Bottoms Up

TripAdvisor’s list of the Top 10 wine country destinations came out last week. All the usual suspects in California, Oregon, Washington, New York made it.

But I was intrigued about their No. 10 pick. Virginia. From the Monticello AVA, where Thomas Jefferson spent years trying to grow European grape varieties at Monticello, to the Northern Oak Grove region, where just about everything (including Cabernet Franc, Traminette and Riesling)  grows, and thrives.

There are more than 140 wineries, most family owned, in 15 regions (six of which are official AVAs). Spend some time perusing the Virginia Wine web site. Might make you thirsty for a new region.

I tweeted about this too, but thought I’d post a link here. If you’ve ever wondered why you can’t find certain wines in your neighborhood wine shop or why you can’t even have them shipped to your home state, read Tom Wark’s essay. He does the best job I’ve seen of explaining the remnants of Prohibition and our country’s archaic three-tier system when it comes to buying alcohol.

The 29th annual San Francisco International Wine Competition proved to be as comprehensive as ever. Check out the complete list of winners on the  SF Wine Competition web site.

Of particular interest for me is that a Riesling from Australia won Best Riesling, a Clos Du Bois Chardonnay won Best Chardonnay and an Edna Valley Pinot Noir beat out Sonoma and Napa for Best Pinot Noir.

In total, the judges tasted, scored and ranked 4,274 wines from 1,195 wineries. They awarded 248 gold medals, 1,150 silver medals and 1,514 bronze metals.

Hey-ho! It’s been brought to my attention that the Grocery Outlet stores sell decent wines. My source, namely, a co-worker at the communal microwave, said he wasn’t familiar with the labels but that he has bought decent juice at very low prices.

So I called up the Pleasant Hill store and it turns out that my colleague is correct. Their selection is actually impressive. They carry about 50 different labels and 100 different varieties ranging from $1.99 to $30.

According to a fellow in the wine department, it’s mostly second-label bottles by folks such as Beringer. But sometimes it’s stuff BevMo, Safeway and Lucky carry too.

Right now, at the Pleasant Hill store, you can get AU Syrahs and Cabernet Sauvignons for $2.99 and $3.99 that are $9 at Lucky. Hurry my fellow recessionistas and -istos! Oh, and let me know how these wines are showing.

I can’t guarantee the same deal is at all locations, but here’s a list of Grocery Outlets within 25 miles of Walnut Creek. Plus they’ve got three new stores opening in the Bay Area soon (San Leandro, Hayward, Vallejo).