Stanley Tucci
Stanley Tucci is an American actor, writer, film producer and film director. He was nominated for several notable film awards, including an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, for his performance in The Lovely Bones (2009). Tucci's other recent celebrated roles have been in The Devil Wears Prada and Julie & Julia. He has been nominated three times for Golden Globes, and won twice — for his title role in Winchell, and for his supporting role as Adolph Eichmann in Conspiracy, both from HBO films. He also received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Winchell. He was nominated for Broadway’s Tony Award as Best Actor in a Play for his role as Johnny in the 2002 revival of Terrence McNally’s Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune.
Stephanie Caraway
Stephanie, a Certified Sommelier, began her career in New York working at a number of notable establishments such as Balthazar and the Cub Room. Moving on to Arizona, Ms. Caraway studied in the cellar of Peter Kasperski, while managing the Wine Spectator Award winning wine programs of Cowboy Ciao, Kazimierz, and Sea Saw. Subsequently, while with of Fox Restaurant Concepts, she was the steward of a quarter million dollar wine program and was responsible for the education of the staff of not only one restaurant, but several different restaurant concepts. Stephanie was honored by Food and Wine Magazine which named her one of the Top Sommeliers of 2010. She currently holds a position with Southern Wine & Spirits.
Ray Isle
Ray Isle is Executive Wine Editor of FOOD & WINE, the modern, stylish, trend-spotting, talent-seeking epicurean brand. In addition to overseeing F&W’s wine department, Isle writes the monthly column, Tasting Room, for the magazine, directs the title’s spirits coverage, and is the author of foodandwine.com’s wine blog, Tasting Room. Isle was promoted from wine editor in 2010, and has also served as deputy wine editor and senior editor. Prior to joining FOOD & WINE in 2005, Isle was managing editor of Wine & Spirits Magazine. He regularly conducts wine tasting seminars at epicurean events and appears as a wine and spirits expert on national television, including NBC’s Today and CBS’s The Early Show.
Philippe Quint
A 2-time Grammy nominee, violinist Philippe Quint combines remarkable lyricism with impeccable virtuosity. He performs regularly in the world’s great halls including Leipzig's Gewandhaus, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, LA's Disney Hall, and the Konzerthaus Berlin. In 2010, he played the lead in Downtown Express, directed by Emmy winner David Grubin, produced by Michael Hausman (Brokeback Mountain, Gangs of New York), and co-starring singer-songwriter Nellie McKay. Quint made his orchestral debut at 9 in Moscow, before emigrating to the U.S. as a teenager to study at Juilliard. He plays the 1708 "Ruby" Antonio Stradivari violin on loan through the generous efforts of The Stradivari Society®.
Ron Darling
Ron Darling is the main MLB game analyst on TBS's Sunday Game of the Week and playoff coverage. Emmy Award winning game and studio analyst Darling also covers The NY Mets for SNY Network. Previously, Darling was an analyst for Washington Nationals’ games on MASN, an on-air analyst for FOX Sports Net’s Best Damn Sports Show Period and Baseball Today. As a MLB starting pitcher, he won 136 games and amassed over 1,500 strikeouts. An All-Star pitcher, member of the Mets’ 1986 World Championship and 1988 Division Champion teams, Darling spent 9 seasons as a starting pitcher for the Mets and was their first pitcher awarded The Gold Glove Award. He is the author of The Complete Game: Reflections on Baseball, Pitching and Life on the Mound. After his son was diagnosed with Juvenile Diabetes, he established the Ron Darling Foundation; proceeds go toward finding a cure for type 1 diabetes. Darling lives in NYC with wife Joanna, he has two sons.
Tim Love
Fort Worth, Texas chef Tim Love is known as much for his freewheeling personality as his signature urban western cuisine. In 2000, he opened The Lonesome Dove in the historic Fort Worth Stockyards district, earning his reputation as a veritable meat master for his preparations of everything from steaks to rabbit, wild boar, kangaroo, elk, and even rattlesnake. In 2007, he opened a classic burger joint called The Love Shack, also in the Stockyards, and it was singled out as having the "most perfect burger on the planet" by The Fort Worth Star-Telegram. The official chef of Austin City Limits, he is also a regular guest on the CBS Early Show, and has appeared on Top Chef Masters, Iron Chef America, The Today Show, Paula Deen, and will be a judge on the upcoming series Best in Smoke.
Carina Cellars
J. Dusi Wines
Peachy Canyon Winery
Steinbeck Vineyards & Winery
Turley Wine Cellars
Victor Hugo Winery
Paso Robles, California
Paso Robles Wine Country is known for its fine wines. Located in San Luis Obispo County, CA at about the midway point between Los Angeles and San Francisco, this viticultural area is expansive with more than 180 wineries and 26,000 vineyard acres. It stretches from just north of the city of San Luis Obispo, all the way to Monterey County. The Salinas River runs north-northwest, bisecting the zone. West of the river, along the Pacific coastline, there is higher elevation, overall cooler climate, and hilly terrain. East of the river, farther inland, there are much warmer temperatures; the terrain is flatter and the soil richer. This unique geography produces many different distinct microclimates within the Paso Robles AVA which produces than 40 winegrape varieties, including Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Viognier, Roussane and the area's heritage varietal Zinfandel.
The first vineyards of Paso Robles were planted around 1797 by Franciscan missionaries, under the direction of Fr. Junipero Serra at the San Michel Arcangel Mission. The wine produced there was used almost exclusively for sacramental purposes. In the late 19th century, the Zinfandel grape variety was introduced to the region, planted primarily by European immigrant wine-makers.
Paso Robles has the largest swing between high daytime and low nighttime temperatures of any region in California as a result of the cool marine air that flows east through the Templeton Gap and south along the Salinas River Valley from the Monterey Bay. In the summer, daytime high temperatures are typically between 85 and 105 degrees Fahrenheit, with nighttime low temperatures that can drop by 40 to 50 degrees. As a result of cool nights, warm days, and typically late rains, Paso Robles vines tend to have a longer growing season and grapes have more hang time compared to those from other wine regions, resulting in fully mature fruit whose acid chemistry is kept in balance through the area’s overnight cooling. Paso Robles is noted for its large, powerful wines—often 15% alcohol. Zinfandels from the area are dark red, sometimes almost black.
For more on Paso Robles Zinfandel, click here.
• El Paso de Robles (“The Pass of the Oaks”) was the original name of the town and region now known simply as Paso Robles. The Paso Robles Wine Festival is an annual local wine-tasting event that takes place in the city park in May. Visitwww.pasowine.com for more details and more information on the region.
• The exact origin of Zinfandel was a mystery until the 21st century when DNA testing revealed the Primitivo of Italy and Zinfandel of the U.S. to be genetically identical. Both are clones of the Crljenak Kastelanski or “Kastela Red” of Croatia.
• The origin of the name “Zinfandel” is not at all certain. In the early 19th century, written reference was made to a shipment of grapes from Europe to New York in which the product was called “Zinfardel of Hungary.” Another less likely possibility is that this name was somehow derived from the Hungarian word tzinifandli or czirfandli, borrowed from the German word Zierfandler. However, these terms apply to an entirely different, white grape—the Greuner Sylvaner of Austria.
• During the California Gold Rush of the 1850s, the Zinfandel grape was sent by ship from the east coast of the U.S. to California for planting. What had once been called “Zenfandal” evolved linguistically into “Zinfandel.” These vines were widely planted and grew beautifully in the soil and mild climate of California.
• In 1857, the first bottles of Zinfandel wine were produced in California’s Napa Valley. At the end of the 19th century, Zinfandel was the most widely planted grape in the state. The best premium Zinfandels, such as those prized by winemakers of the Paso Robles region, have robust color and flavor and come from the fruit of very old vines—some planted more than a hundred years ago.