Frankly, this book cost more than I usually pay for a bottle of wine. If this book were a bottle of wine, I would buy a case of it and share it with my very best friends. After savoring this classy book the wine you experience will never be the same.

Even though Steven Rothfeld's photographs of the Napa Valley and Chef Michael Chiarello's gorgeous presentation of some outstanding cuisine are very pleasing to the eye, the most impressive thing about this book is the history of Napa Valley that unfolds between the photographs.

This book is a beautiful seminar on how amazing it is that you can actually buy so many good bottles of wine. Although I have been to Napa Valley on several occasions and have taken more than a few tours through the various wineries, I did not fully appreciate all that is involved in making a good vintage.

The history of this famous valley and the many trials and tribulations of the wine makers along with the fickle role of Nature that goes into that bottle of wine you just uncorked will make that first sip a lot more meaningful.

This book is an absolute delight. The sheer intimacy of the stories make you feel like an insider, and it provides an insight to the pioneering spirit that has created an industry. I was completely (and very pleasantly) unprepared for how much I enjoyed this book. It is truly a treasure.

This book is amazing. The stories told by the families are so rich and real that one truly begins to understand why the Napa Valley is so special. Michael Chiarello really does such a nice job with the families in the style and respect he shows (just as I have seen in his Tra Vigne Cookbook, and his PBS shows - Season by Season, and Michael Chiarello's Napa). The photography really brings one right into parts of the Napa Valley that have only been known previously by the people that live there. The recipes are so special too, as they come from the kitchens of these families and from Chiarello. This is simply the best book ever on this very special and beautiful place...America's Tuscany.

Our entire immediate family enjoys making homemade gifts for friends and other family members. Homemade vinegars are great. This book is straight forward and is so easy to understand. Would recommend this book even for most jaded cook who has watched hoours of foodtv programs!

I thought this was another great book by chef Michael Chairello about Napa Valley wines (see my review). I had no idea that I was supposed to write it!

As it turns out this will be a great little book in a few months, depending on how many bottle of wines I drink or buy. It is a very classy looking, well manufactured, spiral bound hard cover book. It is a little less than an inch thick. Steven Rothfeld's beautiful photographs are on the cover and on each divider leaf.

Rigid tabbed dividers separate the book into eight sections: Why Keep a Wine Journal?, Tasting Notes for Red, White and Rose wines, Cellar Records for Red, White and Rose wines, A Brief Glossary and finally, Wine Shops and Web Sites. There is a color matching elastic band to either keep the book closed why you are carrying it or to keep your place as you buy or taste or drink your wines.

The note pages are well thought out. The Glossary is a big help in describing what you see and taste. One interesting entry is whom you shared the wine with and what was served with it. Chef Chairello's point of view is that if you include the specific wine drank along with the dinner menu and the people you shared the event with you will have very vivid memories of the wine. If you think about it he is absolutely right.

When you take it with you on your wine adventures be sure and put your name on it and a method whereby you can be contacted if you, Heaven forbid, leave it somewhere.

The two-inch thick paper back 2002 edition of Parker's Wine Buyers Guide by Robert M. Parker, jr is available. Leave this [X] book at home, but be sure and take your personal wine journal that YOU are writing with you.

I've been a big fan of the Tra Vigne restaurant for years. It's a fun place with fantastic food, and fun events such as wine tastings. I swear it has the best smelling food of any restaurant anywhere. It's delicious torture to wait for your food and get whiffs of the entrees going by.
It was with this excited expectation that I opened this book. And although I just received it as a birthday gift, I'm anxious to dig and try to recreate some of the fantstic food I've experienced in Michael's restaurant.
I can tell you already that this cookbook has a wonderful layout. For example, the table of contents (usually dreadfully dull) is a beautiful display of graphic design. Along one side are the seasons, and along the top different types of food. It's an unusual and neat way of showing this information and immediately leads the cook to think of seasonal meals and menus.
Some of the recipes in the book look surprisingly complex so this isn't a volume for beginners. But if they can help me recreate the great meals I've had in the restaurant without needing to travel to St. Helena they will be worth the extra effort.

I've had the Tra Vigne Cookbook for a year now, and I use it regularly. It's an attractive book, with beautiful photos and surprisingly intriguing introductions to the recipes. It's hard to stop browsing once you open the book, and it's harder to close the book without doing some cooking. The dishes are fantastic. The Chicken with Roasted Lemon and Rosemary Sauce is a favorite, as is the Fusilli Michelangelo. (Read the intro to either of these dishes and try to resist cooking them.)

The book is arranged seasonally, with chapters on essential ingredients for each season. Spring ingredients include asparagus, garlic, peas, and potatoes. Summer ingredients include corn, tomatoes, and bell peppers. And so on. I shop at a grocery store, not a farmers market, and I've had a less-than-happy relationship with vegetables since infancy, so I was skeptical of the whole seasonal-cooking thing at first. But I enjoy browsing through the new season's recipes as the year changes, and I've tried dishes and ingredients that are not usually a part of my diet. It's hard to object to broccoli when it's served in a creamy Very Green Soup sprinkled with crunchy gremolata.

It would have been nice in book a subtitled "Seasons in the California Wine Country" to have more information about wine. Few recipes actually use wine and there is no advice on what wines to pair with the food.

Despite the elegant presentations shown in the photos, none of the recipes are too difficult to try. They're just challenging enough for the amateur cook who likes to do a little more than the usual home cooking. The Tra Vigne Cookbook is a lot of fun, and the food is delicious.

His PBS show is incredible, his recipes are to die for, and he is gorgeous to boot. What other reasons are there for buying this book?

Ok, I admit, I bought this book b/c I watch Michael on PBS and love his show - and he's a big hunk! I took a cooking class with him and got him to sign the book. What makes him soooo great is his huge enthusiasm for cooking, esp cooking with love for the people you love. Just a terrific, magnetic guy that has a lot of good ideas for simple meals. If you like simple Italian/Californian cooking you'll like this cookbook. Fabulous pictures and layout makes the food look SO pretty.

PBS' Napa Valley chef emphasizes a well-stocked pantry and fine presentation in addition to fresh, quality ingredients in this oversized, lavishly illustrated collection of California wine country Italian dishes. From Basil Chive Butter, Toasted Spice rub and Herb Oil (pantry items) to Salsa di Parmigiano and Marinated Salmon with Fennel Salad (antipasto) to Summer Corn Soup and Autumn Panzanella, Chiarello will have you willing to skip the entrée altogether. Until you get to one of his simple and satisfying pasta dishes - with Walnut and Ricotta Pesto perhaps or Salsa Rosa (roasted pepper and tomato) from the pantry. And then there's Tuscan Shrimp with White Beans, Baby Back Ribs with Espresso BBQ Sauce or Quail with Bacon and Honey. His way with vegetables offers simple variety - Sautéed Greens with Vinegar, Skillet-Fried Corn and Tomatoes, and a baked Cauliflower Alla Parmagiana that has become a staple in my house - whatever the vegetable. There are desserts too, mostly fruit with a few comfort items like Caramel Panna Cotta and an easy tiramisu, but the real pleasure comes from the savory. Leaf through the gorgeous pictures, and choose a dish - chances are you can have it on the table in half an hour - if you stock that pantry (there's even a recipe for fresh ricotta that's a must-try). Notes offer tips on technique and variations.

Kind of noirish, kind of retro-futurish (think Art Deco and Streamline design), Terminal City is loose but entertaining story of aging daredevils and a mysterious briefcase. The city is a vividly reimagined New York (complete with Coney Island) with beautiful lines, a monorail, zeppelins, and all manner of lovely to look at decay-here, flyers and newspapers are always billowing in the wind at the edges of panels. The plot is a zany half-baked affair involving a crooked mayor, crooked industrialist, land schemes, a mysterious cases, missing legendary crown jewels, a naive newcomer to town, an old boxer, and too many others to mention. While the hero is nominally Cosmo Quinn, former "Human Fly" daredevil turned window washer, the Grand Hotel-like plot jumps between multiple stories and people. Readers will catch references and homages to Kiss Me Deadly (the pinnacle of noir film), Fawlty Towers (John Cleese's hilarious post-Python British screwball comedy), Tintin (the European comic series), Abbott and Costello, Orwell and Huxley (although this futurist vision is much more benign than theirs), Casablanca, and many others. The art is straightforward and easy to look at, while the colors and vivid and expressive, a very fun experience overall-although the punning gets too cutesy at times.

Termial City is an award nominated series which is, strangly enough, set in the advanced East Coast US metropolis "Terminal City". This comic revolves around a group of modern day Daredevils, primarily Cosmo Quinn, "the Human Fly" who scales the tallest of buildings as well as living a double life cleaning the windows of such glass towers. The Streamline styling harks back to the thirties, the sky filled with enormous zepplins captained by German aviators, high speed trains cross the Atlantic with the greatest of ease whilst surly dome topped robots keep things running smoothly and on the other hand cause total havoc. This is an another excellent book from Vertigo, very well written and researched as well as paying homage to great authors such as George Orwell and Aldous Huxley.

I bought this book to make oils as gifts for special occasions...it proved to be one of the best books for this! It has many recipes, that are easy, detailed, and with variety!! A must for any home.