Bruce Willis Opens Wine Bar
Bruce Willis hosted a pre-opening party at the Bowery Wine Company last week, where he's a part owner. The wine bar is set to open it's doors this weekend in New York's East Village neighborhood. Willis invited his fellow celebrity friends "Sopranos" stars Vincent Curatola and John Ventimiglia, and even took a turn behind the bar serving drinks. Sounds like a fun party to me, next time send me an invite Bruce!
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US rosé sales are up 53%
Well it seems that Americans have become quite fond of their White Zin. As my regular readers know, I'm a rosé lover, so this is nothing surprising to me. I think it's about time that the country is realizing just how great a blush wine can be!
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Mike Grgich joins the Vintner Hall of Fame
One of Napa Valley's most recognizable names (and hardest to say!), Miljenko "Mike" Grgich, was inducted into the Vintners Hall of Fame on March 7th in honor of his many contributions to the winemaking community. This honor also comes at the same time as his 50th vintage of wine in Napa. For those unfamiliar with him, Grgich is the winemaker that crafted the Chardonnay that beat France in the Judgement of Paris in 1976.
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UC Davis - Olive Oil Research Center
UC Davis is known as one of the foremost places in the world to study viticulture, now they hope to become that for Olive Oil as well. The center opened in January as part of the Robert Mondavi Institute. Olives have been growing in California for more than a century, and collectively produce 500,000 gallons of olive oil each year. But compared to the 75 million gallons Americans consume (America is the fourth largest consumer in the world), it's only a small fraction. So the next time you're in Napa Valley, maybe you can stop by for an olive oil tasting after you have some wine.
Read more here.

I just wanted to tell you all about the wonderful caterer I found for my wedding.....he's fantastic!

Heart 2 Heart offers catering and wedding cakes, and does both beautifully. Chef Aron Bignell is truly wonderful. I had a caterer set up previously that ended up flaking out on me, so I found myself in a real spot (3 months before the wedding!). Aron was so incredibly helpful. He put together a fantastic buffet of appetizers for me, and was willing to work with me to make sure everything was the way I wanted it. I couldn't have asked for better. If you need a caterer ever, definitely give him a call.

Garfield Estates is a fantastic Colorado vineyard, and is hosting a winemaker's dinner next month. April 20th at Inari's Restaurant in downtown Palisade, Colorado. The price is $125 per person and includes a five course meal paired with their fantastic wines. Here's a look at the menu.

Passed Hors doeuvres
Spring Leek Cakes with Smoked Trout, Creme Fraiche and Chives
Garfield Estates 2006 S2 (Semillon/Viognier blend)
 
Salad Course
Salad of Grilled Asparagus, Prosciutto and Soft Boiled Egg with a Haystack Mountain Goat Cheese Balsamic
Garfield Estates 2006 Fume Blanc
 
Pasta Course
Rigatoni with Elk Sausage, Mustard Greens, Roasted Tomato and Fava Beans
Garfield Estates 2005 Syrah
 
Intermezzo
Blood Orange Ginger Sorbet
 
Main Course
Colorado Lamb Shanks Braised in Cabernet Franc with Roasted Plums on Parsnip Mashed Yukon Gold Potatoes
Braided bread of pumpernickel, white and whole wheat
Garfield Estates 2005 Cabernet Franc
 
Dessert Course
Poached Pear and Haystack Mountain Goat Cheese Gratin with Candied Pecans
Garfield Estates 2006 Vin De Glace (Icewine style)

Call (970) 464-4911 for more information, or visit www.garfieldestates.com.
 

Here's a quick rundown of the Idol Top 10 performances tonight.

I appreciated what Ramiele was trying to do by singing Heart's "Alone", but it just wasn't the right song for her. Simon's probably right that she'll get through to next week, but it was not a good performance. Her pitch was way off and her voice just isn't big enough to pull of Heart.

Jason sang "Fragile" by Sting, and it was a good song choice. However he should have slowed down the arrangement a bit more. I think if he had it would have been really beautiful.

Syesha sang "If I Was Your Woman", and did it well, but I think it was pretty predictable. Nothing that really stood out. Totally agree with Simon on this one.

Chickezie sang "If Only for One Night", and once again didn't impress me.

Brooke sang "Every Breath you Take", and tried the piano thing again. She messed up at the beginning though, which kind of set the tone for the performance. She tried to put a different spin on it, and I personally didn't like it.

Michael made an interesting choice and sang "We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions". He was obviously trying to regain the high he hit in Hollywood week with "Bohemian Rhapsody". And I have to say he does sing Queen very well. I don't think it was a performance that blew me away, but it was definitely his best performance in a few weeks.

Carly chose "Total Eclipse of the Heart", which is a favorite of mine. I don't think I liked the arrangement a lot, but her voice was fantastic for this song. She had just enough "scratchiness" coming through in her voice, but she went over the top at the end. Carly really needs to work on the things she does with her body and face while she sings, sometimes it really drives me nuts.

David Archuleta. I still don't understand why everyone loves this kid so much. I fully admit that he has a good voice, but he's just not a "pop" star. I have no idea what it was that he sang, but it made him seem like more of a Christian singer than an American Idol. I almost felt like I was watching the Mickey Mouse Club.....and that's not a good thing.

Kristy Lee Cook. It's amazing to me that this girl is still on the show, she must have a huge family base voting for her. And tonight she sang "God Bless the USA", which couldn't have been more predictable. At least this week she sounded fairly good, there were definitely a couple of rough spots though.

David Cook is always original. It actually took me a minute to realize that he was singing "Billy Jean" this week. His arrangement was brilliant. He took one of the most recognizable pop songs in the world and turned it into a rock ballad. Absolutely amazing. This week he secured his position as my number one pick.

This is the perfect time of the year for reality tv junkies. American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, Survivor, America's Next Top Model, Top Chef, etc, etc. And most of those were on tv just tonight!

ANTM challenged the girls with a posing competition led by Benny Ninja, and then had a photo shoot where the girls had paint poured over their heads. Odd, but made for some interesting shots. And the elimination was pretty obvious, Marvita really didn't seem to want to be there anymore.

American Idol was a bit of a surprise tonight. Carly, Kristy, and Amanda were the bottom three. And it was amazingly not Kristy, but Amanda that went home. I really wasn't expecting that because I thought her song choice was really good. It's true Amanda had gotten a little boring, but Kristy is actually bad. And where the hell did Carly come from? She's fantastic, she most definitely shouldn't have been in that group.

Top Chef had some fun challenges this week. For the Quick Fire they had to pick 5 ingredients they could find at the Chicago farmer's market to make an entrée. I know I would have a ball with that personally. Then for the elimination challenge, they had to cater a party at the zoo using the diet of certain animals, such as: vultures, bears, penguins, and gorillas. Team vulture and bear sounded the best to me, the penguin sounded quite interesting as well. I would have loved to try their glacier gelée. And I liked the way team lion presented their dishes, it was very "mod".

It's still so early in the Top Chef competition that I don't really have an attachment to any of the contestants yet. I'm getting there, but none of them are quite there yet for me. They also don't seem used to the competition yet, so they're not performing up to the standards I expect to see of chefs on the show. Having said that, Valerie ended up being the one to go home. However outside of that I couldn't tell you anything about her.

And last but not least, unfortunately my DVR failed to record Survivor. That thing drives me nuts sometimes. One week it recorded survivor and not the Idol results show, and this week it just doesn't record Survivor at all. Technology, what can you do right? So I'll have to catch that one once they post the episode online.

Dancing with the Stars returned this week. The men danced on Monday, and the women on Tuesday. I'll admit my bias right off.....I adore Penn. Penn & Teller's Bullshit is one of my favorite shows. And I think for as big of a guy as he is he did a really good job. A lot of the bigger guys just stand there and shuffle their feet around, so any more than that to begin with and I'm somewhat impressed. I also have a bias for Adam Corolla because he's paired with Julianne Hough, and I just love her!

Overall though, I think that Mario is leading the guys to start, and Shannon is leading the girls. We'll see what happens though, it's still very early on.

The top 11 Idols performed songs from the Beatles this week, and once again most of them seemed to be completely unfamiliar with the songs! Seriously, how can you be a musician and not be familiar with the Beatles' greatest hits?!

Anyways, enough of my rant....on to the contestants. Amanda started off the evening with the perfect song for her, "Back in the USSR." I was hoping she'd choose it and she did. I agree with Simon that with that voice of hers things are starting to sound very similar week to week, however I still think that was the perfect song choice for her.

David Archuleta. I don't know what to say about this guy.....I still think he's just to "young". And I'm not one to judge based on age, but more on the fact that he comes off as a little kid to me. And since we've hit the top 12, he just hasn't performed as well as he did previously.

Kristy Lee Cook is incredibly lucky to still be here this week. If it weren't for America's obvious dislike of David Hernandez and wherever he did or didn't work (and his lack of every commenting on it), she'd be history. I'll give her the credit she deserves, she did do much better this week. I still don't think she's a strong enough competitor to last terribly long though.

Michael Johns sang one of my favorite songs this week, "A Day in the Life". However, he didn't do the greatest of jobs. He's still one of my top 3, but he needs to step it up a bit. He hasn't regained the high he hit in Hollywood week.

Brooke didn't wow like she did last week. She didn't choose a bad song, but she didn't connect with it like she needed to. "Here Comes the Sun" is on one level a happy song, but there's another sad side to it that she completely missed.

Carly sang beautifully once again. I love "Blackbird", Simon has no idea what he's talking about on this one.

Jason chose a beautiful song, but didn't sing it as well as I thought he would. I think he could have made it folksy and had it turn out better.

Chickezie was just a mess. Let's just leave it at that.

Syesha chose "Yesterday" and did a very nice job. It was a lovely rendition.

Ramiele, unfortunately, didn't do so well. I absolutely love this girl's voice as I've said. But she just isn't choosing great songs. And the good ones she chooses, she doesn't connect with. Hopefully she can stay around a bit longer and prove herself.

I know I'm a day late, but I still wanted to share my thoughts!

The topic for Wine Blogging Wednesday #43 is Comfort Wine. I knew exactly what to write about from the moment I read this topic. White Zinfandel has always been my wine to relax with. It's a great wine to unwind with after work.

A while back a friend of mine bought me a box of Carlo Rossi White Zin, and to be honest with you all....I love it! I have no problem with box wines to begin with. They keep well in the refrigerator, which makes them perfect for an after work drink. Who wants to open up a bottle of wine at night if all you want to have is a glass or two. It's much, much easier (and less wasteful) to just keep a box, or cask if you will, in the refrigerator.

Another great thing about White Zin is that it's incredibly easy to drink. It's a fruity, sweet wine that is perfect for any time!

If you haven't tried a blush wine in a while, go try some White Zin tonight. I think you'll like it!

It's the last week before we go to the big stage, and the music of the week is the 80's (something I know all too much about).

Song choices were once again very interesting this week, and some of the guys hit the nail on the head! The Davids, Archuleta and Cook, both had fantastic arrangements and used their instruments extremely well. Jason Castro proved once again that he has an amazingly clear voice, and sang "Broken Hallelujah"beautifully....and without his guitar! That song is always very haunting to me, and I thought it was a great, stand out choice. Michael Johns picked well by going with INXS, because as Randy said, he sounds quite a bit like Michael Hutchence.

On the flip side, there were several guys who just fell flat on their faces. Luke Menard slaughtered "Go Go", which is one of my favorite songs. I've tap danced to that song, so believe me, I like the song. I believe my mouth hung open through all of Danny Noriega's performance. My fiancé looked up and said, "Is he gay or really emo? Or both?" I think that sums it up pretty well.

David Hernandez and Chikezie rode the fence for me a bit. They weren't terrible, but they weren't fantastic. David has a lot of power behind his voice, but I don't think he has enough to match Meatloaf or Celine Dion. And Chikezie chose a woman's song. And not just any woman, but Whitney Houston. Probably not the best of ideas.

My roundup is that I think David Cook had the best performance of the night by a mile. Great sound, great arrangement, great performance. I think Luke Menard has definitely reached the end of his Idol journey, but I'm not sure about who else will be eliminated. Danny Noriega, David Hernandez, and Chikezie are all possibilities.

Here's a wrap up of what was sung tonight:

Luke Menard - Wham "Go Go"
David Archuleta - Phil Collins "Another Day in Paradise"
Danny Noriega - Soft Cell "Tainted Love"
David Hernandez - Meatloaf "It's All Coming Back to Me Now"
Michael Johns - INXS "Don't You (Forget About Me)"
David Cook - Lionel Richie "Hello"
Jason Castro - Leonard Cohen (Jeff Buckley) "Broken Hallelujah"
Chikezie - Whitney Houston "(s)He Fills Me Up"

Saturday night my fiancé and I went out to dinner at the Melting Pot. As always the food was absolutely wonderful. What can I say? I adore fondue!

I also tried their newest wine fight from Waterbrook Winery in Walla Walla Valley, Washington. Here's a list of the wines:

Cheese Course paired with
2006 Sauvignon Blanc
Bright flavors of apricot, pineapple and hints of cantaloupe lead to a soft finish with subtle oak.
I wasn't terribly impressed with this wine. It was okay, but a bit tart.

Salad Course paired with
2006 Melange Blanc
Riesling, Gewurtztraminer, Viognier, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris & Sauvignon Blanc all blend to offer stone fruit flavors, vanilla blossom and light nutmeg.
This wine was quite good. A very nice blend.

Entrée Course paired with
2005 Merlot-Cabernet
Nuances of leather and tobacco fill this deep red wine. Rich flavors of coffee and plums fill the palate complimented by currants and rounded tannins on the finish.
Not a fantastic wine. Decent, but not great.

Dessert Course paired with
2005 Melange
Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sangiovese, Cab Franc & Syrah all offer a palate of rich berries, pepper and chocolate.
This was also a nice blend. I preferred the white, but the red wasn't bad.