You have to really love Zinfandel wine to go to this event. Parking is a headache (field day for the meter maids) and with the giant afternoon crowds you sometimes have to claw and kick your way to the front of the line to get your taste of a favorite wine. We are one of the lucky ones who get to go in early at the trade and media session which begins two hours before the public gets their shot. Since most wine drinkers these days are buying wines for under $20, we thought we would concentrate on finding the best Zinfandel wines in that price range. There were three tasters in our group and we probably only got to taste wines from about one-third of all the wineries that were pouring. We did find some gems under $20 and a few that were $21 to $25 that were so good, we had to list those as well. Here are our favorites of the Zinfandel Grand Tasting of 2010. Read the rest of this entry »

ZAP (Zinfandel Advocates & Producers) has become a San Francisco tradition. The 19th annual festival will take place January 28th through the 30th, with several different events scheduled all about Zinfandel wine. Nope, no other wines will be served or can be served at any time. The main event, and the one that seems to bring out every Zin lover in the area, is the Grand Tasting at Fort Mason on Saturday. The event is from 2 to 5 for the general public and tickets cost $59 a person unless you are a member of the ZAP organization, in which case you will pay $49. Over 200 wineries will be pouring Zinfandel in two of Fort Mason’s biggest halls, the Festival and the Herbst. This event attracts 10,000 plus attendees, so if you have never been before you need to be prepared. We have attended for several years and here are my tips on how to get the most out of your $59 ticket. Read the rest of this entry »

The Vintage Wine Tasters met this past Wednesday for their bi-monthly blind wine tasting to taste and judge six Syrah/Shiraz wines priced under $20. Our host was Vintage club member Jim who did an extraordinary job researching and selecting six excellent examples of Syrah wine. As per usual, the wines were bagged and scored using a unique 25-point scoring system. There were four wines from California and two from Australia. Interestingly, the two Australian wines were our first and second choices. The Results:
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This year should provide a great opportunity for finding wine values and bargains. The word in the wine biz is that, with huge inventories building, wine distributors are being very selective of clients, and with many wineries on the brink of financial disaster we should see many a bargain wine out there. Good wine deals go quickly and the old adage “You snooze, you lose” could not be more true than when it comes to wine sales. If you want to take advantage of these coming wine deals, you need to become a wine sleuth.

How to Become a Wine Sleuth

Always peruse the wine shelves wherever you shop. Learn your wine prices. Last week Safeway stores had an amazing sale on Domain Chandon sparkling wine for $10 a bottle or $9 if you purchased a half case. I saw that same wine earlier in the week at Lunardi’s grocery store. The cases of Chandon were displayed like it was a huge sale. It was selling for $21.95 a bottle. Remarkable! Read the rest of this entry »

These are some really good wine resolutions that will bring you much happiness as you search for wine, food and other delights in 2010. Pick a few!

Go out to closest office supply store and buy yourself a small spiral notebook. Each time you open a bottle of wine write about it on one page. Make up your own way of evaluating the wine. Would you buy it again? Was it worth the price? What did you like or dislike about the wine? Aroma, tastes, etc. Read the rest of this entry »

One of the best ways to learn about wine and to discover new wines is to be a member of a wine tasting club. Why not consider starting one and take the month of December to organize your club and set up a tasting for January 2010. A wine tasting club functions somewhat like the popular book clubs held in homes all over the world today. In this case, the purpose is not to read and discuss books, but to taste and discuss different wines. Which one of these clubs do you think is more fun?

Our Vintage Wine Tasting club consists of 7 members who meet every other month. We meet at noon, taste and judge our wines, and then the host serves us a fabulous lunch. We like to focus on wines that are in the bargain category, no more than $20 per bottle. Once a year we splurge and do a Cabernet Sauvignon tasting at $40. We each put an extra $5 in the kitty at our meeting to help fund this tasting. We also get together as a group with our spouses three or four times a year for a festive dinner and we each bring a special bottle of wine from our cellars. The idea of the wine tasting club has brought a whole new level of commodity and enjoyment beyond our expectations. Read the rest of this entry »

This is the time of the year for wine sales. This year more than any other, wineries are in need of selling a lot of wine and so wine sales should be plentiful. So how do you know if you are really getting a good deal or not on a bottle of wine? For example, you might see this sale: Edna Valley Chardonnay on sale for $11.99, regular price is $14.99. Ignore the regular price figure and compare the sale price to other wine retailers. The easiest way is to do this is use one of these three Websites to comparison shop.

I use the Wine-Searcher, WineZap, and Snooth. With each of these Websites you can simply enter the exact wine you are interested in comparing and you get a list of wine prices for various wine retailers. I usually do nothing more than compare prices. I rarely take the next step and click to go to the online retailer to buy the wine.

For a 2008 Edna Valley Chardonnay, I entered that exact Vintage into the three sites mentioned. I found the lowest price to be $8.49 and the highest price to be $15.99. I basically use these websites to compare wine prices and then shop locally to find the wine. There are two advantages to using Snooth. You can plug in your ZIP code and narrow the choices to local wine shops. Secondly, wine drinkers who have registered with Snooth can write their own reviews of the wine.

These three wine comparison sites do not always have the latest wine prices nor do they have prices from some of the biggest discounters of wine like Costco and Trader Joe’s.

Another way to keep up with bargain wines is to join Good Cheap Vino. This is a social Website that we began in order to search for the ultimate wine bargains. When a member finds a great deal, they post it on Good Cheap Vino for the other members to know about.

One last thing, a disclosure about Snooth. On the right column you will notice a Snooth Widget. Every time one uses the widget to search for wine, I get a couple of pennies put into my account.

In the last post, the Vintage Wine Club listed their favorite white wine bargains for the holidays so this post is all about our favorite bargain reds. As we described previously, the Vintage Wine Club members are daily wine drinkers and constantly span the wine departments and wine stores for bargain wines. We know our prices and our wines. When we find a great bargain we share it with others and post it on Good Cheap Vino. Read the rest of this entry »

Last Sunday’s S.F. Chronicle had an article devoted to good wines under $15. The buyers at Cost Plus, BevMo, and Spencer & Daniel’s touted their favorite bargain wines. That gave me the idea to post some of the favorite bargain wines of the Vintage Wine Club. This is a club of seven members who have been meeting regularly for years to discover the ultimate in wine bargains. Each of us is a daily wine drinker and we constantly scan the shelves for bargain wines. When we find something good we share it with each others. Here is our list of top white wines. Next post, the reds. Read the rest of this entry »

By the end of this month, the 2009 grape harvest will be 99 percent over. The last grapes to be picked this month are usually Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah. The reports from vineyards managers, winemakers, and winery owners indicate that this will be an exceptional vintage. Nature has been kind to grapes this year. Last year frost and forest fires took their toll on many vineyards. This recent rainstorm should be okay for the thick-skinned Cabernet grapes that had not been harvested prior to the rain. This will certainly be a fun harvest to follow from now until the bottles hit the shelves.

One interesting note about this year’s harvest, some growers were not able to sell their grapes to their usual customers and many have been forced to let the grapes hang on the vine and drop on their own. The last thing wineries want in this economy is a grape glut. Word is that some wineries skipped this vintage altogether because they still had large wine inventories. Read the rest of this entry »