We're big around here on the idea that good food – and all that it involves, from planning and cooking meals to the smells, textures and, of course, the eating – makes life better.

It's a notion you'll find endorsed by lots of people, including big-time wine folk like Michael Mondavi, the renowned winemaker and vintner and son of the late Napa Valley icon Robert Mondavi.

Over lunch recently to chat about Folio – Mondavi's wine partnership that's part winery, part importer and part collective of family wineries from around the world – he got distracted by the smells of the food.

That got everyone rolling on the subject of how hypnotic the smell of food can be, and how that alone can make you happy. Mondavi talked about one of his uncles, and how on bad days, his aunt would react with a simple recipe: She'd heat some butter and olive oil in a pan, and sauté some garlic and onions in it.

"Sometimes, she wouldn't even cook anything with it," Mondavi said. "But just the smell of the house would completely change my uncle's mood. He'd be completely cheerful."

And on the days his aunt did cook with the infused oil and butter, what did she put in that aromatic, near-magic mixture?

"Anything," Mondavi said.

Bottega finally opening

Speaking of Napa Valley and food, chef Michael Chiarello just announced he'll open his new Yountville restaurant, Bottega, on Friday.

You might remember I spent some time with Chiarello recently and wrote in October about how he founded Tra Vigne in St. Helena, among other eateries. But now this chef and food television star (Food Network and the Fine Living Network) is getting back into the hardest game in the food world: starting a restaurant.

For him, it's the primal lure of the kitchen and cooking. Chiarello is a man still connected to all the forces that made him: farm communities, family and good food. He's putting his reputation on the line by starting over.

Bottega is Italian for workshop or craftsman's studio, and Chiarello says his new restaurant is a celebration of farming and food and the craft of cooking, things he can't resist.

I'll be checking out the restaurant after the holidays, but if anyone gets there before me, it's in the historic V Marketplace on Washington Street in the middle of Yountville, and is open 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 5:30 to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. And if you go, let me know what you think.

'As approachable as possible'

Back in Sacramento, Ali Mackani, owner of Lounge on 20 in midtown, is making an intriguing change to his already-urbane restaurant and bar.

In the next few weeks, Mackani will turn one end of the large room into what he's calling a wine counter, where people can taste single wines or full flights, and pair them with anything from cheeses and fruit to chocolates and food items from the menu.

The idea, he says, is to give people another way to learn about wine in a relaxed atmosphere. He also wants to start tastings of things like vodka, bourbon and scotch.

"There are lots of wine bars in town and they're doing phenomenal jobs," Mackani said. "My goal is to bring another concept to how you taste and to make it as approachable as possible."

People staying for dinner, for instance, will be able to pick out their wine with small tastes "without the fear of commitment to a bottle or even a full glass," he said.

His goal is to have the counter up and running by mid-December with an official launch in January.

A really good choice

And finally, because a lot of good tastings go on in the wine bars, too, I need to add a little catch-up to a column a couple weeks back about Wednesday night tastings.

One of the wines being poured at L Wine Lounge that night was Neyers Vineyards' 2006 Old Lakeville Road Syrah, and, if you remember, my new friend Rachael Lankford had liked it a lot.

Turns out, Lankford has good taste. That wine was just ranked among Wine Spectator's top 100 wines in the world. See the kinds of things you can get in this town for a couple bucks?

Call The Bee's Rick Kushman, (916) 321-1187. Listen to him Thursdays at 8:40 a.m. on NewsTalk 1530 (KFBK) and 8:50 a.m. on Armstrong & Getty, Talk 650 KSTE.