Hey folks, I’m leading a Pinot Noir food pairing event at Lost Canyon Winery in Oakland this Saturday, May 17 from 3 to 5 p.m. The power point presentation will be almost as delicious as the wines.

Lost Canyon is easily making some of the state’s most sophisticated Pinot Noir in a range of styles. Come see what I pair them with and why plus win trivia prizes. The cost is $30 ($15 for Lost Canyon wine club members) and that gets you a taste of three Pinots plus three food samples and three recipes to take home.

Details are here. See you then.

Make wine? Enter it in the California State Fair Home Wine Competition. Amateur winemakers are encouraged to send entries for the 2008 contest. They will be accepted from May 27 to June 28.

I gotta say, I’ve tasted some decent home juice, most of it hailing from Contra Costa County. So don’t be shy. The Home Wine Competition is open to those 21 and older.
You must be a California resident and not work in a professional wine producing capacity or own a commercial winery. Well, that narrows it down to most of mankind.

Private judging begins July 16 at the Wine and Roses Hotel, Restaurant and Spa in Lodi. All wines entered will be given judge’s tasting notes and scores. The awards ceremony will be held Aug. 27 during the 2008 California State Fair at Cal Expo in Sacramento.

Last year, Richard Valentine of Saratoga won Best of Show (red) for his 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon and Rex Johnston and Barbara Bentley of Walnut Creek won Best of Show (white) for their 2004 Voignier.

Interested home winemakers can find competition details at Big Fun. Those with additional questions should contact G.M. “Pooch” Pucilowski, Home Wine Director, at
(916) 961-6150 or GMPooch@pacbell.net.

Hey, kudos to Napa Valley’s Clos Du Val for the major play in the latest Judd Apatow movie, “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.”

Saw it at the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland last night and you should, too. In the awkward Hawaii dinner scene, Peter, Rachel, Sarah and Aldous go through bottles upon bottles of red Clos Du Val wines. I couldn’t tell if the bottles were Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot or Pinot Noir.

Over the past six or seven years, Clos Du Val has become the Hollywood wine of sorts. They’ve landed spots in “The Sopranos,” “Sex and the City,” “The L-Word,” “Weeds,” and” How I Met Your Mother.”

Michaela Baltasar, the public relations manager at the winery, tells me that at this point, the winery gets contacted by film types for their brown and white swirly label. The set dresser for an upcoming Katherine Heigl movie called her for wines recently. And the wines will appear in the upcoming “The Soloist.”

Kick ass wines and a cute label in a movie made for millennials. Great combo. It’s even mentioned on IMDB.

As if all the fantastic wine bars in San Francisco weren’t enough, now we have a huge urban tasting room housing eight of Napa Valley’s most celebrated vintners. The Press Club is open on May 22 at 20 erba Buena Lane between Market and Mission, next to the Four Seasons Hotel and the new Contemporary Jewish Museum of Art. The opening’s been delayed because of lighting issues.

The tasting room includes presence from: Chateau Montelena, Fritz Winery, Hanna Winery, Landmark Vineyards, Miner Family Vineyards, Mount Eden Vineyards, Pahlmeyer, and Saintsbury. It’s enormous with moody lighting, sort of a lounge meets tasting room. There’s a regular wine bar, tapas and bottles for sale at about a 20 percent mark up.

Tasting prices vary by winery, starting at about $4 a taste and $10 for a flight. Some of the producers are charging up to $15-$20 for a flight, which can be awkward to tourists and non-winey types who see the lower prices at the neighboring station and don’t get it.

As for tasting, don’t go without trying Hannah’s gorgeous Sauvignon Blanc. It’s crisp and lively and would stand up to any salad vinaigrette. Also Miner Family’s The Oracle, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Malbec was a huge, smoky, gorgeous standout to me. They made 4,000 cases of the stuff, and at $75, I’d say you should just go here and try it. You don’t need to buy it or go to Napa. The beauty of an urban tasting room!  

If you need a good Monday night jacuzzi sparkling, search no more. The Mirabelle Brut Rose from Schramsberg ($24) does the trick. It’s crisp enough to keep you cool and the hot tub’s bubbles are no match for the wine’s strawberry-colored mousse and finesse.

The multi vintage blend of cool climate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from Carneros, Anderson Valley and coastal spots in Marin and Sonoma offers plenty of tart berry flavors balanced by a French-bread body. Try it with strawberries, Greek yogurt and a touch of honey. Yum.

Alright folks. It’s the third and final week of our Ultimate Blind Date giveaway. The all-day food and wine event at Flora Springs Vineyards is on May 10, and this week I’m giving away three pairs of tickets. Just email me the answer to the trivia question below. Do not post the answer here, obviously! My email is jyadegaran@bayareanewsgroup.com. I will contact the winner on Wednesday, May 7 by noon.

Trivia question: What restaurant boasts the largest wine list in the country? How many wines are on the list?

Details on the event:

WIN: two tickets
VENUE: Flora Springs Winery & Vineyards, 1978 West Zinfandel Lane, St. Helena
TIME & DATE: 2 to 5 p.m., Saturday, May 10
DRAWING ENDS: May 7

Taste more than 90 wines from the wineries of Appellation St. Helena and enjoy scrumptious food prepared by the one and only Dean & DeLuca. Soak in the ambiance of the beautiful Flora Springs Winery, a 19th-century stone structure featuring fabulous views of the Napa Valley. Stroll in the vineyards, explore the caves, or simply relax as you enjoy the elegant wines of Appellation St. Helena.

Join the fun of the blind tasting and be included in the drawing for your own wine cellar. The “instant cellar” is actually three cases of assorted St. Helena wines valued at more than $1,500. Hello! You don’t have to be a wine pro to enter the tasting. Good guesses are perfectly acceptable. And to help you out, many of the unidentified wines will be poured at the regular tasting tables so you can do a little detective work in advance. Each pair of tickets is worth $150.

Folks, good thing you checked in! We’re having a giveaway! This week and next, we’re offering sets of tickets to an Appellation St. Helena tasting at Flora Springs Winery & Vineyards. Details:

WIN: two tickets
VENUE: Flora Springs Winery & Vineyards, 1978 West Zinfandel Lane, St. Helena
TIME & DATE: 2 to 5 p.m., Saturday, May 10
DRAWING ENDS: May 7

Taste more than 90 wines from the wineries of Appellation St. Helena and enjoy scrumptious food prepared by the one and only Dean & DeLuca. Soak in the ambiance of the beautiful Flora Springs Winery, a 19th-century stone structure featuring fabulous views of the Napa Valley. Stroll in the vineyards, explore the caves, or simply relax as you enjoy the elegant wines of Appellation St. Helena. The two tickets are valued at $150.

You must be 21 to enter this drawing. This week, for two tickets, here is the trivia question: How many bubbles are in a bottle of champagne? How about in a flute? Deadline to email me your answer at jyadegaran@bayareanewsgroup.com is Friday, May 2 at noon. Do not post your answer here.

Our second giveaway! We’re offering five sets of tickets to an Appellation St. Helena tasting at Flora Springs Winery & Vineyards on May 10. It’s a gorgeous property and so are the wines. Read below for more information and drawing details.

WIN: two tickets
VENUE: Flora Springs Winery & Vineyards, 1978 West Zinfandel Lane, St. Helena
TIME & DATE: 2 to 5 p.m., Saturday, May 10
DRAWING ENDS: May 7

Taste more than 90 wines from the wineries of Appellation St. Helena and enjoy scrumptious food prepared by the one and only Dean & DeLuca. Soak in the ambiance of the beautiful Flora Springs Winery, a 19th-century stone structure featuring fabulous views of the Napa Valley. Stroll in the vineyards, explore the caves, or simply relax as you enjoy the elegant wines of Appellation St. Helena.

Join the fun of the blind tasting and be included in the drawing for your own wine cellar. The “instant cellar” is actually three cases of assorted St. Helena wines valued at more than $1,500. Hello! You don’t have to be a wine pro to enter the tasting. Good guesses are perfectly acceptable. And to help you out, many of the unidentified wines will be poured at the regular tasting tables so you can do a little detective work in advance. Each pair of tickets is worth $150.

You must be 21 to enter this drawing. I have five sets of two tickets to give away. I will give away one pair this week, one pair the next, and three pairs the week of May 5. Read the wine trivia question below and email the answer to me at jyadegaran@bayareanewsgroup.com. Do NOT post the answer here. The winners each week will be selected at random.

This week, for two tickets, here is the trivia question: How many bubbles are in a bottle of champagne? How about in a flute? Deadline to email me is Friday, May 2 at noon. Good luck!

Such a scene at Wine 2.0 last night. In a good way. The annual convergence of the wine and tech worlds happened this year at Crushpad’s new urban winery in the Dogpatch hood of Potrero Hill. I’d say there were about 500 people there, from winemakers and marketers to bloggers (word!) and venture capitalists.

Think about it. Wine is exploding. Yes, even at a time when Wine.com got itself a swanky brick and mortar (4th Street on Berkeley, if you haven’t checked it out yet). Moving right along, you can buy, sell, flip and write about wine online; you can market it; you can track your cellar and share it with friends; and make new ones of those too, while you’re at it.

Not familiar with Wine 2.0? Check out and join their Facebook page. The group, cofounded in 2006 by Jeff Playter and Cornelius Geary (formerly of Diageo), is a wine industry and consumer trade show. In other words, massive networking both online and off and tasting of many very cool boutique wines. It is 11,000 registrants strong, with 1,500 of those in the Bay Area.

The wine of the night for me was left-handed and charming The Boxer Shiraz from Molly Dooker. It’s $20 and has violet and cassis aromas that lead to blackberry and licorice flavors. Very rich yet balanced. I loved this wine.

Happy Friday, everyone. Thanks for all your submissions for the Ultimate Blind Date tasting at Flora Springs Winery. It was great fun reading through your answers. I printed out the correct ones and then pulled the winner’s name out of bowl that I sometimes use as a decanter.

The question, once again, was: Besides drinking, wine is used as a cleanser. What is it good for cleaning, and why?

Here’s the answer: According to Dr. Mark Daeschel in the Journal of Food Science, wine is a great cleaner of kitchen counters and silverware, as well as of fruit and vegetables. Its acidity and alcohol are effective at combating E. Coli and staphylococcus. The journal went on to say that someday, a wine-based cleaner could be a natural alternative to bleach.

So, the winner is: Chip Ferguson.

In his answer, Chip went on to give the ‘why.’ He wrote:

The wine acts as a disinfectant and kills salmonella, a common food-borne bacterium, within a few seconds. Wine is a natural antimicrobial and scientists at Oregon State University are developing a new disinfectant containing wine to fight off microbes like bacteria. Dry whites, such as Sauvignon Blanc, work best because they don’t leave a stain or sticky residue.

Well done, Chip! Email me and I’ll hook you up with your tickets. Everyone else, check back Monday for the next trivia question. We’ve got four more pairs to give away!