No! Due to the awesome unseasonably cold weather the Bay Area has experienced over the last few months, an estimated 10 to 15 percent of Sonoma County's $400 million vino crop has succumbed to frost damage according to an NBC 4. (An aside: love NBC 4! Most entertaining newscast in the history of the world, ever!) The crisp and energizing weather has also affected vineyards in Mendocino and Lake counties, "where damage to the......

Sure, these places look like the types of fine dining establishments none of us could afford. Nevertheless we were delighted to read in this morning's New York Times ("Coast to Coast, Restaurants That Count") that San Francisco's Coi and Napa Valley's Ubuntu (a critically-acclaimed restaurant that also doubles as a yoga studio, oh my God) made Frank Bruni's top ten restaurants in the country. Yay us! Regarding Ubuntu, Bruni says: What kind of Kumbaya......

We already expounded the rustic virtues of Michael Chiarello's NapaStyle: a place that helps you get that Napa Valley look, feel, and taste. (Speaking of Chiarello, what happened to his show on KQED? Did he make the move over to the Food Network? While he's no Joanne Weir -- who is, really? -- we enjoyed watching him at times.) What's nice about the place is that it won't overwhelm you in the way that......

The Napa Valley-based Coalition for Airline Passengers' Bill of Rights issued a statement where it lauded certain members of congress -- Senators Boxer, Snowe and Lautenberg, as well as Representative Thompson -- for showing "tremendous leadership and a great sense of commitment to passengers' rights." The organization warned, however, that congressional rhetoric is not enough....

Sex is good for you. So is wine. Oh, and chocolate. We think most of know this on an instinctual level, but it's nice when a bunch of experts agree. Of course, the Taste 3 conference is attended by chefs, sommeliers, vintners, and others associated with finer dining, so it only makes sense that the crowd was told stuff they pretty much wanted to hear....

Clip in sports fans, between the weather and the Amgen Tour of California (TOC), it's going to be a great weekend for cycling in the Bay Area.

Whether you're tackling Mt.Tam on your Saturday morning club ride or comparing yourselves to the pros with a summit of Stage 3's infamous Sierra Hill climb, pack the sunscreen today and leave the rain shell behind.

On Sunday at 1:00 p.m., the TOC starts with the prologue, a 3.0 kilometer time trial from the Ferry building to Coit Tower.

A few photos of Lake Tahoe and Squaw Valley...

Today's gift giveaway is for gift certificates at NapaStyle. According to the site, NapaStyle is style that makes one think of Napa! No, it doesn't say that. What it does say is "Founded in 2000 by Napa Valley chef and culinary pioneer Michael Chiarello, NapaStyle is a media-driven lifestyle retailer inspired by Michael's passion for seasonal and sustainable living...." Whatever that means. But we're sure people can find plenty of cool stuff amongst the food, wine, furniture, and general kitchen stuff. And a new story has opened in Berkeley. ...

Old skool's hot again, as the Quaker Oats folks who own Rice-A-Roni have decided to bring back the cable car and the "San Francisco treat" tagline in its ad campaigns. And what about that infernally-catchy song? "We haven't brought back the jingle, but we're talking about it,'' Rice-a-Roni's marketing director Monica Young told the Chron. It turns out Rice-A-Roni is actually a San Francisco treat -- the family of the guy who currently runs the......

Seems that ole W was in Angwin for some mountain biking this weekend, but for some reason he didn't show up at this year's Napa Valley Dirt Classic.

Too bad for the POTUS, because he missed a great race.

Despite an absolutely sodden April in Napa County that turned parts of the 22-mile course to brownie batter, this year's race went off without a hitch.

Sunday's NORBA-sanctioned event kicked off exactly at 10:30 AM under warm, partly cloudy skies in a series of two-minute rolling starts. The field was a little smaller than in years past, probably due to April's crappy weather, but still numbered over 300 strong. Pro and Elite riders were first off the line, followed by the other classifications, with the idea being to get the faster riders out first so that they don't get held back by slower riders on the tighter portions of the course.

Usually when we think of Napa, we think of Range Rovers and froofy wine-tasting tours that inevitably get sloppy and end with a brutal hangover and two cases of overpriced Chardonnay. But this weekend, there's a different type of intoxicant going down in the NA-PA -- cross-country mountain bike racing.

A rite of Spring in the tiny hamlet of Angwin, the 2006 Napa Valley Dirt Classic rolls to the line this Sunday on the beautiful campus of Pacific Union College (PUC).

Beginning at 10:30 AM on Sunday, rain or shine, close to 400 racers will venture into the verdant forests of Howell Mountain in search that perfect bouquet of singletrack, adrenaline, and pain. The 22-mile course snakes through the private lands of PUC on a kaleidoscope of different trail types, textures, and topographies.

To do well in the Classic is to know the course, and baby, the legs on this course . . .