The May 18 issue of The New Yorker features an 8-page (one a classic, full-page illustration) profile of Fred Franzia, the well-known Napa-based personality behind Two Buck Chuck and other inexpensive wines.

This list is slated to run in Sunday's Press Democrat, but since that's cutting it a bit close, here are my suggestions for great places to go for cocktails - and of course food - this Mother's Day.

We all know Merry Edwards as la reine de pinot noir, and one of the reasons Russian River Valley pinot noir has won worldwide acclaim. Not to mention Merry's hard-to-find, please-let-me-have-some-more sauvignon blanc, also rocking, and also finally getting its dues.

Obit courtesy Marie Gewirtz.

If you're aiming to learn more about cocktails and San Francisco's creative foodie-inspired place in the resurgence of them, make plans now to attend next week's Third Annual Cocktail Week, a week unlike any other in the country, save for the must-attend Tales of the Cocktail held each summer in New Orleans.

After 36 years, Traverso's is shuttering its longstanding downtown space this weekend to ready itself for a much anticipated move to Fountaingrove. Its last day in downtown Santa Rosa is this Saturday, May 2.