While you get ready to spook or get spooked, take a few minutes to enjoy this mini b-n-w film fest: One featuring me, the other my friend Daedalus Howell. Happy Halloween!
The Vampyre Sommelier’s Dilemma
Date With Death
Another excuse to sip RRV wines, join me next Wednesday, November 4th, for this event at the Golden Gate Club, in the Presidio, San Francisco.
Guests will also be treated to small bites from the Spinster Sisters, including chili rubbed flank steak with avocado salsa and madras curry chicken puffs among other delectable tastes, plus exquisite cheeses from Freestone Artisan Cheese. There will also be a silent auction and instant cellar raffle (to win 4 cases of RRV wine).
As the number of popular Napa and Sonoma wineries continues to grow, choosing where to taste can sometimes seem intimidating. This is especially true when you have to figure in the time it takes to drive from one winery to the next, plus where to eat along the way.
To keep it simple, start by heading to Wine Country’s downtown tasting rooms to try some of the area’s best wines. Many of these hip places stay open into the evening, so it’s easier than ever to make the most of the day.
To read more go to my Downtown Tasting article that was published recently by Napa Sonoma Magazine.
If you haven’t seen this from the NorthBay Biz yet then follow the link to have a peek at me, Beyond The Boardroom!
It’s that time, the 12th Annual Pinot On The River Festival which I attend every year! It is a fun filled weekend of Pinot Noir, in the beautiful Russian River Valley town of Healdsburg. This year sit with the winemakers and other Pinot-loving consumers as we focus on limited production West Coast Pinot Noirs.
The Artisanal Pinot Noir Grand Tasting on Sunday, October 25, from 12-4pm, will have over 100 wineries plus guest Artisan Food Vendors all in the heart of downtown Healdsburg!
Driving home with my family along Hwy 1 a year ago, from a scenic Sea Ranch stay, we saw signage for an event I missed. This year, I am going! The Fort Ross-Seaview Wine Festival will be this Saturday, October 17, from 11am-4pm. It will be an exquisite way to take in breathtaking views, enjoy the lingering warmth of autumn, and experience celebrations of the Russian, Alaska Native, and Native American history, that worked these lands two hundred years ago.
From 1-3pm is the Grand Luncheon: A four-course meal of seasonal fare expertly paired with wines from the area, prepared by renowned local chefs and served on a marine terrace overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Tickets are available by advance purchase only and will sell out. Purchase them here–ASAP-only available until 9pm tonight!
See you there! Christopher
Litquake arrives in San Francisco on October 9th this year, departing October 17th, so don’t forget to join me for my 6th Annual Flight of Poets on Thursday October 15th! Featured wineries include Gundlach Bundschu, Hess Collection, Three Wine Co., LaFollette Wines, Tin Bar & Breathless.
To whet your palate, enjoy this poem by my friend Dean Rader, who is in the Department of English at USF, that was a finalist in the Caldwell Vineyard – Rocket Science Label Contest 2014.
Red is landing and launch, Orbit and origin, both cork and Crush. It’s motion, evolution, Kinesis. It’s fire and flight. Every color moves, but red Takes off, it rockets through Space, through science. Look: the Capsule is in your hand. Explore. Imbibe sun and skin, drink the Earth. You too can discover the New world; for in this realm, in this Cosmos, in this universe, Everything is wine.
And while you are feeling the wine vibe, chew on this little extra from Dean as well!
Take me over tongue over teeth over cusp cut and rim over skin Peel me back and push me down I want to go deep below body and bone beneath darkness and dirt and there raise me up to mouth on mouth on lip on tip I want to go deep I want to be squashed quashed and quelled I want to be crushed
Love this great article by Linda on the Salvation Sisters blog about the Petaluma GAP and first ever winemaker dinner, McEvoy Ranch Summer Winemakers Dinner — the McEvoy Ranch Chinese Pavilion and the Petaluma Gap American Viticultural Area (AVA). Leslie Sbrocco and I are featured in this story as well: See us in action at the Gloria Ferrer Glorious Bites Appetizer Challenge event this Saturday October 10th.
That evening I will also be attending another culinary event at Jessup Cellars so look for my posts from the Surreal Harvest Dinner with gastronaut Bob Blumer!
