Details on upcoming events

Our next private Wine Tasting Soirée on Wednesday, May 28th, promises to be a humdinger. We are departing from our usual format of presenting only artisan wines from California and will also offer a special selection of limited production wines from the Old World.

Members can sample four wines each from Chameleon Cellars and Odisea Wine Company . As a preview, we tasted the Odisea Syrah blend at the April walk around to much acclaim. So impressive was this introduction that we enticed the winemaker himself, Adam West, to join us and pour four other wines, all of which are produced in lots of under 100 cases. Talk about a microwinery!

Jeff Popick Owner/winemaker of Chameleon with the cool label will also be coming down from Napa and showcasing his:
2005 Zinfandel Napa Valley
2005 Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley
2005 Carignane North Coast
2006 Sauvignon Blanc North Coast

Diane Denham, proprietor of Grail Wine Selections, is bringing some undiscovered beauties from Italy and France to share with Guild members and their guests. In her personna of "Lady Di", Ms. Denham, who spent several decades at Mondavi before it was acquired by Constellation, is a fount of information on vino, particularly food and wine pairings.

Each attendee can vote on their top three wines among the 16 with the vote card going into a raffle for a door prize.

All wines will be available for purchase and delivery at member discounts. We will also apply the $15 tasting fee to orders above a certain minimum.

And remember our buy-one-get-one-free offer: The first 30 members to pay in advance may bring a guest for no additional charge. 10 "twofer" slots are still left.


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OTHER EVENTS

Uncorked at Ghiradelli Square Saturday May 17

We've arranged for $5 off admission to this gala outdoor gathering on Beach Street. Email me if you wish to attend @ $35 (the Tiburon festival which costs $55 is happening on the same day, but is two hours shorter and is sold out; it's much easier to talk to the winery principals at the Ghiradelli event and the wines are of equal quality).

Participating Wineries Include:
Adobe Road, Alexander Valley Vineyards, Alhona Vineyards, Annapolis, Arrowood, BR Cohn, Barefoot, Beringer, Big House, Black Coyote, Bonterra, Brassfield Estate, Carrefour, Cellar No 8, Chateau St. Jean, Clif Bar, D'Argenzio, Dashe Cellars, Enzo Wines, Etude, Five Rivers, Foggy Bridge, Foppiano, Frey Vineyards, Harvest Moon Estate, Hook & Ladder, Howell Mountain Vineyards, Kokomo, Korbel Champagne, Martin Ray, Mendocino Farms, Meridian, Mounts Family, Naumann, Oberon Wines, Pietra Santa, Quivira, Rutherford Ranch, Sol Rouge, Souverain, St. Clement, Stags Leap, Sterling Albert, Taz, Toad Hollow, Truchard, Twisted Oak, Volcano Vineyards, Wattle Creek and Yorkville Cellar.

Free Wine Seminars

At 3:00pm at Cellar360 inside the building sommelier and wine writer Courtney Cochran will host a ?Hip Tastes? wine and food pairing seminar at the event and sign copies of her new book, ?Hip Tastes: The Fresh Guide to Wine.?

At 4:30pm at Cellar360 sommelier Tom Capo will lead a Sensory Wine Class. With this class, you'll see--and smell and taste--wine in a whole new way. This class will help to show you how your senses really work. You will gain a greater awareness of wine's key components and their contribution to aroma, flavor, and taste.

COPIA will host Wine 101 at 2:00 & 4:00 and Wine & Chocolate at 3:00 & 5:00 in their tent on Beach Street.

The Ft. Miley Fine Wine Smackdown May18

The following day, after the Bay to Breakers from 2 pm on, join one of the most festive informal wine events of the year in a great setting. The "Smackdown" BYOB picnic is located just above the Cliff House at Land's End. It is fully described on our meetup website. Email me if you wish to attend.

Week of June 9th blind wine tasting of Zinfandel. [location TBD]

We do two flights of six and by rating and ranking, select the top wines. In our last "taste off" held at the end of March, first place went to Burrell School Vineyards 2005 Veranda Vineyard Pinot Noir Santa Cruz Mountains, $42.00 525 cases produced. Second place, Davis Family Vineyards 2005 Pinot Noir Russian River Valley, $40.00 900 cases produced Third Place: David Bruce Winery 2005 Bien Nacido Vineyard Pinot Noir Santa Maria Valley, $50.00 1484 cases produced.

I am also working on discount tix for:

-Slow Food's Golden Glass event on June 8th Previously an Italian-only wine event, The Golden Glass 2008 will expand to highlight the most exciting sustainable & terroir expressive wines imported into the Bay Area. Over 100 wineries from New Zealand, Spain, Australia, South Africa, Argentina, Chile, France, Germany, and of course, Italy, will be pouring samples. As usual, the wines will be amply complemented by slow food from the Bay Area?s top restaurants and artisans.

-Mill Valley Wine & Food Festival June 22nd. Always outstanding.

-Pinot Days Grand Tasting June 29th which will showcase 170 producers of pinot noir. This is California's largest single gathering of pinot producers, as well as its most varied. Consumers will be able to sample up to 400 pinots from every important region in California, Oregon, New Zealand, and Burgundy.