“Do you want to know a secret?” Michel Despras whispers with an anticipating smile, ready to divulge the French method for rendering the most tender, juicy turkey.

Hot peppers, chili, cilantro, avocados, tomatoes, and chocolate bring a distinctive Mexican flair to Camerino Torres’ Thanksgiving meals.

“I celebrated my first Thanksgiving only 10 years ago,” Gino Cipriano says. “When I moved from Sicily to the United States, I didn’t know many people. My new friends, not wanting me to spend the holiday alone, invited me to share the day with them and made me feel like I was a part of their family. I will never forget that day. It will always be my most special Thanksgiving memory.”

When Fresno State Winery posted photos on its Web site of 5,800 clusters of grapes hanging from the ceiling of its barrel and storage room, e-mails came in from as far away as Armenia and Uzbekistan. “It was like being in a rain forest of grapes,” says Winemaster Ken Fogelsang.

From atop a hill in Sonoma County, Michael Martini looks toward the San Francisco skyline where, on a clear day, he can see the Golden Gate Bridge some 40 miles away.

Thornton Winery’s summer barbecue class took an unexpected spin with a dessert of Grilled Sugar Donuts.

To Herbert Hoover’s “a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage,” add “a loaf of bread in every arm” — Panera Bread’s registered mission statement.

Something about zinfandel engenders passion among wine drinkers. Whether due to a distinct pepper on the palate, a jammy finish, or the romantic notion of gnarly hundred-year-old plantings that yield old vine zinfandel, the varietal demands attention.

Famed winemaker Mike Grgich earns accolades, awards, accomplishments — and a place in paradise. Although he’s spending the day at home in La Quinta, Miljenko “Mike” Grgich sports his trademark beret, a houndstooth jacket, and a tie whose abstract pattern suggests grapes.

Cooking well is a pleasurable pastime for many; cooking with class is an art. Jane Angwin and daughter Andie Hubka have created a multifaceted family business in La Quinta that has been very well received by the desert community.