Monthly Archives: July 2016

Appellation, Tasting, Wine

Mt. Veeder Tasting on Saturday, August 6th

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mtveeder080616Here is a great opportunity to taste amazing wines from 25 Mt. Veeder wineries!  There will also be food pairings from Hess Executive Chef, Chad Hendrickson and live high-energy blues from The Hummingbirdz. More fun to be had when you peruse the Silent Auction and participate in the Raffle.  Best of all, take home limited production Mt. Veeder gems from participating wineries!

Mt. Veeder Appelation Wine Tasting
Saturday, August 6
1:00 – 4:00 p.m.
The Hess Collection Winery
4411 Redwood Road, Napa

Purchase $75 tickets at MtVeederWines.com
or call 707-266-1296 ($100 Tickets at the Door)

PARTICIPATING WINERIES
Anthem Winery & Vineyards
VGS Chateau Potelle
Fontanella Family Winery
Godspeed Vineyards
HALL Wines
The Hess Collection Winery
Howell at the Moon Winery
Lagier Meredith
Marketta Winery
Mayacamas Vineyards
Mithra Winery
Mount Veeder Winery
Mt. Brave
O’Shaughnessy Estate Winery
Paratus Vineyards
Progeny
Random Ridge
Robert Craig Winery
Rubissow Wines
Sky Vineyards
Vinoce Vineyards
Y. Rousseau Wines
Yates Family Vineyard

Art, Awards, news, Wine

Sawyer Somm Newsletter Wins Accolades!

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First of all, thanks all of you for reading! We have worked hard to make this a universally legible format, that accommodates multiple email programs. Hopefully you like what you are seeing.

As it turns out our template designers at Mail Poet are in agreement and recently chose The Sommelier Files to be featured on their Showcase page! Check out the creativity of all the winners and read more details at the Mail Poet Blog.

Cheers! Christopher

Festivals, Film, Food, Wine

Last St Francis Outdoor Film Evening! Visit Jurassic Park on July 28

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The 7th Annual “Stars Under the Stars” Outdoor Film Festival at St. Francis Winery finishes off the season with an evening at “Jurassic jpark2Park”! Perhaps not the scariest film of the season following last week’s political fare but definitely a freak fest for the whole family.  I will be there as your festival sommelier to pair St Francis’ world class wines with world class films. Starts at 7pm.

Jurassic Park
Starring Sam Neill, Laura Dern & Jeff Goldblum (1993)
Pre-show concert by: Band Camp
Thursday, July 28, 2016

Featured Wines
$10 per glass (Includes a keepsake St. Francis logoed glass) | $8 Refill
2014 Chardonnay, Wild Oak Vineyard, Sonoma Valley
2014 “Old Vines” Zinfandel, Sonoma County

Admission & Popcorn are Free!
Wines and El Coyote Mexican Food will be available for purchase.

Food, Music, Wine

Tapas, Wine & Music at Gloria Ferrer, August 4th

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Is your mouth watering yet?  Don’t miss the last chance this season to attend Tapas on The Terrace at Gloria Ferrer Caves & Vineyards on August 4th, 5:30-7:30.

Unwind, relax and join in at the end of your day for award-winning wines, tasty tapas, and live Spanish entertainment from Duarte Music!

Ticket price includes a glass of wine upon arrival,
plate of mixed tapas, and live entertainment.

Food, Judging, Travels, Wine

San Francisco International Wine Competition 2016: Exciting Results!

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The results are in! Check out the wines that won at SFIWC 2016 this year. Also, enjoy a few pics from my days judging at Hotel Nikko while you are at it. Cheers! Christopher

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Pink Out! The start of a colorful flight of Rosé on Day 1;  (clockwise from left); Taking a break with my fellow judges, wine guru Jeffery Stivers and New Orleans-based wine and spirits radio personality Tim McNally; #StrengthInNumbers: Selfie Deluxe with my fellow judges sommelier Eduardo Dingler of Morimoto Napa; wine educator Ian Blackburn of LA-based WineCloudInc; sommelier Tonya Pitts of One Market SF, author, wine personality and star of Check Please Bay Area Leslie Sbracco, and author, sommelier and proprietor of A16 and RN74 in SF, Shelley Lindgren; The magnificent menu for the Judges Dinner at Hotel Nikko International, with dazzling wines provided by Gloria Ferrer and Jaimeson Ranch wineries.

Festivals, Film, Food, Wine

St. Francis Film Festival: The Candidate, July 21

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candidateThis week at the 7th Annual “Stars Under the Stars” Outdoor Film Festival at St. Francis Winery will be the political classic “The Candidate”, starring a youthful Robert Redford and Peter Boyle.  I will be there as your festival sommelier to pair St Francis’ world class wines with world class films. Starts at 7pm, admission is free!

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The Candidate
Starring Robert Redford & Peter Boyle (1972)
Pre-show concert by: The Atomic Lounge Show
Thursday, July 21, 2016

Featured Wines
$10 per glass (Includes a keepsake St. Francis logoed glass) | $8 Refill
2015 Chardonnay, Sonoma County
2013 Old Vines Zinfandel, Bacchi vineyard, Russian River Valley

Festivals, Film, Food, Wine

St. Francis Film Festival: National Treasure Part 2, July 14

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220px-Book_of_secrets_postThe 7th Annual “Stars Under the Stars” Outdoor Film Festival at St. Francis Winery continues.  Get ready for an evening of intrigue with “National Treasure: Book of Secrets”, which includes an introduction by the film’s Executive Producer Charles Segars.  I will be there as your festival sommelier to pair St Francis’ world class wines with world class films. Starts at 7pm, admission is free!

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National Treasure: Book of Secrets
Starring Nicolas Cage (2007)
Pre-show concert by: Ragtag Sullivan Duo
Thursday, July 14, 2016

Featured Wines
$10 per glass (Includes a keepsake St. Francis logoed glass) | $8 Refill
2015 Chardonnay, Sonoma County
2013 Meritage, Anthem, Sonoma County

Nerd Stalker, Video, Wine

Sawyer Somm Episode 1: Featuring the Nerd Stalker

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Welcome the inaugural Sawyer Somm podcast, with your erstwhile hosts, myself and the amazing tech wizard Adolfo Foronda, aka The Nerd Stalker. We will be coming to you monthly, or thereabouts, to discuss wines, interesting devices (sometimes about wine), special guests (sometimes in the wine industry) and whatever else comes up in our scintillating conversations. Hope you will be joining us on my You Tube station:  Subscribe to be kept abreast of the frequency of our posts!

In the meanwhile, crack open a good bottle, put on your comfy sox, get planted on the couch and check out our first episode! As a primer here are some details about the items we will be mentioning:

Tempour made by Soiree Home and designed in Napa Valley.

Summertime wines!
J. Lohr 2015 Gesture Grenache Rose, Paso Robles. $18
Tablas Creek 2015 Vermentino, Estate Grown, Paso Robles. $27
Fulcrum 2013 Pinot Noir, Landy Vineyard, Russian River Valley. $58

Festivals, Film, Wine

St. Francis Film Festival: Sleepless In Seattle, July 7th

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It’s back again, the 7th Annual “Stars Under the Stars” seattleOutdoor Film Festival at St. Francis Winery.  I will be there every Thursday in July as your festival sommelier to pair St Francis’ world class wines with world class films.  Starts at 7pm, admission is free!

Sleepless in Seattle
Starring Tom Hanks & Meg Ryan (1993)
Pre-show concert by: Z & The Benders
Thursday, July 7, 2016

Featured Wines
$10 per glass (Includes a keepsake St. Francis logoed glass)
2015 Chardonnay, Sonoma County
2014 Pinot Noir, Russian River Valley