All recently released 2009 Stomping Girl Pinot Noirs medaled at the January 2011 San Francisco International Wine Competition–over 5000 wines were entered in this prestigious wine competition.  Here’s the breakdown:

2009 Stomping Girl Pinot Noir, Lauterbach Hill, Russian River Valley, Silver Medal
2009 Stomping Girl Pinot Noir, Corona Creek, Sonoma Coast, Bronze Medal
2009 Stomping Girl Pinot Noir, Beresini Vineyard, Carneros, Bronze Medal

Stomping Girl is a small, husband and wife owned winery in Berkeley specializing in small lot Pinot Noir.  For more information, see our website or blog.

Urban Wineries Invite Guests To Sip and Indulge Every Friday Evening Inside Ms. Pearl’s Jam House at Jack London Square

WHAT: The East Bay Vintner’s Alliance (EBVA) kicks off its new weekly “Meet the Winemaker” tasting series at Ms. Pearl’s Jam House, located inside Jack London Square’s Waterfront Hotel. Every Friday evening the EBVA will pour complimentary tastings of their finest wines to be served along with complimentary light bites provided by Ms. Pearl’s Jam House restaurant.

WHEN: Every Friday Evening from 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm

The Schedule:
Feb.18, 2011: Cerruti Cellars/Tudal Family Winery
Feb. 25, 2011: Andrew Lane Wines
Mar. 4, 2011: Stage Left Cellars
Mar. 11, 2011: Irish Monkey Cellars
Mar. 18. 2011: Ehrenberg Cellars
Mar. 25, 2011: Urbano Cellars
Apr. 8, 2011: Aubin Cellars
Apr. 15, 2011: Dashe Cellars
Apr. 22, 2011: Stomping Girl Wines
Apr. 29, 2011: Blacksmith Cellars

WHERE: Waterfront Hotel – Ms. Pearl’s Jam House
10 Washington Street
Oakland, CA 94607
510.444.7171

COST: This event is complimentary and open to the public. Reservations for Ms. Pearl’s Jam House can be made by calling 510.444.7171.

SOLD OUT!

Date: April 2, 2011

The 5th Annual Passport to the East Bay Wine Trail is coming. Twenty-three urban wineries, several not regularly open to the public, will be pouring their wares at multiple locations in Alameda and Oakland.

Ticket sales start Saturday Feb 5th

General Admission $40, Designated Driver $15

Each ticket purchased ensures a wristband, which guarantees entry to each of the passport locations from 12pm – 5pm, an assortment of appetizers, shuttle service between wineries and BART (provided by: The Mexican Bus)and a souvenir wine glass.

Detailed event info to be announced as the date approaches. Stay tuned!

Bay Area Wine Society Taste-off Blog

Our January tasting took us out of our normal tasting venue into the tasting rooms of a select group of urban wineries. Thanks to the excellent assistance of Rena Ramirez, Executive Director of the East Bay Vintners Alliance, who set up our itinerary, we sampled a large variety of wines sourced from grapes grown, no not in Oakland, but in many outlying regions, from El Dorado County to the Santa Lucia Mountains in Monterey County.

The wines of the day, when one takes into account cost, was the Urbano Cellars Old Vine Zin for reds and the Dashe Cellars Riesling for whites. The Rockwall Cellars Viognier also offered a terrific QPR ratio, as did the R & B Cellars Swingsville Lodi Zin being offered by the winery for 10 bucks. The best of the best turned out to be a Carica Cellars Petite Sirah produced from Kick Ranch grapes (the owner of Kick Ranch, Dick Keenan, is a member of the Society, though our tasters that day didn’t know this).

All wines receiving a Very Good rating or above are highlighted in yellow. By the end of the day, members had understandably put aside their ballots–the n/a designation means that there weren’t enough ratings to justify a group score.

Surf over to their Flickr album of photos of the day taken by Emily Wilska.