Do good glasses make bad wine better?

Excerpt from The Weekly Calistogan
By: Christina Julian

I remain forever flummoxed about how to drink fine wine.

Whether I’m throwing open my kitchen cabinet or trolling the aisles of Target looking for the perfect wine glass to receive my grape-filled treasure, I’m transported out of bliss and into confusion over which glass I should use and what brand I should buy.

I’ve become so desperate I’ve vowed to never drink wine out of a glass again and to merely pop the cork and drink it straight out of the bottle as the wine gods likely intended.

But my rational side steps in. Will a cheap glass make a great wine bad or can a fabulous goblet make a hack wine worthy?

Wine expert Robert Parker has said, “The finest glasses for both technical and hedonistic purposes are those made by Riedel. The effect of these glasses on fine wine is profound. I cannot emphasize enough what a difference they make.”

This is a lovely sentiment, but this man drinks only the best wines from all over the world, for free. As a laywoman, I have a hard time fully trusting his opinion. He steers us to the right wines to drink, but do we really need to rely on him and his type when it comes to our crystal decisions as well?

Perhaps it makes sense to consider the glass holder. Are they a delicate and graceful sort, or a clunky and clumsy someone? If the latter, stemless might be the obvious choice, but if you fall nowhere in between, then what? Click here to continue reading

The Last Licks of Summer

Excerpt from the Weekly Calistogan
By: Christina Julian

When I moved to the Upper Valley a couple of years ago, I expected to see people bopping to Sinatra while squishing grapes in large vats and folks dancing to midnight serenades in the vineyards. I would’ve gladly settled for strumming sounds as a sidekick to an al fresco meal. But outdoor entertainment wasn’t as easy to come by as I’d hoped, until I moved to Calistoga. As a former New Yorker, I live for outdoor entertainment come summertime. The fact that dandy weather is as abundant as grapes in these parts doesn’t deter my mission. School is back in session, days are growing short, and time is most definitely running out with only two summer concerts at Pioneer Park remaining. It’s time to get out there and enjoy the last licks of summer. Click here to continue reading.

The height, the site and the fight for Napa's 9/11 memorial

At 11:30 am September 11, 2011, there will be a commemorative ceremony to honor the 10-year anniversary of the September 11th attacks. The ceremony will include a dedication at the future site of the Napa 9/11 Memorial Garden (click here for location). Read on to learn more about the project.

Excerpt from the Bohemian
Beams Of Honor

Scheduled for completion next year, Napa's 9-11 memorial is already causing a countywide buzz

By: Christina Julian
Photos:Michael Amsler

The star-spangled group gathers, somewhat out of place given that it's a week before Memorial Day. Some push ahead with restless anticipation to get a closer look, others hang back. The uniformed stand at attention, and even the mayor is here, decked out in stars and stripes. Someone shouts, "Can I touch it?"

On a flatbed truck, giant steel beams are packed tight, each revealing a clear notation, scrawled in chalk: "Napa." If it weren't for the charred, gnarly pieces that protrude at whim, one wouldn't think to look twice at them.

But these are no ordinary beams. They're steel beams from the World Trade Center. Artist Gordon Huether walks through the crowd, and all eyes follow as he steps up to the truck. "It's been quite a ride," he says.

Indeed it has. Nearly two years, 30 tons and 3,000 miles in the making, the steel will be put to use for a 9-11 memorial sculpture in downtown Napa, located just off Main Street near Napa Creek. A site dedication ceremony is scheduled for Sept. 11, 2011, with an estimated completion of the memorial set for spring of 2012. While some chide the effort and others champion it, the Napa 9/11 Memorial Garden sculpture stands to be one of the largest of its kind, stretching over 23 feet high and weighing over 60,000 pounds.

The project originated in October 2009, when Darren Drake, fire marshal and division chief of the Napa Fire Department, received a communication from the September 11th Families' Association, in concert with the New York and New Jersey Port Authority. The teaming offered local communities around the globe an opportunity to create regional 9-11 memorials utilizing actual steel from the World Trade Center. Drake responded with a formal application, a community coalition formed, and a year later, the group requested the six steel beams that will serve as the nucleus of the Napa 9/11 Memorial Garden. Local trucking company Biagi Brothers donated transport of the steel, which arrived in Napa from New York with a welcoming ceremony on May 21.

Huether and landscape architect Gretchen Stranzl McCann each came into the project during its infancy and solidified their commitment by donating time and services pro bono. Huether went in person to New York Kennedy Airport's 80,000-square-foot Hanger 17, where the steel was housed and archived as crime scene evidence. Click here to continue reading