by Sangita Devaskar

The dark clouds and heavy rains went on hiatus this past Saturday with the sun beaming out at the beautiful Fort Mason Center as the Drink Me crew and thousands of other Zinfandel aficionados continued the weekend celebration of the 19th annual Zinfandel festival.

As the masses arrived decked in black (I learned my lesson the hard way last year), baguettes in hand, with the ever so classy wine glass holder necklaces in tow, it was hard not to get lost in the array of over 200 wineries who were pouring.

Wineries outside of the Napa and Sonoma counties showed a strong presence this year as well. Many wineries from the Oregon and Washington wine countries such as Bernard Griffin Winery flocked to ZAP to show that good Zin exists even outside Northern California’s famous enclaves.

Nothing like the end of the day with glorious purple-toothed grins and the roar of the crowd as tings of glasses dropped one by one; if you missed it, stay tuned for next year (and join our mailing list since we give out free tickets!)