Wine Events in the San Francisco and East Bay areas!

These are just a few of the events going on in the San Francisco Bay Area/California for May, 2009. Enjoy!

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*To start you off on the right note, check this article: "Wine Adds Five Years to Life, More Than Beer, Dutch Study Finds"

****EVENTS COMING UP for those who love wine and related activities:

Image by Yabbb via Flickr

*JC Cellars Wine Wednesday, Wed. May 6th, 5pm-7pm--This month featuring the release of the new 2007 Smoke & Mirrors Syrah and the 2007 Fess Parker's Vineyard Syrah.

Where: 55 4th Street in Oakland near Jack London Square (you can actually BART to it -- the downtown Oakland stop on the Fremont line).

Free, but they request RSVP to angela@jccellars.com RIGHT AWAY!

And if you're a JC fan (and we know who we are, don't we!), they're selling off the last of some of their lots, such as the 2005 Arrowhead Mountain Zinfandel - $35 (3 cases left), 2004 Ventana Vineyard Syrah - $30 (10 cases), and 2005 Frediani Vineyard Petite Syrah - $45 (12 cases left) -- all 92-point wines.

FYI, Jeff Cohn is chief winemaker for famed Zinfandel champion Rosenblum Cellars in Alameda, CA. He set up shop as a side business, as another of the so-called Urban Wineries, where the winemaking, from grapes brought in from the region, is done in industrial areas of cities where large spaces are relatively cheap -- such as aircraft hangers (Rosenblum and Hanger One in Alameda) and even a submarine repair facility (Periscope in Berkeley). Jeff started with Syrahs, rather than competing in Zins, but of course his Syrahs taste like big, fat, dense Rosenblum Zins! Now he makes a wide range of tasty wines -- 18 of them at last count -- my own tasting group will be trying 14 of them this weekend!


*ZINFEST at Lodi Lake - May 15-17, see www.zinfest.com or 209-365-0621
Starts with the Vintner's Grille at Lodi Lake on Fri. (6 to 9pm, $75, ouch!), featuring the "Top 12 Zins of Lodi." Zinfest Wine Festival is on Sat., noon to 6, $35-$35, featuring wines "from the Lodi appellation," and winds up with ther Zinfest Winery Open Houses in the Lodi area Sunday; no price mentioned for that. You can also win a free pair of tickets, see the Web site above for details. Wineries in the Lodi area you might have heard of include Barefoot Cellars, Cosentino, Gnarly Head, Jessie's Grove, Klinker Brick, Macchia (ummmm! Macchia!), Michael-David, St. Amant, Trinitas Cellars, Talus, and, uh, Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi.

*Rosenblum's "Annual Wine Celebration CIRCO DI VINO" is May 16 at their store in Rutherford. "Escape into the world of jugglers, acrobats and much more, as you dance with our winemakers—juggling hundreds of bottles for your enjoyment. Feast upon hors d'oeuvres, exquisite cheeses and taste an array of wines from many acclaimed vineyards at extraordinary once a year savings." It will have to be extraordinary savings, because it costs $50 a person to attend ($90 for couples); although some real bargains, especially on wines in short supply, have showed up before! See www.rosenblumcellars.com for full details.

Santa Cruz Mountains Wine Express, May 17, 2-5pm at Roaring Camp Railroads in Felton (in the Santa Cruz Mountains). $55 in advance / $65 at the door ($20 for children under 12, children under 3 are free) -- dogs on leash welcome for tasting and on train!

"Only opportunity to taste all 70 Santa Cruz Mountains Appellation Wines in one location!" Ride the train, play bocce ball, bid at live auction of rare wines, getaways to resorts, overseas trips, private winemaker dinners, and more. Hors d'oeuvres from eleven local restaurants.

*Spring Event at Ryhan Estate Vineyards in Livermore Sat May 23: (5385 East Avenue 94550) -- this is a new wine company founded by an Indian (subcontinent) family that I discovered at last year's Livermore wine weekend. Good stuff, really!

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*FOR MORE LOCAL WINE EVENTS -- GO TO Local Wine Events--Oakland-East Bay for a long list of upcoming wine-related events in the East Bay.
OR GO TO http://www.localwineevents.com/Livermore-Valley-Wine/ for the same for the Livermore Valley.
Or just go to the main site, where you can also sign up for biweekly email alerts for these or other regions you choose--they have wine-events newsletters for every state in the U.S.! That's how I know what's going on in the the world of wine tastings around here! (PS: If you are hosting a wine event, you can post it here too.)
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Hope to see you all at an upcoming event!