Some of you know that in late February, I received a fellowship to attend the fifth annual Wine Writers Symposium at Meadowood Napa Valley. It was my second time to attend; first time was the inaugural Symposium in 2005. 

As at the earlier Symposium, workshops and events were held in various venues, but primarily at Meadowood and the nearby Culinary Institute of America at Greystone. I always love going into the bookstore/giftshop there. This time I was very pleased to see Pacific Northwest Wining & Dining displayed in the Food & Wine Pairing section just under CIA Wine Director Karen MacNeil’s books. (PNWD is the book in the lower shelf, right-hand side, with the green spine!).

I was lucky enough to have dinner one evening with the sponsor of my fellowship, Tony Terlato, patriarch of Terlato Family Vineyards. We managed to sample through 17 wines and sit through five courses. In the photo below, Tony is flanked by The New York Times’s chief wine critic, Eric Asimov, and yours truly.

Another fun evening was spent at Trinchero Napa Valley, where almost 90 of us gathered around the massive banquet table in the barrel room. Food and wine (“only” about a dozen wines were offered that evening, not only from Trinchero, but other Napa Valley wineries) were yummy, although it was rather like eating in a medieval castle! Here’s a shot from on high: