Cookbook Profile: Napa Stories

Napa Stories
Profiles, Reflections & Recipes from the Napa Valley

by Michael Chiarello with Janet Fletcher

The beauty and magic of California's Napa Valley wine country is captured in Napa Stories: Profiles, Reflections & Recipes from the Napa Valley (Stewart, Tabori & Chang) from the award-winning chef and popular PBS television host Michael Chiarello, written with Janet Fletcher and featuring the photography of Steven Rothfeld.

This lavishly illustrated book is the ultimate guide to one of the world's most popular winemaking regions, and in a very unique and personal way, Michael Chiarello takes us straight to the heart of what makes the Napa Valley so special. Sharing stories with twenty of the Napa's most interesting and influential winemakers, Chiarello offers us an extraordinary perspective not only on the modern history of the Napa Valley wine country, but also on the way of life so cherished by its citizens.

Among the vintners profiled are Robert Mondavi, Dorothy Tchelistcheff (Beaulieu Vineyard), Jamie Davies (Schramsberg), John and Janet Trefethen, Warren Winarski (Stag's Leap), Dan and Margaret Duckhorn, James and Bo Barrett (Chateau Montelena), Garen and Shari Staglin (Staglin Family), Belle and Barney Rhodes (Bella Oaks), Tony Soter (Etude), and Larry Turley (Turley Wine Cellars). The conversations are wide-ranging, as these celebrated wine makers reflect on their lives, their craft, and the past, present and future of the Napa Valley

Complementing these conversations and stories are a series of vignettes that explain the winemaking process as a series of critical decisions, as well as additional snapshots of the cultural delights of the Napa Valley. Not onIy does Chiarello show us some of the inside intricacies of the winemaker's craft, but we are also introduced to the other artisans of the Valley: cheesemakers, pottery malers, musicians, and farmers.

Michael Chiarello, one of the country's most acclaimed chefs and founder of the popular Tra Vigne restaurant in the Napa Valley, has also included six special menus (over twenty mouth-watering recipes!) in Napa Stories to complement some of the winemakers' signature wines. Chiarello is the author of the best-selling Tra Vigne Cook Book (Chronicle, 1999) and host of his own PBS television series, Michael Chiarello's Napa.

Buy the Book!

Napa Stories
Profiles, Reflections & Recipes from the Napa Valley
by Michael Chiarello with Janet Fletcher
Photographs by Steven Rothfeld
Published By StewartTabori & Chang, October 2001
Hardcover, $50
312 pages, over 150 full-color photographs
ISBN: 1-58479-116-0
Information provided by the publisher.