Sactown Magazine's Best of the City (Special Issue)

While we're on Sactown's Best of the City issue (definitely go pick one up), we should point out that they ran a page on one of our absolute favorite non-wine people. Sactown Magazine makes him out as the "Best Guy to Trade Places With," implying that his job is all fun, but in actuality, Charles Bamforth is an Anheuser-Busch Endowed Professor of Brewing Science, and the Department Chair of Food Science and Technology at the University of California, Davis. It may be fun to drink, but he's certainly serious about what he does. Bamforth is all about beer, and if you've never thought about beer in the terms usually reserved for wine, you should take a read through Bamforth's delightful book, Grape vs. Grain. If you've ever had the pleasure of hearing Bamforth speak, then you know he's incredibly intelligent and informative, but equally entertaining and approachable. His book reads in the same fashion, and like the best educators, Bamforth teaches a great deal while keeping you entirely interested in the subject. He has a unique gift - and, in spite of his promotion of beer, he has a great fondness for wine as well. How can you not like that?

Sactown Magazine's Best of the City (Special Issue)

We love Sactown Magazine at Sacramento Winescape, and in the magazine's special collector's Best of the City edition (out now), the magazine says that the best "Corner for Lattes and Cabernet" is the corner of 29th and S streets. The "lattes" of course refers to Temple Coffee, and the "cabernet" refers to the new home of Revolution Wines, Sacramento's first urban winery. The location is still under construction, but Revolution expects to have the new tasting room open by August of this year. Small plates for wine pairing and live music will make this a great spot to hang out in when you want a "winery" as opposed to a "wine bar," but you don't want to leave town.

Revolution has just launched their new website, which is, in fact, a blog. You can check out the construction updates there.

http://www.revolution-wines.com/

Selland's 2nd Wednesday Wine Tasting

The Sacramento art scene may have "Second Saturday," but Second Wednesday belongs to wine lovers at Selland's Market Cafe. Once a month on the 2nd Wednesday between 6:00-8:00 (or 6:00-9:00 - depending on the season), Selland's treats guests to a $20 tasting of five select wines. The nice thing about Selland's is that they really know their wines and they make a point of not only exposing you to California wines, but also mix in wines from around the world. Selland's also has a nice wine collection that changes frequently, always allowing for new and interesting purchases. Set your calendars for the second Wednesday and never miss a tasting!

For the food lovers, Selland's is also a great stop, with lunches, dinners and desserts always prepared on the spot. You can take advantage of weekday wine and dinner specials ($25 for two), which is a nice work-night wine break right in Sacramento.

http://www.thekitchenrestaurant.com/sellands/wine/reserve_tasting.html

Whites 101 (07-17-10) @ Lava Cap Winery

Lava Cap Winery (El Dorado County) is ready to teach you a little bit about white wine. Rick Kushman, the Sacramento Bee's wine columnist, will cover the basics on tasting whites, and Lava Cap will talk about growing these grapes. As you might know, the Sierra Foothills are primarily known for red wines, so to have a feature on whites is pretty spectacular.

At over 3000 ft, Lava Cap Winery has some of the highest altitude vineyards in the US. A little added trivia - July 17th is also Disneyland's birthday. =)

Tickets to the event are $25.00, and they can be purchased from the wine shop link on Lava Cap's website.

http://www.lavacap.com/index.html

Bray Library Tasting (06-12-10)

Bray Vineyards (Amador County) will have a vertical tasting on the 12th to showcase their cabernet sauvignon. The vertical tasting will go from 2002 to 2007 vintages, and their cabernet is aged in both French and American oak. If you've never done a vertical tasting, this is a great chance to see how wine changes in color, tannins and taste from year to year. Only $3.00 (wine club members are free).

http://www.brayvineyards.com/

Raley's Grape Escape (06-05-10)

If you love wine and you live in Sacramento, then you probably already know about the Grape Escape. This event brings over sixty wineries and forty restaurants to downtown Sacramento. The great thing about the Grape Escape is that it's the event that focuses on the greater Sacramento wine region - Lodi, Amador, El Dorado, Nevada City, Clarksburg - all wine producing regions of the Sierra Foothills and northern Central Valley.

Grape Escape Website

Paso Robles in Sacramento (04-19-20 - 04-20-10)

Distinct indeed. Paso Robles has gone from being a region thought of as producing stock grapes for jug wine and filler grapes for the big Napa wineries into a respected wine region of its own. So much so that Paso moved far ahead of several other "up and coming" wine regions in terms of quality and notoriety. Set in beautiful scenery, the wineries of Paso Robles are as bold and impressive as their wines. It's a bit far from Sacramento for a day trip, but this month the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance will bring its Grand Tasting Tour to Sacramento - for the very first time! Lots of red wine blends are the trademark, but you'll find plenty of good varietal wines as well.

Grand Tasting Tour Website