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.

Working in the world of larger-than-life sculptures, Karen and Tony Barone usually photograph their works with one or both of them beside it for scale. After finishing six food-related sculptures, the Rancho Mirage couple thought, “Wouldn’t it be great to photograph the food sculptures with chefs?”

Tami Cimperman wanted to send party guests home with rhinestone-emblazoned glassware. To her dismay, she found none; and vendors told her rhinestones wouldn’t stay on glass anyway. “Oh, really?” she replied and then began experimenting with cases of glasses until she came upon a process that worked (sorry, it’s proprietary).

If the next best thing to partaking in something you’re passionate about is reading about it, then Peggy Meyer calls it as she sees it: “heaven.” The Palm Springs resident uses the word to describe a wine book club organized by Wild for the Vine and the Palm Springs Public Library. At its first meeting in January, Meyer sipped a Layer Cake cabernet while discussing Peter Mayle’s A Good Year, about a man who inherits a vineyard in France.

In 2007, a Beverly Hills buyer paid $288,000 for 30 cases of 1986 Château Mouton-Rothschild ($800 per bottle) at a Christie’s wine auction. That year, Christie’s wine department tallied up global sales of $71,647,944.

About the time you think you understand what is (or, more to the point, what is not) involved in organic agriculture, you start hearing about biodynamic and sustainable growing. Good luck if you’re looking for an abridged definition for either.