide, in the end, that I'm a good sommelier who just happens to fuck up big time from time to time.

Continue reading "Oops, I will never do that again" »

Posted by Courtney at 11:40 PM • Comments (6)