David Campbell and David Wong of Tillerman Tea Company in Napa have set out to do for tea what Napa Valley vintners have done for wine: introduce the world to the complex, delectable aromas and flavors of assorted varietals, carefully harvested and prepared.

Kirkland Ranch Winery, which sits atop a hill alongside Jamison Canyon Road, will be sold at a sealed bid auction with bids due at noon on Dec. 2. The minimum opening bid is $22 million, less than half of the previous value, according to a press release announcing the auction.

 There is a lot of talk these days about the globalization of wine. Some wine people are up all night tossing and turning, worried about that sometime in the distant future, all wines will taste alike, assuming there could ever be such a thing as a “universal” taste.

Because of airport restrictions on liquids in carry-on luggage, taking a bottle of wine with you when you travel to visit friends or relatives has become virtually impossible. Even packing a bottle or two for shipment as checked baggage isn’t feasible any longer because of the charges for checked baggage. And wrapping a bottle in a shirt or sweater and putting it in a checked suitcase doesn’t necessarily protect it from careless baggage handlers.

Paul and Suzie Frank, former owners of Gemstone, are being honored this weekend at the Carnivale du Vin, an annual event sponsored by the Emeril Lagasse Foundation to raise funds for several programs it sponsors for underprivileged children in the New Orleans area.

Lamborn Family Vineyards has just released its 2005 Howell Mountain cabernet sauvignon and is using YouTube to explain why it would benefit from cellaring.

A recent story in People Magazine profiling the family life of then-candidate, now President-elect Barack Obama mentioned that a bottle of Kendall-Jackson chardonnay sat on the Obama’s kitchen countertop. It now seems only fitting that the California winemaker send a few congratulatory cases of the brand to the incoming president for his new wine cellar on Pennsylvania Avenue. So the company is doing just that.

The Rutherford Appellation Wineries will open their cellars to the public for the “Roll Out the Barrels” Passport Weekend on Saturday, Dec. 6 and 7 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Each winery will feature barrel tasting experiences aimed to teach visitors about Rutherford varietals, Napa Valley terroir and diverse barrel types and toasts. Wineries opening their doors for the special barrel tasting event are Alpha Omega, Beaulieu Vineyard, Honig Vineyard and Winery, Peju Province Winery, Pina Napa Valley, Provenance Vineyards, Rubicon Estate, Rutherford Hill Winery, Slaughterhouse Cellars, St. Supery and Tres Sabores Winery.

Ashley Hepworth has been promoted to winemaker and will oversee all red and white winemaking at the winery at Joseph Phelps Vineyards

When a wine consumer buys mainly by brand and moderate price and sticks with one or two brands, he or she rarely looks at what vintage is being bought.

With the diversity of dishes on the Thanksgiving table, it would do well to offer dinner guests a variety of wines and let individual palates do the pairing.