Zinfandel, when not used for rose, produces complex and deeply concentrated wine. This Zin from Windsor Sonoma Winery is no exception. It pours a deep ruby red color reminiscent of raspberry jam; which is also present on the nose. While raspberry and black cherry are a couple of the flavors you’ll detect, don’t expect a light fruity wine. The finish has the bite of bitter dark chocolate; which makes it a perfect pairing for bold BBQ feasts.

This syrah is a great example of why I love red wines; it is wonderfully full-bodied. It pours a deep ruby color and on the nose you can detect cedar and plum. It has a great mouth feel, very chewy and has a delightful aftertaste. I detected a bit of orange peel effervescence at the back of my mouth which complimented the lingering flavors of cocoa and a hint of port. Enjoy!

SF Chefs is one of my favorite food events in San Francisco. Checkout their website at sfchefsfoodwine.com. Ticket sales will be opening soon so get ready! And if you have a Visa Signature card you can buy tickets today.

This event is an opportunity to taste farm fresh foods from master chefs and sample top notch wine and spirits. If you’re a foodie it’s an event you don’t want to miss! It runs from July 30th to August 5th and is located in Union Square.

Here are some photos from SF Chefs 2011:

As the weather gets warmer white wines are the refreshing drink of choice. The sauvignon blanc I received in my wine shipment this month from Sonoma Coast Vineyards just may be my go-to warm weather white wine. Stainless steel barrels make this wine bright and fresh. The addition of sauvignon musque provides notes of tangy pineapple. Enjoy with seafood dishes or all on its own!

Sangiovese may become my new favorite red thanks to Chatom vineyards. This sangiovese was delightfully fruity with a smooth finish. On the palate you can taste strawberries and cherries with warm earthy undertones. There is just enough acidity which makes this wine pair well with peppery or salty meats like prosciutto or salami.

Chardonnay (especially oak barrel aged) is my favorite type of white wine so I was excited to see one in my wine club shipment this month. I was especially intrigued by this chardonnay as it is actually a blend of chardonnay and semillon grapes. This “Sem Chard” is crisp, fruity and has a buttery finish characteristic of oak barrel aged chardonnays. I very much enjoyed this spin on a classic chard.

Upon opening my wine club shipment, I was thrilled to see a pinot noir. It’s among my favorite types of wine and this one from Stonier Winery was superb. I enjoyed the fruit-foreward elements in this pinot; which were perfectly off-set by the french oak aging process. This pinot noir would be a fantastic addition to an array of cuisines.

If you think you love Chardonnay, you need to experience the wines of the Côte de Beaune. More importantly, if you think you hate Chardonnay, you need to try a good Côte de Beaune. The greatest expression of the grape lie in the vineyards along the limestone escarpment that make up the backbone of this region. The Côte de Beaune is home to both Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, but there is little doubt as to who’s in charge in the Beaune. This single region, and the amazing wines it produces, is the sole reason that Chardonnay has been able to take over the wine producing world in our time.

It’s a little surprising to hear that this most sacred of wine regions did not host its signature grape, Chardonnay, until the 17^th century. Before whatever happy accident brought Chardonnay to the Côte, the grape of choice was Pinot Gris. Certainly not a bad grape, it just has never been able to pull off the high-wire acid/body structure that is a great Chardonnay. The Côte de Beaune lies on the southern half of the Côte d’Or, and is home to many fine AOCs producing wine from Chardonnay. Two of the many noteworthy of these appellations producing white wines are Mersault and Montrachet.

If you want to sound very Frenchy and cool to your wine geek friends, make sure to pronounce it “moan-ra-shay.” Montrachet is both a village and Grand Cru. To add to that confusion, some of the Grand Cru in the Village of Montrachet attach the name to the end of their Grand Cru names; so we end up with Puligny-Montrachet and Batard-Montrachet. There is however, no confusion about the best Grand Cru in the area—it is Le Montrachet. The Chardonnay produced from this escarpment in the French countryside is the archetype of white Burgundy—and thus Chardonnay produced anywhere. The wines of Le Montrachet are intense and succulent with excellent acidity and structure and a long finish. Even if you can’t find the Montrachet, anything with the name Montrachet attached will be a great bottle of wine.

Though there are no Grand Cru vineyards’ in Mersault, the region is still considered one of the greatest in the whole Côte de Beaune. The wines here are Chardonnay and they tend towards a buttery, soft and rich style. The appellation produces some decent values—if you can find Mersault-Villages bottles, look for Les Charmes or Les Perrieres.

The Loire River winds its way through north-central France. From its start near the center of the country all the delta at the Atlantic, vines are grown on its banks. The climate in the area is right on the edge of being to cold for vines to grow, and the river provides just a little extra warmth, which makes winemaking in this area possible. Grapes have been grown here since the Romans invaded, and, at one point in time, wines from the Loire were considered the best in the world.

The modern Loire still makes excellent wines, from dozens of AOCs along the length of the river. Because the area is so big, it’s often though of in three regions: the lower, middle and upper Loire. Within the upper Loire are two very famous wine producing areas: Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé. Both regions lie at the far east end of the Loire, across the river from each other, with Sancerre on the west and Pouilly-Fumé on the east side.

Sancerre was one of the original areas of France to be awarded AOC status, which should be no surprise given its worldwide fame. The grapes of this region are the dominant Sauvignon Blanc and the lesser-used Pinot Noir. Though Pinot Noir is produced in this area, it’s almost always simple and light, Sancerre Rouge. The real star of the show here is the white Sauvignon Blanc. The grape takes well to the areas chalky soil and hillsides, which allow more light to penetrate the vineyards and allow cooler air to sink off the hillside vineyards into the valleys below. The wines produced in this classic French area were once seen only as easy-drinking bistro wines. However, a concerted effort to move toward quality wine production began in the 1970’s and the region re-positioned itself as a leader in high-quality white wine production. Today the wines are generally very dry, with intense aromas of nectarines and white berries.

Across the banks of the river from Sancerre lies Pouilly-Fumé. (If that name seems familiar it’s because Sauvignon Blanc from California has been re-billed as Fume Blanc) This AOC also grows Sauvignon Blanc and produces incredibly crisp, racy wines. The soil in the vineyards is noted for containing silex, a flint, which is said to give the wines a decidedly mineral-like aroma and flavor. The flint is also supposed to give the wine a certain “smoky” or “gunflint” aroma, which is thought to have christened the name of the region, as Fumé means “smoke” in French.

The French like to name their wine producing areas, so, thinking goes it’s easy to understand the style of wine in a bottle, because wines made in a certain area should be similar (in grape, style, etc.) This was of course before the age of printed reviews and Internet posts on what to expect from certain bottles. Back then the wines of the southern Rhône developed a reputation for being powerful red wines—to the point that strong southern Rhône wines used to be mixed with Bordeaux wine when Bordeaux had a bad year. That practice is of course long gone, but the powerful red wines of the southern Rhône are still enjoyed across the world.

The southern Rhône is segmented into several unique areas based on local climate and soils, which have been granted their own appellation. The most famous is Châteauneuf-du-Pape—which deserves its own post—but there are several other AOC areas in the southern Rhône that produce excellent charismatic wines that have a tendency to be overlooked in favor of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. We’re going to look at four of them: Gigondas, Vacqueyras, Lirac and Tavel.

Gigondas isn’t really about delicacy. The wines are all red and are crafted to be powerful, tannic and in the best cases worthy of cellar aging. The region is located northeast of Châteauneuf along a little set of mountains called the Dentelles de Montmirail. Gigondas is mostly made from Grenache and only produces red wines. Look for bottles to be in the $15 to $25 range.

Vacqueyras is situated between Gigondas and Châteauneuf, but stylistically it tends to be much more like Gigondas. Vacqueyras was granted AOC status in 1990, but has produced wines for centuries. The output is almost all red wines, similar to Gigondas, very powerful, with lots of structure and less finesse. Vacqueyras is produced from Grenache, but uses more Syrah than Gigondas.

Lirac lies across the river Rhone from the famous Châteauneuf and can produce wines in a similar style. Lirac wines are made in a more blended style than Gigondas and Vacqueyras, which result in wine that is more subtle than the power of the Gigondas and Vacqueyras.

The grapes for red and rose are Grenache with Syrah, Mourvèdre and Cinsault and for the whites are Clairette, Grenache Blanc and Bourboulenc.

Tavel is a very unique AOC in that permits only rosé wine to be made. The wine is made from Grenache and Cinsault, with some Syrah and Mourvèdre. Those are all red grapes, which are gently pressed and kept with the red skins for a brief period of time to dye the wine a light pink color. Tavel wines were a favorite of Kings of France and are still a favorite around the world today.