It’s January, and for me, that means a busy wine month.  First, Winter Wineland is next weekend – January 16-17.  At Winter Wineland, over 100 wineries in Russian River, Dry Creek, and Alexander Valley throw open their doors and show their best wines and nibbles. There are some wonderful themes at wineries, including my personal favorite, The Winter Wineland Olympics at Michel-Schlumberger.  I heard tell that there will be an Elvis sighting at Hanna as well!  Now, I normally avoid the wine country on event weekends, but with the list this year including some 5-10 new additions, this is a great opportunity to taste the wares of many wineries on a single weekend, where they show their best bottles.  Thickets are $40 online until 9pm TONIGHT January 11th, and are good for both days.  You can buy 1 or 2 day tickets at the door, but the price increases.

That same weekend, Santa Cruz Mountain Wine Assocaition’s Password Weekend allows you the unusual opportunity to visit some of their terrific wineries, many of which are only open on special occasions.  I have enjoyed this event every tiem I’ve gone, and your $40 passport is good until you have every winery stamped.  The passport event is every January, April, July and November, so it’s actually a great way to see all of the Santa Cruz area wineries over the course of a year!

Finally, at the end of the month, ZAP!  The Zinfandel Advocates and Producers week long tasting extravaganza hits the town in San Francisco.  nter is January 15th, and this year’s theme is Zinfandel in Paradise, and it promises to be a great event as always.

• The event weekend kicks off with Thursday, January 28th’s Good Eats & Zin, where noteworthy restaurants and award-winning wineries turn the art of food and wine pairing into an entertaining and approachable affair. Talented chefs present the ultimate combination of distinctive tastes, while winery proprietors offer delectable Zinfandels to match.
• Friday has two events, starting with Flights! A showcase of Zinfandel, where you can immerse yourself in the hitory and diversity of Zinfandel.
• Friday evening is Evening with the Winemakers which is your chance to hobnob with famous winemakers and wineaux alike at the intercontinental.
• The weekend culminates in Grand Tasting on Saturday, where you can taste over 200 zinfandels from around the state, as well as a few from lesser known regions.

As luck would have it, my friends at Vintuba are giving away 2 pairs of tickets to the Grand Tasting for some lucky viewers.  You’ll hav eto meander over to their site to find out how to win, but let’s just say , some great words, and facebook are involved.  Deadline to enter is January 15th, so don’t miss out on this great contest!

Just Grapes is also giving away 2 tickets to ZAP.  You have until January 23rd to tweet the following to be entered to win:

I want to win 2 tickets to the ZAP Zinfandel Festival in San Francisco from @justgrapeswine Go to http://tinyurl.com/yg4ynst for details

Each tweet will give you one “ticket” in the drawing, which will happen on January 24th.    Good Luck!

Septemberber is California Wine month!  Ok fine, so if you know me, you know that every month is California wine month, but this is the officially sanctioned month to enjoy California wine like you’ve never enjoyed it before.  September is the start of harvest time, and this month celebrates our ideal climate for wine, beautiful wine country landscape, and talented winemaking families.

2009 is the fifth annual celebration of California Wine Month, and it’s also a great time to celebrate Zinfandel. It’s no secret that I love my zin.  In fact, if you read my WBW piece or follow my car around (my vanity plate says ZINNIN1 in case you haven’t been to see me), you know how much I love zin.  Lucky for me, there is a lot of this juice around.

On Saturday, September 19th, the Winegrowers of Dry Creek Valley are hosting an event at the Lake Sonoma Recreation Area that focuses on the unique zins from this region.  Now, I not only made a zinfandel from Dry Creek at Crushpad this past year, but there are tons of my favorite wineries participating!  (partial list of my faves.  For a full list, click HERE)

Since it’s almost Labor Day and there is a lot going on, I’ve listed some other highlights here as well.

• Bella Vineyards & Wine Caves – is having a Labor Day party with tasting, nibbles, and walks through the wine cave!  $10.  If you start here, you might as well meander down West Dry Creek road to…
• Michel-Schlumberger – is having a fund raiser for the Bird Rescue Center on Sept 5th.  You can go birdwatching, see a raptor display, and, well, eat some pizza and drink some wine!  $10 fee goes to the Bird Center.  And if you go there, go next door to…
• Mounts Family Winery -who incidentally is having a fantastic Labor Day BBQ this weekend.  Wine and BBQ for $5, can’t beat it!  Besides, the wine is just plain YUM.
• Kokomo Winery
• Mauritson Family Winery
• Optima Wine Cellars
• Preston of Dry Creek

The festivities start at 2pm, when there is a wine tasting of Sav Blanc, other unusual white wines, Zins, and more reds to get things started.  This tasting is a change to tour Dry Creek while standing still at the park, and tasting over 50 wines.  Over 30 wineries will be in attendance, and you can sip your wines of distinction while walking around the artisan market and rocking out to the SoulShine blues band.

There will be food by Park Avenue Catering, which has the unique distinction of being Sonoma County’s ONLY certified green catering company.  Quite an accomplishment when you consider what goes in to running a successful catering enterprise.  There will also be music from 2-5, and a chance for you to have your own Lucille Ball moment stomping the grapes!

Tickets for this event are usually $75, but for my readers, you can get 30% off by entering coupon code zin at checkout.  This makes the tickets a more affordable $50, and worth it – that’s about $1 a taste of wine, plus all the food and fun!

A while back, I expressed my frustration at the lack of a Press & Trade portion of the Annual Pinot Days Celebration in San Francisco, coming up on June 28th.  I am happy to be able to eat my words, sort of.  Even thought they producers of the event were not willing to participate in an additional session, the event organizers were able to convince the some odd wineries pouring that the trade should be allowed to attend gratis.

Thankfully, I will be attending Pinot Days this year, cost or not cost – so I am happy to be able to feel good about announcement it again.

Pinot Days San Francisco Assembles Hundreds of Pinot Noir producers, and even more wine, for an exclusive wine tasting experience in
San Francisco.  Over 600 pinot noirs will be poured at the 5th Annual Pinot Days, a four day event that takes place from June 25th to June 28th.

Kicking off the week of festivities will be a tasting at The Jug Shop, focusing on Sonoma and beyond.  The Tour de California will showcases pinots from some of my favorite producers, including Eno Wines, Fort Ross, Kendric and Olsen Ogden.  This tasting is $10, and is from  6-8 on Tuesday, June 23rd.  The Jug Shop is also offering 10% off Pinot Days Grand Tasting tickets, which is a great deal if you can get it.  Just enter promo code JUGSHOP for your discount when buying tickets.

On Wednesday, June 24th, Ed Kurtzman will be spotlighted in a producer tasting at Ft Mason from 7-9pm.  The cost for this is $100.

Also on Wednesday, 16 16 Young Turks of the pinot world will show of their hard work at the Golden Gateway Room in Ft. Mason.
Come hear their stories and enjoy the fruits of their labor. You will taste 16 different pinots in flights of four, and you will taste them blind. This is a rare chance to discover the next great pinots, and to spend time with these winemakers as they ascend to great heights.

On Thursday, June 25th, there is a Winemakers Table Hop Dinner at Pres a Vi, where over 20 producers will be pouring Pinots paired with Chef Kelly Degala’s  wine-friendly cuisine, infusing each dish he creates with flavors and from around the world, including Spanish, Filipino, French, Italian and Latin American influences. The table hop dinner is $150.

On Friday, June 26th, C. Donatiello Winery in Dry Creek Valley is hosting a Pinot Days Summer Concert at their winery. They specialize in premium single vineyard pinot noir, and you can enjoy a day of exquisite pinot along Westside Road, culminating in a concert, tasting and barbeque. Your bus tour will include special tastings at Arista, John Tyler, Gary Farrell, and the new Thomas George (at the spectacularly remodeled Davis Bynum Winery). You will then enjoy a special tour and tasting at C. Donatiello Winery, followed by a barbeque and concert. During the barbeque you will enjoy the wines of three additional Westside Road wineries: Black Kite Cellars, Hop Kiln and Matrix Winery. The concert is $110.

To purchase tickets for any of these events, or to see details, check out Pinot Days on line!

Friday is May Day!  How time has flown by.  Spring is in full swing, and it’s time to celebrate!  I have been so busy traveling here and there to taste wines recently, that I haven’t had time to sit back and smell the roses.  May 16th I can sit down, relax, and taste in my home town at the Ghiradelli Square Uncorked! Wine Festival!

Ghirardelli Square is one of San Francisco’s treasures, and while it is usually overrun by tourists, it is a gem.  Did you know that there are two places where you can enjoy wine on the square?  First, you can pop in to Cellar 360, a wine store and wine bar, where you can participate in one of their many free (yes, i said FREE!) wine tasting classes.  Or maybe you can wander next door to Wattle Creek, a boutique winery tasting groom, where Visa Signature cardholders can – again – taste for FREE!

Once you’ve investigated these two treats, you can wander in to Kara’s Cupcakes for some sugar overload on thier Meyer Lemon cupcake that is to die for.

But, on May 16th, from 1pm to 6pm, you simply must come to the Uncorked! Wine Festival!  Here, you can listen to the live music, learn something new at the wine seminars, and watch the magic of cooking demonstrations.  THIS is all free!  But there is also a rather expansive list of wines being poured, for which you will need to buy a ticket.  Wine Tasting tickets are $50, and proceeds benefit La Cocina.

La Cocina is San Francisco’s first incubator kitchen. La Cocina was founded to serve as a platform for low-income entrepreneurs launching, formalizing or expanding their food businesses. La Cocina provides affordable commercial kitchen space and industry-specific technical assistance to low-income entrepreneurs in order to bring their businesses quickly to a point of self-sufficiency.  So really, you are drinking for charity!

Wineries that will be pouring include:

• Alexander Valley Vineyard, Healdsburg
• Arrowood Vineyards, Glen Ellen
• Artisan Family of Wines, Napa
• Barber Cellars, Pacifica
• Barefoot Winery
• Beringer Vineyards, St. Helena
• Berryessa Gap Vineyards, Winters
• Carica, San Leandro
• Carrefour Vineyards, Napa
• Cellar No. 8, Cloverdale
• Chateau St Jean, Kenwood
• Clos du Bois, Geyserville
• D & L Carinalli Vineyard, Sebastopol
• Dashe Cellars, Oakland
• Deerfield Ranch Winery, Glen Ellen
• Engelmann Cellars, Fresno
• Esterlina Vineyards, Healdsburg
• Etude Wines, Napa
• Frey Vineyards, Redwood Valley
• Hall Wines, St. Helena
• Hanna Winery, Healdsburg
• Harvest Moon Winery, Santa Rosa
• Hook & Ladder Winery, Santa Rosa
• Howell Mountain Vineyards, Rutherford
• Ironstone, Lodi
• Martin Ray, Santa Rosa
• Meridian Vineyards, Paso Robles
• O’Brien Estate, Napa
• Peacock Family Vineyards, St. Helena
• Pezzi King Vineyards, Healdsburg
• PS I Love You-Petite Sirah advocacy group*
• Rosa d’Oro Vineyards, Kelseyville
• Sarah’s Vineyard, Gilroy
• Sbragia Family Vineyards, Geyserville
• Sol Rouge, Kelseyville
• Somerston/Priest Ranch, Napa
• Souverain, Healdsburg
• Starlite Vineyards, Geyserville
• Stags Leap Winery, Napa
• St. Clement, St. Helena
• Sterling Albert Winery, Concord
• Suacci Carciere, Sebastopol
• Truchard Vineyards, Napa
• Wattle Creek Winery, Cloverdale
• White Cottage Ranch Winery, Angwin
• Yorkville Cellars, Yorkville
• Zina Hyde Cunningham, Boonville

Since I have been running around so much going to tastings here and tastings there, I am really looking forward to enjoying a weekend in my home town, where I can support a great cause, and drink some great wine.

I hope to see you there!  Happy drinking.

I was recently in Carmel Valley wine tasting, and was happily impressed by most of the offerings, particularly from Parsonage and Bernardus.
My friend just told me he would be manning his hand crafted woodcrafts booth (Green Tree Designs) at the festival, so why not come down and check it out?