Busy week means I didn't get to Top Chef till Saturday night, we're down to the final four now. This episode took place in good ol' Colorado. Wish I could have made the drive to see them! Dale, Casey, Brian, and Hung. All good chefs, but I definitely have my favorites among them.

The Quickfire challenge was fun. Reminded me of quite a few camping trips I've been on. Though I'm pretty sure their fish tasted better than mine usually does. Casey once again came out on top. She's starting to edge out the others to be my favorite to win.

For the Elimination challenge the protein they were given was Elk. Definitely not a normal meat that everyone is used to working with. Ya know, I've lived in Colorado for almost 15 years, and I've never tried Elk. But then again, I'm not really a "cowboy" (bet you never would have guessed that!). All of the dishes looked good to me, but looks and taste don't always go together.

I have to give Dale props for being resourceful in this challenge and reworking his dish at the last moment. And the judges seemed to like it too. Casey seemed to slip a little bit. Maybe it would have been to her benefit to go ahead and use some of those ingredients that she brought along and won the right to use from the Quickfire. Hung was referred to as the "best technical chef" in the competition. But Chef Colicchio made sure to highlight the word "technicial". Brian just seemed to go a little bit over the top in his dish.

I really enjoyed hearing the chefs talk about why they should be included in the finalé. It's really interesting to hear what motivates someone to do what they do. I was particularly moved by Dale's statement. Hung was also surprisingly moving. Brian was by the far the least convincing with his statement.

I think Dale was the correct pick for winner. And his prize was fantastic. I wish I could go! And sadly, Brian was probably the right choice to go. Though I would love to see Hung go away, he is a very talented chef.

Can't wait till the finalé next week! I'll be sure to blog more then. Let me know what you guys think about the final 3.

This weekend is the Harvest Fest at the Winery at Holy Cross Abbey. For a $10 entrance fee, that includes a commemorative Harvest Fest glass, you are able to taste all day as well as visit the arts and crafts booths, listen to live music, and even let the kids play in the fun zone. A Mexican buffet will be available starting at $6 for lunch. Cookbook author Beverly Cox will be there to sign her newest release Eating Cuban, and artist Ed Adamic will be there to sign copies of his original Harvest Fest posters.

And best of all there will be chances to see demonstrations of the crush!

The event is going on all weekend: Saturday the 29th from 10am-6pm, and Sunday the 30th from 10am-5pm. I'll be there on Sunday. Hope to see you there!

This is just too much fun to not write about. On November 15th (the day Beaujolais Nouveau is released), Tokyo's Square Enix Company will release a game entitles Beginners Wine for the DS handheld system. The title features information like step-by-step instructions for picking out a bottle of wine and how to swirl a glass before smelling it. With a database of 120 bottles, a glossary, a quiz, and even a guide to "bluffing" wine knowledge the game "makes wine more accessible to everyone," Nintendo said in a Press Release.

The game isn't likely to make it out of Japan, but it is a fantastic idea. I fully believe that things like this are needed to make wine accessible in every-day life. And what a great reference tool this would be for sommeliers or those in wine sales. So Nintendo and Square Enix, if you're out there listening, I'd love to see this in the US. I'd even by a DS for it.

I picked up a bottle of the Two Rivers 2006 Riesling when I was in Grand Junction at the Winefest. It's a moderately priced wine at $12 a bottle, which is fairly average for Colorado wines. I've tasted Two Rivers' wines at several wine festivals, and it is always one of my favorites.

The 2006 Riesling is an excellent example of Two Rivers' wines. It's a slightly dry Riesling, but still has elements of sweetness and fruits. I opened it up to have with a sushi dinner, and it was a very good pairing. Riesling always works well with seafood.

If you can find a bottle at a local wine store or have the opportunity to order one online, I would highly recommend it.

Vinewords Rating: 8 out of 10

I know everybody has them. The bottles of wine that you've paid a bit more for and don't want to use for everyday drinking. If you happen to have a bottle of the Beringer 2002 Cabernet Franc from the Steinhauer Ranch Vineyard, it probably falls into that category. At $50 a bottle, it's not exactly a cheap bottle of wine.

Robert M. Parker Jr. had this to say about it:
"Rated 90-92. The 2002 Cabernet Franc exhibits wonderful density, a big, spicy, floral nose, well-definited, medium to full-bodied flavors, and outstanding richness, extract and overall harmony. It is further evidence of just how promising California Cabernet Franc can be."

I had this bottle of wine because I'm a member of the Beringer Wine Club, and this bottle was in one of my monthly shipments. Wine clubs can be a great way to discover new wines, whether they're from your favorite vineyard or a variety of boutique wineries. Beringer happens to be my favorite vineyard.

As a single vineyard wine, the grapes used to make this bottle all came from Beringer's Steinhauer Ranch. Steinhauer Ranch lies just northeast of the town of Angwin on Howell Mountain at about 1800 feet elevation. Its soil is volcanic with a rich red color and the texture is friable and loose. Ten percent of Cabernet Sauvignon from the vineyard was blended in before bottling.

I found this wine to be quite good. It had a wonderful aroma full of spices, and a hint of chocolate. The flavor was very rich and strong, but well-balanced enough to still be smooth and easy to drink. Obviously the price doesn't permit most of us to be able to drink it regularly, but on the occasions when you feel like picking up a slightly more expensive bottle you should definitely give this one a chance.

Vinewords Rating: 8 out of 10

I arrived at the festival bright and early, actually about an hour before anyone was allowed in. Once the gates were opened, I was able to be one of the first people to enter the park though. I was very impressed with the festival. There were a large number of wineries there (all from Colorado of course) as well as many food and gift vendors. With musicians playing throughout the day, an opportunity to stomp grapes yourself, and even a stage of "dueling" chefs there is certainly no shortage of things to do during a day at the festival.

I wasn't able to stay and taste all day, because I had such a long drive ahead of me to get home, but I did manage to stop at some of my favorites.


Two Rivers Winery was there tasting and selling a selection of their wines. I personally picked up a bottle of their Port, Riesling, and Chardonnay.

Augustina's Winery in Boulder is always a favorite of mine. Their Wine Chick White is excellent, and I also picked up a bottle of a limited edition red they produced.

I had the chance to try the Garfield Estates booth to get a bottle of their ice wine. It's a truly excellent dessert wine.

I was so impressed by the wines from the Riedel tasting, that I also stopped to get a bottle of each of them.

The Riedel wine tasting was by far my favorite event of the winefest. It took place during the Festival in the Park, almost first thing in the morning after the gates opened. The tasting was led by Riedel's District Manager for this area, Tommy Leman who was very well spoken and knew a great deal about wine.

I have to honestly say that before this presentation, I did not believe that Riedel glasses made a difference to wine. Who would honestly think that what kind of wineglass you used would make the wine any better. Well let me tell you....I am now a believer! At each of the seats at the tasting there were 4 Riedel glasses from their Vinum series: a Bordeaux, a Sauvignon Blanc, a Montrachet Chardonnay, and a Burgundy. Each glass had wine in it from local vineyards, but I'll get to those later. Everyone was also asked to bring the souvenir wineglass that was handed out at the entrance, this glass was referred to as the "Joker". The point of the tasting was to compare a wine side-by-side in a Riedel glass and in a "Joker" glass. We began with the Sauvignon Blanc and tasted from the Riedel glass, then we poured the wine into the Joker glass and tasted again. The difference was really astounding. No one I've explained this to so far has believed me, but the Riedel glasses really do make a difference. From what I understand of it, it's all in the shape of the glass and the rim.


If you ever happen to have the chance to participate in one of these tastings, I highly encourage you to do it.

If the Vinum series is too expensive for you, check out their newest line, the stemless "O" series. Not only are these glasses a much easier size to store without a stem, but they are also quite a bit sturdier than the Vinum series because they are not leaded. This also means that they are safe to put in the dish washer (it's the lead in the other glasses that has the tendency to absorb the soap and taint the flavor of wine).

Now for the wines that were used.
• Canyon Wind Cellars Sauvignon Blanc
• Two Rivers Winery Chardonnay
• Alfred Eames Cellars Pinot Noir
• Spero Winery Cabernet Sauvignon

This restaurant was packed! And if you watch any travel shows you know to always go to the place with the longest line, it's a sure sign of good food! And it was definitely a good restaurant, unfortunately with all of the people there it was just a little slow for my needs. I came here in between visiting vineyards and going to the chocolate and wine tasting, so I only had about an hour to eat.

The atmosphere was very nice, the waiters were in tails, but also very fun. While I was there they played the Godfather theme song, and "Michael's Lounge" had pictures from the Godfather movies hanging all over the walls.

While I did have to take my food to go, it was very good when I finally got the chance to eat it. I've had Eggplant Parmigiana in a lot of different places, and I tend to be very picky about it. This one was very good, it maybe could have been a bit crispier, but that's more personal preference that anything else.

If you happen to be in town, I fully recommend stopping by Pantuso's for dinner.

The final event that I went to today was the Chocolate and Wine Tasting put on by Enstrom's Chocolates. And to start off with, let me say that Enstrom's has truly excellent chocolates. That alone would have been quite a tasting! Guests also received a logo'd wineglass courtesy of Enstrom.

There were nine wines available for tasting, each paired with a small chocolate piece. I have to say that in theory, this is a fantastic idea. But in practice it was not executed well. There were no dump buckets or water pitchers anywhere in the room. And the room itself was a little too small for the amount of people at the event (as it was I had to wait for about 20 minutes to just get in the door). It was a lovely location though, the Courtyard Marriot looks like it would be a fantastic hotel to stay at. There was a small veranda off of the main room where a string duet was playing and some savory hors d'ourves were being served. There should have been more variety though, the only thing available was sashimi style grilled tuna. I thought it was very tasty, but I heard a few people say that they weren't interested in fish.

The thing that amazed me most about the evening was when I went to write down some tasting notes in the corner I overheard a man telling the director of the event, Marilyn Jensen, that he was disappointed with the event. To my utter amazement, she didn't accept the criticism, but instead told him that he was being negative and it was very difficult to put on an event like this, and they told him to leave if he really wasn't enjoying himself. Now believe me, I agree that it takes a lot to put on such a large event. However, the gentleman was very nice in his approach to her, and didn't say anything that I haven't mentioned here. I'm really not sure how someone could get to be a "director" with that kind of attitude. And to react in such a way in front of guests at an event is startling to me.

Oh by the way, she said that if anyone really had a problem with how the event was run to go to www.coloradowinefest.com and leave a suggestion. So by all means feel free to email her your thoughts.


I really did enjoy the event overall, however the lack of planning was very apparent. Sidenote: if you're planning a wine tasting event.....ALWAYS provide buckets for dumping/spitting and water pitchers for washing out wine glasses. To not provide those things is not only unprofessional, but a little unsafe as well because it forces guests to finish every glass of wine. And as someone who's at this event alone, I fully understand the need to stay sober so that I can drive myself around town.

I had a few hours free today to visit some of the many wineries in the Grand Valley, so I got to as many as I could. I have to say I was very impressed by the fact that every vineyard I went into offered free tastings of all their wines......that is fantastic. Definitely something you wouldn't see in Napa Valley!


The first vineyard I came across was Plum Creek Cellars in Palisade, Colorado. This is a beautiful little winery with a fantastic view. And right off of Hwy 6, it's very easy to find. I tried several wines here, and they were all very good.





Next was Garfield Estates, about a mile off of of Hwy 6 in Palisade. This was a very quaint little winery that felt more like walking into someone's garage than a winery tasting room. There's not a lot of room inside, so it got a little crowded at the tasting bar when I tried to get a glass, but the pourers were very friendly and ready to help.




Graystone Winery was just down the road in Clifton, Colorado. This tasting room is also just off of Hwy 6, but a little harder to see. It kind of sneaks up on you. There was a very large gift shop, but a slightly smaller tasting room. It looked fantastic, but didn't function extremely well. There were so many people at the tasting bar that I didn't even bother to wait around for a spot. I figure I can catch them at the Festival in the Park tomorrow, because I really do want to try the Port that they claim to "specialize" in.



My final vineyard stop was Two Rivers Winery. This location is absolutely gorgeous! The Chateau is available for weddings and other events, and you can even rent a room in the "bed and breakfast" also on the grounds. Fabulous tasting room with extremely friendly staff. The girl that was pouring for me was even willing to stay past closing and continuing pouring wines while she restocked the gift shop, talk about customer service!

I met a couple there that was staying on site and they suggested that next year I look at getting a room there, they were only paying $95 a night! That's just slightly more than I'm paying at a motel in town. I will definitely have to look into that for my next trip down.

There are probably about 50 more wineries/vineyards in the area that I didn't have enough time to make it to. I truly enjoyed the tasting rooms that I did make it to though, hopefully next time I can make it to some more!

The second event of the day was another class focused on the home winemaker. This time the class was hosted by Gene Spaziani, a wine judge, professor, author, and former president of the American Wine Society. His book "The Home Winemaker's Companion" was for sale, and I even had him sign it for me. Now I suppose I'll have to give home winemaking a shot!

Gene's class began with viewing a video on winemaking. He prefaced the viewing by saying that while the video was about 20 years old, not much has changed in the world of winemaking. He also gave us some of his own pointers on how to blend wines.


The most interesting part of this class was the "scent" exercise that we did. Twelve vials of scent were passed around with only numbers on them. We were asked to smell each vial and match it up to a list of aromas given to us. Now, while you may think that you know the scent of things like vanilla and apple, it's much harder when there's no visual association with it, just as it's hard to pick out the aromas in wine. I'm sorry to say that I only picked out 3 of the 12 wines (as did the majority of the class).

We finished up the seminar by tasting 3 wines that Gene made himself. A Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, and a Cabarnet Sauvignon. His wines were quite good overall. It was apparent to me that he really enjoys wines that are buttery with an almost "chewy" mouth feel. That's not my favorite style of wine, but it's not bad.

Today started out early with winemaking. Hosted at the CSU Agricultural Station in Grand Junction, this class was focused on the home winemaker. There were at least three couples in the class with me that are growing their own grapes to make wine at home, one even wanted to eventually go commercial.

The class was split into 3 groups and rotated through different sections. The first section I was a part of was the wine tasting (9:30 in the morning is a bit early for a wine tasting, but hey I'm on vacation right?). This section was hosted by Dr. Horst Caspari, Colorado State Viticulturalist. We were given two sets of 3 wines to taste and asked to rate which wine we thought was the best. After tasting all of them we found out that two wines in each set were the same, and then asked to guess which. I'm proud to say that I was correct on the first set, but the second was much harder to tell. The point of the exercise was for us to taste a wine from both a "low yield" and "high yield" vineyard. Strangely enough, the majority of the class preferred the high yield vineyards. I guess that says something to winemakers.

The second portion of the class was hosted by Bill Musgnung, who works as a winemaker with CSU. He stepped us through the process of destemming, crushing, and fermenting. And finally the third section took us out into the experimental vineyards to learn about pruning, and allow us to pick several bunches of grapes (see the picture above).

While there wasn't as much hands-on time during the class as I would have liked, the class was still very informative. As someone who has primarily focused on the finished product, it was extremely interesting for me to see the process of making the wine.

Well, it wasn't much more than a day of driving, but I made it down to Grand Junction for the Winefest. It's a very nice area, better than I had expected. The contrast of vineyards next to rocky cliffs is really a spectacular sight. And downtown Grand Junction is really quite nice. There was a farmer's market going on when I got here, so I walked around and found a nice little Italian restaurant for dinner. I chose it because it claimed to have a "Renowned Wine List".

I was pleasantly surprised by Dolce Vita. I ordered the special of the day: shrimp, calamari, sea scallops, garlic, roma tomatoes, capers, red bell peppers, black olives, basil and spinach in white wine sauce over spaghetti. It was really quite good, and so rich and filling that I couldn't even eat it all. Not the best price at $24, but well worth it for the seafood in my opinion. For wine I ordered a Verdicchio. The Casalfarneto Fontevecchia was $5.95 a glass, and quite good. The wine list described it as "single vineyard, amazing color and power, beautiful fruit with expression, perfect with seafood". It was a very good wine. Slightly tart and acidic at first, but excellent when paired with the scallops in the special of the day. Great combination.


The wine comes from a small estate of only 45 acres in Colli di Jesi of the Marche region of Italy. The vineyard only produces about 4,000 cases a year. Fermented in stainless steel for six months before bottling, the wine is described as having a "rich, creamy texture and a dry, elegant finish".

I have to add that my waiter, Tim, was absolutely fantastic. Eating out at a restaurant by yourself is not always the greatest thing, and he was extremely friendly and helpful.

Good night on the town overall. Tomorrow the festivities begin, more then!

Thankfully I got to watch this week's episode of Top Chef before I leave tomorrow for the Colorado Mountain Winefest. Look for updates from the Festival all weekend long!

This episode started out much better than some recent episodes. I absolutely loved the Breakfast Quick Fire. It was a fast, creative challenge that really made the contestants think. This is one of the few Quick Fires where I would really enjoy being a judge (and let me note that sometimes I have no idea how Padma only eats a couple bites from each plate!). I'm not sure from watching if I would have chosen Hung's dish, he's a talented chef but he's definitely not my favorite from this season. I think someone like Casey that went outside the box a little more would have been a better choice. There's definitely something to be said for being able to prepare a traditional dish extremely well. However I tend to prefer those dishes that are unique and creative.

While Dale constantly talked about how he wanted to do some "real cooking" on this episode, I really enjoy it when the chefs are presented with challenges that are out of the ordinary. I personally tend to be of the opinion that it's not nearly as hard to make a wonderful dish when you're given things like truffles and kobe beef to cook with. It's significantly different when you have limited ingredients to work with. I know quite well from being a starving college student that sometimes you have to figure out how to make a dinner with a package of ramen and a couple crackers (note to Top Chef producers, I would love to see a college food challenge).

The Elimination Challenge was another innovative one, and I enjoyed seeing the chefs out of their comfort zone a little bit. I'm not sure than any of them really came through with flying colors. All of them seemed to have a bit of trouble somewhere. The judges enjoyed Dale, Hung, and Casey's dishes the most. As I said before I agree with Bourdain's assessment of Casey as the most innovative chef, and I definitely agree with her as the winner of this challenge.

I do not, however, think that CJ was the right choice to send home. I think Sara should have been the one to go. CJ has performed better than she has overall in the competition, and in my opinion was a much stronger chef.

Let me know what your thoughts are. Should CJ have gone home? Or did the judges make the wrong decision?

This was an interesting week on Top Chef. Starting with the Quick Fire Challenge, I was surprised at the lack of imagination and skill that came out of this challenge. Does anyone remember the vending machine challenge from season 1? I think that was much more difficult than a whole grocery aisle, and the dishes the chefs came up with were much more creative. I think that speaks to the quality of the chefs in the season. I hate to say it, but I really feel like they've been progressively going downhill since season 1. I do give Brian credit for making a beautiful dish out of spam, definitely not the easiest thing to do. I'm not sure what Hung's dish was, it seemed like something a 7 year old might make. And I can't believe that Howie just gave up, that's really the kiss of death in a competition like this.

The Elimination Challenge for this episode was pretty standard. Cater an event on a small budget, something we've seen many times before. And I have to say.....the chefs really didn't do a good job. Hung's dish was completely unimaginative, Brian obviously wasn't asserting himself as much as he needed to as the team leader, and Howie seemed like he had just stopped trying.

I think that Howie was the completely right choice to send home, and obviously he did as well by attempting to remove himself from the competition. I think you have to be a certain type of person to do well on a show like this, and Howie is not that person. Teamwork is just not his thing.

Next week should be interesting with a change of location and the return of Anthony Bourdain as a guest judge.