The Best Wine Tasting in America

Posted by Tom Wark on Aug 16, 2005

The best pure wine tasting in America occurs Sunday, August 21 in San Francisco.

Family Winemakers of California is a collection of probably 400 or more California wineries. Most are small or medium sized. Its annual tasting is, well, massive. There will be over 370 wineries pouring.

This particular tasting is not as big as the ZAP (Zinfandel Advocates and Producers) tasting that usually happens in January. However, it offers the most diverse selection of wineries and wines of any tasting in America.

FAMILY WINEMAKERS TASTING
Sunday, August 21
Fort Mason Center, San Francisco
Noon to 4:00pm
Tickets: $45 at the Door

Some tips for getting around this tasting:

1. Spit. Spit like your life depends on it unless you have no shame and feel comfortable being carried out of the hall.

2. Get a list of the wineries participating and put together a plan of action

3. Consider getting there a good hour before hand. The lines will be long and parking is terrible.

4. Eat. Take advantage of any food on hand. Even if you are spitting you’ll need to joint the remnants of the wine with food

5. Consider developing a tasting strategy: Only Napa wineries or only taste Chardonnays or only taste wines from producers you’ve never tasted before.

6. Wineries often have takeaway items. Make sure you have something to put them in.

7. If you collect labels, this is a GREAT place to add to your collection as many wineries give them away.

Finally, if you are in the trade and are attending the trade-only tasting on Monday, stop by the Astrale e Terra table. The owner and author of "Fermentations: The Daily Wine Blog" will be on hand and would love to me you.