Food and Wine with Michael Chiarello
With a resume that reads like road map to success, it is absolutely no wonder that award winning chef Michael Chiarello has accomplished so much in the world of food and wine in such a relatively short period of time.
Born and raised in California, Michael has known what he wanted to do since early childhood, and has pursued it with both drive and passion. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in New York in 1982, Michael then attended hotel school in Florida and immediately began his professional career by opening Toby’s restaurant in Miami to much acclaim.
Michael was named Chef of the Year by Food & Wine magazine in 1985. The following year he was lured back to California to open Tra Vigne restaurant in Napa Valley, where he focused on Italian-influenced wine country cooking and entertaining. He stayed as Executive Chef/partner until 2000, when he left to create NapaStyle and Chiarello Family Vineyards, as well as host several food shows on television. In 2008, Michael donned his chef jacket once more to open his Bottega Napa Valley restaurant in Yountville – again to much acclaim.
Join us as we talk with noted chef, TV host, author, and vintner Michael Chiarello about his passion for food and wine, and his unending desire to create the perfect food and wine marriage.
For More Info:
Michael Chiarello : www.michaelchiarello.com
Napa Style : www.napastyle.com
Sponsor: California Wine Club: www.cawineclub.com
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(53:34min 38MB)
While this podcast was not specifically about wine, Chiarello is an engaging personality. People give him a hard time being a “TV chef” and “sellout” but the guy can clearly cook.
I browsed Bottega’s winelist and the prices indeed are fair. 2x wholesale/discounted retail.
Cary, I hope you do not feel we strayed too far from the subject of wine. I was surprised how much I liked the wine. I expected some undrinkable “celebrity” wine, but that was not the case. It was a very good wine.
Jay
Another great show! I’ve always enjoyed watching Michael cook Saturdays on PBS. Thanks, Guys!
I used to be amazed watching Michael Cook with such ease, using the freshest Produce from his garden, on TV. Showing us how to eat healhty and enjoy good wine. He is a great inspiration! Back then waiting three weeks for reservation to “Tra Vigne” was worth it! So Happy to have Grape Radio do this show on him! Enjoying it tremendously, Thank You!
I used to be amazed watching Michael Cook with such ease, using the freshest Produce from his garden, on TV. Showing us how to eat healhty and enjoy good wine. He is a great inspiration! Back then waiting three weeks for reservation to “Tra Vigne” was worth it! So Happy to have Grape Radio do this show on him! Enjoying it tremendously, Thank You!
I never saw him cook in person, bot watching him on TV has been a real treat. I am happy to hear he is getting back to his roots. More time in the kitchen and less time in front of a camera is a good thing.
Jay
Another great show! I’ve always enjoyed watching Michael cook Saturdays on PBS. Thanks, Guys!
Since that Korean fashion spam brought me back to this page, I figured I’d chime in and say that I have been repeatedly quoting Michael Chiarello over the past several months.
The biggest take-away message for me was, “Don’t apologize for your food.”
As winemakers, we can have times when we lose confidence in how good our wine is. There are some days when it just isn’t tasting as excellent as I remember. When pouring for a guest, it is tempting to say, “The wine is going through some awkward phase right now. Sorry.”
I’ve now learned to shut up, and more often than not, what I thought would be a bad experience with the wine has the guest opening smiling with raised eyebrows saying, “Wow. I really like this wine.”
I could have completely denied that nice experience if I’d have blown it with what I was really thinking.
We could really do with Michael Chiarello in the UK. We have survived on the same cooking show format for too many years and we very much need a shot of this stylish show. It would be a fantastic discovery for us to see the quality of Florida produce and get some advice on how to produce beautiful food in a more professional way.
Chiarello’s wines are good because he has Thomas Rivers Brown as his primary winemaker. Thomas Brown is one of Napa’s most accomplished winemakers.