When Napa Valley lawyers and winery owners Mike Bee and Jim Peterson wanted to start their own winery in the valley, a lot of folks scoffed at the idea. After visiting Napa and talking to many people in the trade, the men were encouraged to modify their idea of building a full-fledged winery and decided to take a more modest approach.

First, they set about finding the right wine maker which led them to Ray Coursen, then the winemaker at Napa Valley's Whitehall Lane. Coursen, a giant of a man with a prodigious appetite for red wine (more about this later), was not only a fine winemaker, but had worked many years in the vineyards so he was aware of where the best grapes were being grown. After some coaxing, Coursen took on the task of producing Falcor wines and produced the first vintage in 1996 with a Burundian-style Napa Valley Chardonnay.

Mike and Jim were very pleased with the result. That led to a stable of limited production wines (about 500 cases for each varietal) including two Chardonnays, Sangiovese, Syrah, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Le Bijou ( a Bordeaux-style blend) and a Rose. Mike's son, Ryan, is Falcor's general manager and works out of a small Napa office. In addition to his duties, which include criss-crossing the country to open new markets, Ryan is overseeing the building of Falcor's small winery and upscale tasting room which is scheduled to open in August in the southern portion of the Napa Valley.

I had the pleasure of visiting with Mike, Jim and Ryan a few years ago in Napa and tasted through their line of wines with wine maker Ray Coursen. After tasting the Falcor wines, Ray opened a bottle of his Elyse Morisoli Vineyards Zinfandel which we proceeded to empty in short order. Ray then took me next door to a long metal building chock full of Elyse wines, many of which were in l.5 liter bottles. When I asked what his plans were for this fortress of wine, he looked at me and said, "I plan to drink it all myself." I don't think he was kidding. Later, we took a few l.5 liter bottles of Falcor and Elyse to accompany a wonderful leisurely, three-hour lunch at Bistro Jeaunty in Yountville. You can find the entire line of Falcor wines at fine wine shops around the state. The best way to purchase Elyse wines is through the winery online or by searching the Internet for merchants that will ship it to you.

Join host John Brown as WineBoy, Episode 13, visits Wilson Ward’s Fisher Ridge Winery in Putnam County to explore the art of making wine in West Virginia. You’ll get the inside scoop on how wine is created — from the vineyard to the fermenting vats to the press and into the barrel. And you won’t want to miss WineBoy’s unique brand of trick-or-treating in version 13 of the batty, weekly Webcast on wine appreciation.

Going to the WVU-Louisville game next week? Go a day early and join the fine folks at the “Slight Indulgence” wine shop in Morgantown for a special tasting and dinner at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 7.  Joe Elchik from Francis Ford Coppola Vineyards will lead the tasting and guest chef Jason Blosser will prepare special dishes to match each of six wines from Coppola. Cost for the event is $65 per person. Seating is limited, so call (304) 599-3402 for reservations. Slight Indulgence is located at 3200 Collins Ferry Road in Morgantown.

When my herb garden begins to yield bunches of fragrant and delicious sweet basil, I know it's time to prepare one of my favorite summertime meals. With this lovely herb as the centerpiece, I created a wonderful -yet simple- meal that you may want to try sometime soon. Not surprisingly, I also have a few wine suggestions for these basil-infused dishes. So here goes. Many folks use basil as a seasoning for salads and one of my favorites is an old family recipe. Today, I'll provide you with this salad recipe and also with one of my favorite summertime culinary masterpieces: pesto pasta.

First the salad.

1. Start with six or so sweet and ripe tomatoes which should be cut into one-inch wedges.

2. Prepare the basil: I had picked a small basket full of basil leaves, being careful to snip the larger of them with my fingers at the base of the plant in order to insure continued growth. (You can buy basil at most grocery stores, but it's a lot cheaper to grow your own.)

3. Next, finely mince one garlic clove, chop one medium-sized sweet onion into one-inch pieces and add this to the tomatoes. Add salt and freshly ground black pepper (to taste) to the tomatoes and onions and then pour about three ounces of extra virgin olive oil to the dish. Now take a hand-full of sweet basil and chop it into small pieces and add this to the mixture. If you have fresh oregano, put the leaves from one sprig into the salad.

4. If you like a touch of heat, slice a hot banana pepper in half and cut it into small pieces, adding this to the tomato salad. This is optional, but I love the piquancy of the pepper and the flavor it gives to the salad. (Incidentally, I do not recommend using vinegar since the tomatoes usually provide sufficient acidic balance to the salad.)

5. At this point, allow the salad to sit at room temperature for at least one-hour, stirring it occasionally. Then taste it and make final adjustments (salt, garlic, etc.). It is now ready.

Now for the pesto:

1. Take two handfuls of basil, wash and pat dry with a paper towel. In a food processor, put the basil, five or six medium garlic cloves, six to eight ounces of extra virgin olive oil, salt, freshly ground black pepper and one-cup of freshly grated mild parmesan cheese ( I prefer to use Parmigiano Reggiano, but it's expensive). Blend until the consistency is very smooth and taste to adjust for salt and garlic (is there ever enough garlic?).

2. Next, put a handful pine nuts in a small sauté pan and stir till slightly brown over medium heat and add to the mixture.

3. Now add one pound of cappellini or angel hair pasta to boiling, salted water and cook till the pasta is slightly firm (usually about three to five minutes). Put the pasta in a colander, drain it and then add it to a bowl. Pour the pesto mixture over the pasta and blend the ingredients. Dinner is ready!

Serve the tomato salad in bowls (because it will have made a large amount of juice). At the same time, serve the pesto pasta on plates and add a little more freshly grated cheese. You will need at least one loaf of crusty bread (Ciabatta or other crusty bread from the Charleston Bread Company would be excellent), especially to dip into the tomato/basil salad.

WINE SUGGESTION: This meal demands sauvignon blanc where the herbal components in the wine will marry nicely with the pesto and tomato salad. Try sauvignon blanc from producers such as Dry Creek, Nobilo, Kenwood or Kim Crawford (all under $17 a bottle).

Here is a universal and unfortunate truth: White wine is served too cold and red wine too warm.

When summer temperatures soar, many discerning beverage consumers choose cooling liquids to soothe their heat-induced misery and slake their mighty thirsts. Personally, after hydrating with water, I prefer sipping (surprise) wine. However, my vinous choices are decidedly lighter whites and reds which I cool to a pleasing temperature before drinking.

So today’s sermon, boys and girls, deals with the absolute necessity of serving both red and white wine at the proper temperature. This is so they will be not only pleasantly cool to the taste, but also to insure that the wine will provide a pleasing counterpoint to the heat of the food with which it is paired.

Here is a universal and unfortunate truth: White wine is served too cold and red wine too warm. In my estimation, the culprits are refrigeration and the propensity on the part of wine drinkers and restaurants to be confused by the definition of “room temperature,” particularly as it relates to serving red wine.

Let’s start with white wine and the almost fervent belief that if we have the capability to make something cold, then we should therefore serve our liquids – including white wine - at Arctic temperatures. I’ve had whites served to me at temperatures so frigid they’ve needed a de-icing truck to render them drinkable. The good news here is that if you wait 10 or 15 minutes, the wine will warm to the proper temperature.

Drinking wines that are served at just above freezing will not only give you a headache, you will be unable to taste them. I’m sure that many flawed wines benefit from this chilling effect, but the delicate flavors and nuances of taste in a say, Riesling, Gavi or Chardonnay, will be absolutely neutered by excessive chilling.

So what is the proper temperature to serve white wine? Well, for me I think whites served at between 48 and 53 degrees Fahrenheit are about ideal. However, since most of us don’t carry wine thermometers around with us, the easiest way to judge proper temperature is by taste. In other words, you should be able to taste the wine at a pleasingly cool temperature.

There is one exception, though, to this rule and that is Champagne or sparkling wine. These “fizzers” actually benefit from very cold temperatures (around 40 degrees F), where the chilling effect blunts some of the carbonation and allows you to taste the complex flavors of these wines made in the traditional Champagne method. So with over-chilled whites you can simply wait until they warm up.

But what about red wine that is served too warm? Well, if you are at home, simply put the red wine in the refrigerator until the bottle is cool to the touch (for me that’s between 55 and 60 degrees F). The tricky problem concerns dealing with this issue at restaurants. There is nothing more unpleasant than sipping a red wine served at “room temperature” with that expensive slab of beef you’ve just ordered at Chez Redmeat.

The problem is then compounded when, Remy, your ostentatious waiter, expresses abject horror when you insist on an ice bucket to chill the wine so that it is pleasantly cooler than the menu item you’ve selected. (Remy doesn’t seem to understand that, when the “ room temperature “ axiom was first stated centuries ago, the average castle or hut’s temperature was about 55 degrees F.)

Don’t laugh -- this happens to me multiple times each summer at supposedly upscale restaurants. These are places that have award-winning wine lists, yet they serve red wine at temperatures that are, at best, tepid. Simply put, there should be a contrast in temperature between the food we eat and the wine we consume. It ain’t rocket science, yet it might as well be – given the ubiquitous nature of this problem.