by Stacy Barrett

The San Francisco Vintners Market happened this past weekend at the Festival Pavilion at the Fort Mason Center. On Saturday, the first day of the market, thousands of people gathered, plastic wine tasting glass (with an interesting side groove for your thumb) in hand to meet with over 200 California Vintners and taste their best wines. There were only brief breaks to visit the taco and cupcake trucks parked outside.

The highlights in the regular admission space included the wine keg provided by Free Flow Wines. Their merlot is an easy, drinkable red- and you can find all of their tapped wines featured at the café side of Radius. Provenance was also pouring some greatness. Their 2007 Malbec was smooth with a lot of dark fruit notes, and was a favorite amongst the tasters. Crushpad was featuring a Mission Syrah and a SOMA Syrah- aptly named for the neighborhood groups that came together to make them. But the real attention-getter at their table was their Fusebox wine blending kit and their Brixr tasting kits. Other things to be found in the main section of the Pavilion: people selling six-packs of beer, eager attendees buying bottles of wine, popping them open, and pouring generously for their friends.  The Reserve Room (sectioned off from the rest of the space by a white-picket fence) was a much calmer atmosphere. Far less people, no lines, and more conversation between tasters and winemakers.

Some interesting stops included Bridget Raymond’s Courtesan wines, especially the Bordeaux-style Brigitte, called “sexy juice” for its smooth finish, silky tannins and lace-adorned bottle. Jean-Charles Boisset was also there pouring his “Francophile” JCB wines. His featured wine was his “seductive, rebellious, capricious” N°69 Pinot Noir Rosé. Between Raymond and Boisset, the Reserve Room was a little hot to handle. Some of the best tastes from the Reserve Room came from Amy Aiken’s (of Meander Wines) Conspire 2009 Sauvignon Blanc. Half of its blend comes from a muscadet clone, giving it a subtle sweetness and beautiful pear notes. Matthiasson was also pouring a great 2008 white blend with wonderful notes of citrus, fig, and spice. And lastly, just like at the end of a great meal, came the pleasantly sweet CUTT 2007 Late Harvest Zinfandel from Hunnicutt Wines.

Rumor has it the Vintners Market is going to be at Fort Mason twice a year now, so winemakers can rejoice in the opportunity to market their wines to a large crowd, and vinophiles can revel in the unlimited tastings, bottle deals, and the joy of having the vineyards come to them.