The 2006 harvest is well under way with most of the whites picked and the reds getting ripe and full of flavor. The weather continues to please most of our correspondents, although the late harvest for the reds will compact the season in some of the AVAs.

Kirkland Ranch Winery, on Jamison Canyon Road, has filed for protection and reorganization under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code, which essentially blocks an action to foreclose on a loan.

One of the most intriguing wine producers in Napa Valley is the joint venture between Hyde Vineyards and the de Villaine family, co-proprietors of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, one of the most famous wineries in Burgundy and the world.

It only takes a couple of weeks away from the Napa Valley to realize how good our wines are.

Jell-O salad, orange-colored cheese loaves rolled in nuts, mini-Swedish meatballs: There ought to be a marble vault somewhere for the party foods of yesteryear, where we could lay them safely to rest for all eternity.

It is an apparently incontrovertible truth that Chris Manning cooks better than anyone’s mom.

Domaine Chandon celebrates the harvest season from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 7 at the Yountville winery. The event will include a pumpkin carving demonstration, festive music, a Magical Moonshine theater puppet show, a hay maze, face painting and caricature artist, animal friends and educational and interactive programs for children on sustainable farming and stewardship of the land. Children and their families will have the chance to make pumpkin soup with étoile Chef Chris Manning. They also can select a pumpkin from the Domaine Chandon pumpkin patch, which they can decorate at the crafts table or take home for Halloween.

Karen MacNeil launched her new cookbook, “Wine, Food and Friends” at a party last week at the Culinary Institute of America, Greystone.

TEL AVIV, Israel  — There’s a special quiet that descends on Jewish communities around the world on Yom Kippur, a feeling profoundly different from the noisy tumult of everyday life.