21966 Fri Nov 08 17:56:15 -0800 2002 13 1 San Francisco Bay Area 0 80437 OK. On this board in September and at the Picnic, some of us discussed putting together a Chowhound Wine Tasting Group. The main premise was that we don’t know nothing about wine, but want to drink, taste and discover what we like (but don’t want to join some expensive, pretentious wine club). Announcing…Chowhound Wine Hos The First Meeting is on Thursday, November 22, 2002 and will held in the Lower Haight in San Francisco. Not only will we taste wines, but we will also come up with the “rules” for how to do these meetings regularly with a minimum of fuss. Wine Theme: Grab Bag Attendees are to bring a bottle of wine they like that is $10 (or under). The host will provide bread, cheese, fruit & a snack or two. RSVP to: wineho@rochellemccune.com Feel free to send me a note if you can't make this meeting but want to know about future meetings. Possible Rules - Set a once a month meeting time that doesn’t change (say, third Thursday of every month 7-10pm ish) Tasting would be done blind (wine in paper bags) 6-10 wines would be tasted at each event We would take turns hosting the event. The host would be responsible for assigning attendees to bring snacks, wine or money to pay for same. Possibly, we could create a mailing/notification list or use evite so that people can get notice of each month’s event and the “tasting theme.” Attendees would be need to RSVP (and notify host if they need to cancel) Also, I’ve been doing miscellaneous research about wine events in the Bay Area. Here’s some information about some cool sites. I make no recommendations, its just a list of what I found with brief notes. If you know of any other places that have classes, events or wine tasting open to the public (free or not), let me know!! Misc. www.localwineevents.com - anyone can list their wine/spirits event by region. OK – this is a recommendation – this is a cool site. www.wineevents-calendar.com - another wine/spirits events listing website. Classes www.sfsommelier.com - classes held at various locations ($75ish each) www.pacrimwine.org - classes at Fort Mason, prices vary ($150ish for course, $50ish per class) www.winebytheglass.com - classes at MC2 ($75 each) http://www.surlatable.com/cooking/cooking_programs_sanfrancisco.cfm - classes at Sur La Table (varies, $70ish) http://www.unex.berkeley.edu/cat/wine.html - UC Berkeley Extension (held in SF) about $210 per course http://sf.winebrats.org/ - a wine tasting club with classes and events Restaurants http://www.eossf.com/html/flight.html - their wine bar used to have wine flights that would change weekly http://www.amphorawine.com/events.php - Amphora Wine Shop (next to Absinthe) does once a month theme wine tastings (varies, $75ish). Wine Stores www.sfwtc.com - SF Wine Trading Company – has wine tastings on Saturdays (2-5pm) www.klwines.com - K&L Wines – has wine tastings on Saturdays (12-3pm) and sponsors events at various locations Fri Nov 08 17:56:15 -0800 2002 0 Rochelle McCune 1 80443 Vin Vino Wine (Palo Alto) - different themes on a nearly daily basis Beltramos's (Menlo Park) www.beltramos.com - theme tastings on Sat. afternoons Weimax (Burlingame) www.weimax.com - daily tasting, lots of different wines from which to choose The Wine Club (SF and Santa Clara) www.thewineclub.com - theme tastings on Sat. afternoon You also forgot 4 wine bars/restaurants, all in SF Bacar Eos Hayes and Vine www.hayesandvine.com London Wine Bar Fri Nov 08 18:14:11 -0800 2002 80437 0 Larry Stein 2 80449 I'll add a correction to Rochelle's list - should be www.winebytheCLASS.com to sign up for tastings with Rebecca Chapa at MC2. And, while I know that the abundance of oaky Calif. cab at Family Winemakers tasting sets your teeth on edge, Larry, I think that it is the best tasting for experiencing a broad range of top flight California wines. Link below. Link: http://tasting.familywinemakers.org/sf_tasting/ Fri Nov 08 18:39:50 -0800 2002 80443 0 Melanie Wong 3 80552 Forgot about the Family Winemakers tasting. A great event for tasting the full range of Calif. offerings. Yes, I have become a bit of an oakaphobe in my old age. Actually, it's more having become VERY tired of high alcohol, low acid wines bludgeoned by too much new oak. A real problem in winemaking style in Calif, IMO. Yes, there are exceptions, but they are rare these days. I'd actually go, but it's inbetween the Rolling Stones on Tues and Pat Metheny Group on Thurs. Gotta get my beauty rest on Weds. ;-) Sun Nov 10 19:51:31 -0800 2002 80449 0 Larry Stein 4 80555 Combined with your big fun of last week, your wife and mother of your child should be nominated for sainthood. (G) Sun Nov 10 20:33:41 -0800 2002 80552 0 Melanie Wong 5 80584 Trust me, Melanie, it ain't one-sided. Not by any stretch of the imagination. ;-) This many concerts in one week is *highly* unusual for me. If you knew how many Monday Ross tastings I've missed due to Cheryl's women's group meeting. All those old Ridge Zins... Mon Nov 11 13:24:03 -0800 2002 80555 0 Larry Stein 6 80647 I'm not colluding with her, believe me. Guess you should be nominated for sainthood too, or whatever the Jewish equivalent would be. (gg) I'm going to try to take in some of the burg tastings at VVW this month, you? Mon Nov 11 22:15:29 -0800 2002 80584 0 Melanie Wong 1 80444 *Thursday*, Nov. 21, 2002, or Friday, *Nov. 22*, 2002??? Fri Nov 08 18:18:39 -0800 2002 80437 0 Paul Homchick 2 80445 doh! - Thursday, Nov 21, 2002 Fri Nov 08 18:21:37 -0800 2002 80444 0 Rochelle McCune 1 80448 Wine Ho's? Maybe the refreshments should include "Ho Cakes." (Enough of that, get back to work, Gary!) Fri Nov 08 18:39:18 -0800 2002 80437 0 Gary Soup 1 80538 You might also want to add the following to the list- Jim Gallagher's Wine Seminar hometown.aol.com/grapenotes/wineseminar.html Jim pre-selects the wines for the various tastings, usually 8 wines of same type per tasting, maximum 14 people. I've enjoyed his tastings over the years, and it is one of the few venues I've seen for cost-effective tasting of super-premium cabs. Sun Nov 10 16:25:44 -0800 2002 80437 0 Gourmaise 1 80557 I can't attend, but if you ever produce a "wineho" t-shirt I want one! A wine shop website, though it's across the Bay. Monthly newsletter (on the site) is good with fairly detailed info on the 12 bottles in the monthly "sampler case". Many are in the $10 and under range. Solano Cellars, Solano Ave, Albany. Wine tastings Saturdays and some classes too. www.solanocellars.com Sun Nov 10 21:29:22 -0800 2002 80437 0 foodfirst 1 80669 And don't forget the annual Pinot Noir Fest at Farallon restaurant, on Sat. Nov. 23... http://www.farallonrestaurant.com/info/pinotfest.htm Link: http://www.farallonrestaurant.com/info/pinotfest.htm Tue Nov 12 14:14:36 -0800 2002 80437 0 yums 1 80801 I've been to the tastings at Weimax in Burlingame. They have a tasting bar with about 25 selections and there's usually a freebie if you look at their web site. www.weimax.com Their sit down tastings are terrific. They just wrapped up their current series and are done until after the holidays, but their web site has an archive of tasting results which is interesting to read. Thu Nov 14 22:33:58 -0800 2002 80437 0 Tobin Rizalsky