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 Michael Chiarello has been influencing contemporary cooking since he exploded onto the food scene 20 years ago as the founding chef of Napa Valley's famed Tra Vigne restaurant. Since then his passion for fresh, seasonal Southern Italian cooking and house-made charcuterie, breads, and condiments has led him into a number of other groundbreaking and decidedly tasty endeavors, including founding Consorzio Flavored Oils (at least a decade before such products became mainstream), becoming an Emmy-winning Food Network personality and a cookbook author, and launching NapaStyle, a California boutique chain featuring home goods and specialty foods inspired by his Southern Italian roots and Napa surroundings. Along the way he somehow managed to have a family, establish award-winning Chiarello Family Vineyards, and find time to regularly throw outstanding parties for family and friends—not to mention share his entertaining secrets with us. Read on for a taste of the good life, wine-country style. —Erika Lenkert
What's always in your refrigerator?
Schramsberg Blanc de Noir sparkling wine, Parmesan cheese, organic milk, and salami. What's your house wine?
Well, since my vineyard is literally right behind my house, I’d have to say my house wine is the wine I grow myself—Chiarello Family Vineyards.
Favorite cocktail?
Heirloom tomato bloody Maria. You can find the recipe on NapaStyle.com.
Fast table decor tip you use when entertaining at home?
I love using a magnum wine bottle as a candlestick. Living in [Napa Valley's] St. Helena, it’s always easy to bring the outdoors inside with a few cuttings from the vineyard or herb garden. I also love using something ordinary in unexpected ways—such as serving picnics out of a toolbox or one-bite appetizers
in soupspoons.
But sometimes the best decor is just to let the food take center stage. At our annual New Year's Day Seafood Boil, we just roll out sheets of craft paper and newspaper and then pour the seafood out of an enormous caldron directly onto the tables. Little mounds of salts and spices, lemon wedges, and bottles and bottles of hot sauce are all you need to create a huge visual impact. 
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