Since wine can be made anywhere these days, it’s no big surprise that Oakland, Berkeley and Alameda, CA (also known as the East Bay) are home to many urban wine brands, both established and start ups. So what if there are no vineyards in the city (that I’m aware of). At this past weekend’s Urban Wine Experience in Oakland, the local wines were showing rather well, paired with bites from local restaurants. The public event was held by the East Bay Vintner’s Alliance. I found a lot to like, and some really good values. There were many good Rhone varietal bottlings, and that made me happy, since j’adore Rhone wines. I might just need to do a little East Bay Rhone wine tour. These are the standouts: One of my last sips of the day was at Stage Left Cellars. It’s a fairly new player in the urban wine scene.…
DRINK – Wine Around the World #80sips
Do you know about Bottlenotes? It’s an online wine social media community, and totally unpretentious. Here you can share your own tasting notes, learn about and buy wine. They have a well-edited selection in their wine portfolio. You can also get The Daily Sip, the wine equivalent of Daily Candy. Bottlenotes also organizes wine tasting events, where you can meet up with other members and taste and talk about wine (yes in person!). Called Around the World in 80 Sips, it’s a great opportunity to taste wines you may not ever come across — like a passionfruit wine from Thailand. This event was held at Crushpad, the custom crush facility in San Francisco. Crushpad is relocating to Napa Valley, so this was probably my last time for visiting the city location. The tasting takes place amid all the barrels of wine aging. These wines stood out for me and should…
DRINK – One of the most breathtaking wineries ever
There are no vineyards. Instead, wine barrels on the edge of the coast signal that you’re at a winery. Welcome to Pacific Star, on the northern California coast in Mendocino County wine country. Pacific Star is north of the town of Mendocino and Ft. Bragg. While the remote location is remote, Sally Ottoson’s wines are accessible and highly drinkable. Choose from a number of varietals, including a few Italian grapes, such as Barbera and Charbono and Carignane. I highly recommend Barbera with a spicy tomato ciopinno stew. She also makes a lovely Viognier/Rousanne blend. Recently the winery learned that a fault line runs directly under the tasting room and winery, which has been named the Pacific Star fault. Sally made the It’s My Fault blend — Syrah, Charbono and Carignane — in honor of that fact. This is the definition of a destination winery. Plan a visit here with a…