Imagine this scene. The weather gorgeous, the view of the beautiful San Francisco Bay and Alcatraz, the company of my good friend Dinah, our hands holding a wine glass, sounds of wine being poured, and happy beautiful people all around ooohing and aahhing. That was the scene at the 8th Uncorked! Ghirardelli Square Wine Festival. It was like a huge wine cellar beamed from the wine country to the city.
Mijo was out of the country so I've asked my friends to go with me and check out this annual wine festival. This was the 8th Uncorked! and this was the first time I went to this festival. My good friend Dinah graciously joined me. She is a foodie and she appreciates good wines and a fun San Francisco scene.
I prebought our tickets online but we discovered, to our dismay, that the will-call and the unticketed folks were all in the same line. The line snaked from the corner of Larkin St. all the way down to the esplanade of the Aquatic Park. I wouldn't have paid the service charge added to tickets bought online had I known about this. I hope the organizers would rethink this queueing procedure next year.
Dinah and I were rewarded with great red wines that I discovered that day without the need to drive to the Wine Country. The weather cooperated as well. No fog! Perfect for sipping vinos.
The view of the San Francisco Bay from the venue is picture perfect!
From among the fourty plus wineries present that afternoon, these wines were the ones I sampled and liked and added to my list of wineries to visit and wines to try again. There were red, white, rosé, and bubbly wines but I only sampled the reds.
2005 Estate Merlot
Picazo Vineyards
Livermore Valley
Temptation 2010 Zinfandel
Sin Zine 2010 Zinfandel
Alexander Valley Vineyards
Sonoma County
Longboard Vineyards
Sonoma County
2010 Sangiovese
Rosa D'Oro Vineyards
Lake County
2009+2010 Cabernet Sauvignon Estate Bottled
Capay Valley Vineyards
Capay Valley
2011 Pinot Noir
Roadhouse Winery
Russian River Valley
2011 Grenache
Route 3
Yolo Vineyards
Dunnigan Hills
Of course, there were also Havarti and Gouda cheeses by Dolfino where we fell in line too many times. They were just a perfect pair to the red wines I was sampling.
There was also Viva Vita to replenish our bodies with non-alcoholic liquids. :)
All in all, I enjoyed this wine festival despite of the bad start. This festival is a good way to sample wines without driving to Napa and Sonoma and also as far as Lake County and Sacramento. It was also a good value because you get to sample a lot of wines for as many times as you want. It was also a gret way to spend time with good friends. Thanks, Dinah for going with me. :)
~rl
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