Blame it on Rioja

Last week I travelled out to Northern California on Rioja-related business, helping out at a Rioja trade luncheon at Gary Danko in San Francisco and working, as both pourer and presenter, at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone’s 12th Annual Worlds of Flavor Conference, “Frontiers of Flavor: World Street Food, World Comfort Food,” the third such conference I have been lucky enough to attend as a freelancer for Rioja in the last four years.

And as much as I love San Francisco—its food culture, its cool vibe, and the fact that my dear brother Patrick lives there with his awesome family—I have grown especially fond of the Napa Valley at this time of year.   It’s not so much about the wineries per se, or even the area’s obvious devotion to all things tasty.

The conference is a treat.  Luminaries everywhere, intelligent conversation to be had around every corner, abundant food and wine of the highest quality. I’m honored, after six visits to the Greystone campus,  to be considered a part of it, an honor especially acute this year, as organizer and co-presenter of a food and wine pairing seminar with Chef Rick Bayless of Chicago’s Frontera Grill.

But what I really love about Napa Valley in November is the quiet, bucolic charm of the place, especially at night.

I still get a little annoyed at how early everything closes in St. Helena, where I have been based on each of my visits here, but when I see the stars above the Mayacamas mountains, feel the cool Pacific air that sends temperatures plummeting by as much as 20 degrees Fahrenheit when the sun goes down, and breathe in the wood smoke from fires being stoked indoors—all this leaves me with a profound sense of calm, which this year amounted to a best case scenario for me, a slightly nervous, first-time presenter at an international food congress.