Last night I had the pleasure of attending the Spottswoode wine dinner held at Chinois on Main, Wolfgang Puck's restaurant in Santa Monica. With an entire food empire to tend to you wouldn't think that Wolfgang Puck would still get in the kitchen but last night he cooked beside chef Rene Mata. The restaurant has been open since 1983, making this year the 25th anniversary of this California landmark.
Spottswoode wine has an even longer history. Spottswoode is a family-owned historic vineyard and winery which was established in 1882 by George Schonewald. The estate features a Victorian home which is shown on the Spottswoode label. The Spottswoode name comes from Mrs. Albert Spotts, who owned the property from 1910 until 1972 (the "woode" part of the name was added for fancy effect). In 1972, Mary Weber Novak and her husband Dr. Jack Novak purchased the winery, moving their family from San Diego to St. Helena. The vineyards were planted with a variety of grapes but were then replanted with Cabernet Sauvignon grapes. Shortly after this Dr. Novak died and Mrs. Novak continued to sell the grapes to other producers. Finally in 1982, the first Spottswoode Cabernet Sauvignon was produced. Today, two of Mary's daughters, Beth and Lindy, work for the family winery which currently produced around 3,000 cases a year of Spottswoode Estate Cabernet Sauvignon. They also produce the Spottswoode Sauvignon Blanc, which is made from grapes purchased elsewhere and the Lyndenhurst Cabernet Sauvignon, which is the estate's second label. The estate also produces a limited amount of olive oil. The winery has been certified organic since 1990 and is committed to environmentally sensitive practices.
The dinner at Chinois was definitely not for vegetarians but the rich food was well complemented by the various Spottswoode vintages served. The 2001 Spottswoode Cabernet Sauvignon is particularly noteworthy and well worth finding if you can get your hands on it. The wines are pricey, the 2005 Spottswoode Cabernet Sauvignon is $130 and the 2005 Lyndenhurst Cabernet Sauvignon is $60 but the wines are everything you'd expect from a Napa Cab, rich with cherry flavors that straddle the line between being fruity enough to appeal to the nose but spicy and layered enough to tempt the tongue. The 2006 Sauvignon Blanc, which sells for $32 is a great summer wine. It doesn't have the grassy and mineral flavors of some Sauvignon Blancs. Instead it has tastes of pineapple and citrus and is a crisp white that would be a great wine for drinking on its own or with light food.
The gallery below shows each course and the wines served for this very special meal.
Attention mandolin lovers! Gibson has introduced a limited edition Victorian F-style Mandolin and there are only 15 available worldwide. The mandolin features many Victorian Era details, including the back side accented with a Victorian Red Sunburst finish, a "double flower pot" inlay featured on the peghead face (a pattern that hasn't been used since the end of the pre-truss era), an ebony fingerboard, and a period correct black face top, to name just a few. Each of the mandolins comes with a vintage oblong hardshell case and a certificate of authenticity.
Usually we find the European style grand homes on the East Coast but Stonebrook Court is located in Los Altos Hills, CA. The home was built in 1914 and restored by its owner during the last seven years. This mansion is approximately 30,000 square feet and is on 7.5 acres. The English English Tudor and Jacobean revival style exterior is bisected by a porte cochere separating the living quarters and a grand ballroom. The interior is done in modernized Renaissance Italian style with 12-foot wood ceilings, a an antique carved marble fireplace, a ballroom with 16th Century gilded Venetian ceiling paintings said to be from the Palazzo Grimani. The library has mahogany bookcases and a secret room with wet bar and beer taps and the breakfast room features new Gothic arch windows. The main residences has seven bedrooms and there is also a gym, garden building, a caretaker's house, and a 3 car garage.
The home is now wired for state-of-the-art security, audio, phone, internet and all other modern features including a heating system covering 16 zones. The garden which includes follies, rolling lawns, knot garden, boxwood parterres and long perennial borders filled with roses. The pool features a stone fountain/spa surmounted by an antique bronze statue of Neptune. No wonder this has mansion has been host to many weddings.
A 2005 article in the Los Altos Crier reveals more details on this home including that it was formerly known as Morgan Manor (it was the home of Percy and Daisy Morgan) and has serves as both a popular brothel and an elite day school at different times in its past. It took a team that numbered in the thousands and a lot of money from owners Kelly and Christina Porter to restore the home back to its former glory. It is simply one of the most stunning homes available on the West Coast. It is listed at $45 million.
When it comes to recycling most people don't think of the wine cork. Usually people either save them as mementos, turn them into trivets, bulletin boards or in one rare case a suit, or the simply place them back into the wine bottle and toss the bottle in the recycling bin. FOr personal consumption it's perhaps not that big an issue but when you are talking about restaurants and wine tasting rooms, that can be a lot of corks. ReCork America is a new recycling program sponsored by Amorim, a Portuguese cork manufacturer. The project began as a pilot program in Oregon is in place in many San Francisco businesses and restaurants and is spreading into Napa Valley, the Culinary Institute of America in St. Helena recently came onboard. The plan is to eventually take cork recycling nationwide. Used corks can be recycled and remade into floor tiles, insulation, gardening products and more. According to an article in the Napa Valley Register, the biggest problem is logistics, if it takes more energy to pick up the corks than it negates the worth of the recycling. So far, this has been a grassroots program with people getting the word out and working to gather corks to deliver to collection centers as well as starting to brainstorm new uses for the recycled cork. For more information, visit the ReCork America website.
Just this past weekend a boutique opened in an upscale fashion neighborhood in London with an unlikely name: Oxfam. Most commonly recognized for slightly battered or worn vintage and retro secondhand clothing pieces, Oxfam is revamping their image and looking to become a more fashion-conscious name. They've hired Jane Shepherdson (formly of Topshop) and recruited students from the London College of Fashion along with several British designers to overhaul donated clothes into trendier more upscale items. This new boutique is just one of three planned total, with the other two scheduled to open later this summer.
The Atlantic forest in Brazil is considered one of the worlds most endangered tropical rain forests, with as little 7 percent of it's original area remaining! As we all know trees are quite literally the lungs of the earth, without their constant releasing of oxygen we would all be in trouble, what you may not know is that forests like the Atlantic also help regulate the earths climate and atmosphere. The Plant A Billion Trees Project plans to do just that...plant a billion trees in the Atlantic Forrest over the next 7 years, basically they are going to re-forest 2.5 billion acres of land. I write about charities every day and I can't think of one I've heard of that is more important than this amazing project! The facts are staggering, and so impressive, after the project is done 10 million tons of carbon dioxide will have been removed from our air, planting these trees will do the same thing as removing 2 million cars from the road!! I urge you to get involved with this powerful movement. One dollar equals one tree, so tell everyone you know! Plant a Billion Trees website.
Officine Panerai, founded in Florence in 1860, makes some of the most coveted wristwatches in the world. They only produce a limited number of timepieces every year, and there's usually a long waiting list for new models costing several thousands of dollars. The company is credited with perfecting the world's first underwater watches in the thirties; many have imitated its oversized style and the numerous devoted Panerai collectors around the globe are known as "Paneristi." Since 1996 the company has also produced a line of watches for Ferrari and serves as the marque's official timekeeper. An impressive new slipcased volume, called simply Panerai, about to be published by Flammarion, details the fascinating history of these beautiful watches.
Early on the company became the official supplier to the Marina Militare (the Royal Italian Navy), initially providing optical and mechanical instruments. In 1910 they began experimenting with luminous materials to make the instrument dials visible in the dark. In 1936 the Marina Militare asked Panerai to develop a wristwatch suitable for use by commandos under extreme conditions. Thus was born the oversized, water-resistant, luminous dial Radiomir, production of which began in 1938, cementing a place for Panerai in the pantheon of the world's great watchmakers.
The chosen New York address is The Manhattan House at 200 E 66 St. and the month long show will include 6 units and two floors of the building. The extra publicity works out well for both the property (it's in the middle of being remodeled into luxury condos), the designers (they are only compensated for their efforts with the exposure), and of course the Kips Bay Boys and Girls Club which the whole thing benefits. The show runs from April 24th through May 22nd and tickets cost $30.
The buzz at big photo auctions lately has been all about nude supermodels. Perfectly understandable, of course, but how many times can you really stand to see Gisele naked? (OK, no need to answer that). At Sotheby's latest photo sale in London on Tuesday, we're pleased to see some stunning images on offer which while short on supermodel cleavage nonetheless have plenty of appeal. Take for instance this portrait of the beautiful Brigitte Bardot taken by Terry O'Neill 1971 with an estimate of $8,000 - $12,000. Not one of the more expensive items on offer, but worth every penny in our estimation.
Also included in the amazing auction is Helmut Newton's 1975 photo of Elsa Peretti, est. $24,000 - $30,000, and his 1987 portrait of Jodie Foster, est. $14,000 - $18,000; Andy Warhol's Polaroid of Muhammad Ali taken in 1977, est. $10,000 - $14,000; David Bailey's 1969 double portrait of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, est. $20,000 - $30,000; and a recent print made from Bert Stern's famed Marilyn Monroe series (recently aped by Lindsay Lohan), est. $6,000 - $8,000. See the gallery for more.
Safaris have such an adventurous and romantic connotation, and now Sandstorm Kenya (maker of luxury tents in Nairobi for camps in East Africa) is offering bags and travel accessories that make carrying that awesome safari vibe with you a reality in your daily life. There are 4 collections in their new set of offerings and so depending on what feel you're going for you can choose from the more casual Canvas & Cowhide, the soft Mocha Leather, the exclusive Camel & Cowhide, or the sophisticated Tweed & Cowhide. The collections include bags for everything from everyday use to travel totes -- and they even have one that functions as a champagne cooler. $125-$1100
Philippe Starck has gone a little silly with his new collection, although (no worries) he hasn't completely abandoned his usual sense of style in the process. Launched in collaboration with David Sutherland the collection is called RobinWood and is inspired by (you guessed it) the legend of Robin Hood.
With names like "The Lil' John" chair, "The Loxley" canopy bed, and "The King Richard" dining table, Starck is making good on his statement "humor is a sign of intelligence. It should be everywhere." The pieces represent Starck's first outdoor line of furniture and range in price from $1650 to $2350.
The immensely talented, couture jewelry design duo at Erickson Beamon, have created the most fabulous chandelier ever! This exquisite handmade work of art is called the Glam Rock Chandelier, and it looks like it belongs in a castle (it has in fact had a permanent home in a few museums). Completely covered with Japanese glass pearls and Swarovski crystals it still manages to look timeless and classy not gaudy. I adore it, too bad it costs $22,500! Available on vivre.com.
Three centuries worth of New England's magnificent houses and mansions are collected in an equally grand new book from Rizzoli: Great Houses of New England, by Roderic H. Blackburn (text) and Geoffrey Gross (photography). Spanning a wide range of styles, these stately houses are the originals from which many of today's McMansions have been copied. They're more than just artifacts, however; as Blackburn writes, "Through the architecture and decorative arts we see the development of a people and their region."
Among the more splendid examples in the book is the Jeremiah Lee Mansion in Marblehead, Mass., dating from 1767 (pictured here), the impressiveness of which is "conveyed by its subdued monumentality," Blackburn notes. Lee, a shipping merchant, built it to emulate aristocratic estates in England, so you might say not all that much has changed. Also of note are the beautiful brick Georgian Macpheadris-Warner House in Portsmouth, N.H., dating from 1716; Rosecliff, a palatial McKim, Mead & White mansion which was the setting for the movie version of The Great Gasby; and Brookside, a gracious Greek Revival in Orwell, VT. See the gallery for more.
This contemporary villa located in the European playground of St Jean Cap Ferrat was created by designers Lazzarini Pickering and is a stunning contemporary residence which has beautiful ocean views. The home is located on the exclusive Avenue de Rothschild in this Mediterranean resort of the wealthy. There is a large main villa with views along the French Riviera and living areas on three floors. The main villa can be purchased separately or with two smaller three bedroom guest houses and a staff apartment. The property also includes gardens, a terrace, swimming pool, wine cellar and parking for two cars. This home is listed at $23.5 million.
I'm far too lazy to have my own winery but I love stories of small family-owned wineries. Foursight Wines is a new Anderson Valley family owned and operated winery producing just a few hundred cases of cool-climate Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc each year. Foursight Wines is a collaboration between two generations of the Charles family: Bill and Nancy - local winegrowers - their daughter, Kristy (the executive director of the Anderson Valley Winegrowers Association), and her fiancé, Joe Webb (a Sonoma State Wine Business graduate, currently working with Londer Vineyards). That's Kristy and Joe hard at work in the picture on the right. The name refers to the four people behind the wine as well as to four generations that have lived and worked on the same land which has in the past been a timber mill, farmland, grazing land for livestock, and now a winery.
The 2006 Charles Vineyard Pinot Noir was hand-harvested from the family vineyard and sells for $46 (425 cases produced). The 2007 Anderson Valley Sauvignon Blanc came from the Ferrington Vineyard and was made in 100% stainless steel and sells for $20, (189 cases produced). All vineyard work is done by the family, with help only during pruning and harvest. A tasting room is in the works and should be open in fall 2008, for now the wines can be ordered at the winery website.
The buzz at big photo auctions lately has been all about 
