We’re giving away tickets to San Francisco’s Premier Wine, Food, and Spirits Week.
We have 4 tickets to the Sugar Party, 4 to the Spice party, and 4 to the Industry Party.

It’s easy to win!

1. Tell your friends about Drink Me

2. Get them to sign up for our email list (top right of this page)

We will choose 6 new email addresses and they will win a pair of tickets to one of the events (and bring you)!
The more friends you tell, the more chances you have to win.

Good luck. We’ll see you there.

SFChefs 2010 presented by Visa Signature®, is a food and wine event celebrating the unique flavor, diversity and bounty of Northern California. The main tasting tent will be in Union Square, where chefs, wine makers and distillers will offer an exploration of taste featuring local products. Classes and seminars will offer interactive opportunities for the public to participate with local farmers, ranchers, chefs, winemakers, distillers, media, luminaries, authors, vintners, mixologists and culinary experts in an entertaining forum.

http://www.sfchefsfoodwine.com/ (more…)

Why so cold?
By Katie Pizzuto

Tasting white wine is a two-part ritual for me because I decided a long time ago that most times we drink our white wines way too cold. In fact, no one has ever been able to give me a valid reason for chilling white wine at all, other than to make it more refreshing. But, you know what? If I’m drinking a glass of Alsace reisling in December, in New Jersey, during a blizzard, I don’t want it to be refreshing…I want it to taste good. Truth is, when you serve white wine at room temperature, it reveals much more of its personality to you…you don’t have to dig as hard to unearth its aromas and nuances because they’ll pretty much slap you upside the head. So now when I taste a white wine, I first serve it at room temperature (between 65° and 70°) and take some notes. Then I chill it a bit, taste it a second time and take some more notes. And as it turns out, most of the note taking occurs BEFORE the wine is chilled…there just ain’t too much more to discover once the wine has cooled down. It’s kinda like the wine is naked at first, boldly and unabashedly revealing itself to you, and then, once chilled, it has put on its flannel PJs…you gotta do a whole lot more searching at that point, to get to the good stuff. (more…)

If you love wine and haven’t been able to afford to fill up that beautiful
Ikea 12 bottle wine rack you got last year then you are going to love this…

Imagine getting a huge discount on wine next week when Spencer and Daniels Wine outlet, a hidden gem of a wine shop on Polk St., does their first ever 20% off case sale (June 28th-July 5th) . This eclectic Wine Shop is notorious for getting rock bottom wine prices.  They once sold two buck chuck at 99 cents and a week later brought in a truck load of rare Chilean and Argentinean wines at 40% off.  And, Starting next week, their craziness continues when they will be giving 20% off any mix and match 12 bottle cases just in time for your July 4th weekend. Keep in mind that SnD carries several bottles of $1.99 wine. So, 20% off of 12 bottles of $1.99 wine makes your $20 spot go really far. Stock your wine racks full for once! Oh, and did I mention their wine is really delicious?  www.spenceranddaniels.com

Spencer and Daniels Wine Outlet
1541 Polk Street
San Francisco, CA 94109
415-345-1637
www.spenceranddaniels.com

We’re offering you a special discount on all your tickets to the festivities this weekend!

Drink Me Magazine and Pinot Days have partnered to offer our mailing list members a 10% discount on all of the festival’s spectacular events. Just enter the discount code DRINKMESF10 when ordering tickets from the Pinot Days web site and you will receive an immediate 10% discount on all events. This year’s Pinot Days Grand Festival is on Sunday, June 27th from 1-5pm at the Festival Pavilion in the Fort Mason Center, San Francisco.

(more…)

by Sonia Meyer

“If you mix yellow and blue together, you get green,” explained Matt Cain, founder and president of Yellow+Blue Wines, when I asked him at San Francisco’s Millennium Restaurant where the name of his wine came from. Millennium, like the winery, is dedicated to sustainable, organic farming methods that have a minimal impact on the environment — the perfect place for a special Yellow+Blue wine pairing dinner. (more…)

by Lindsay Moss

“It’s hard to be Georgian,” Diana, a young mother in her twenties, said to me on several occasions. And indeed, it is hard to be Georgian. (more…)

by Sonia Meyer

Mendocino County wineries and winemakers have been practicing sustainable and organic wine-growing techniques long before reusable grocery bags and corn-based utensils became popular. The Taste of Mendocino, hosted by the Mendocino Winegrape and Wine Commission (http://www.truemendocinowine.com), was nothing shy of an elegant, intimate collaboration of a growing community of wine producers, all with one purpose: to make great, natural wine. (more…)

By Jessica Furui, Sake Sommelier - Ozumo, SF

Water keeps such a holy place in sake making. And for centuries, brewers didn’t exactly know what it was about the water that made good sake. They just knew that good water made good sake. Only after scientific advancements did they realize that water high in potassium, potash, calcium and magnesium was holier than water without the proper presence of these elements. These minerals provide the necessary nutrients for excellent propagation of koji (Aspergillus oryzae), the mold responsible for converting starch to sugar. These minerals also promote a strong and robust shubo, the yeast starter. These two steps are vital to the rest of the fermentation process. Ultimately, the delicate balance of minerals in water can either make or break your sake. (more…)

by Paul Ross, Drink me Travel Editor

Robin Hood’s Friar Tuck had his mead, Belgian Trappists their ale, and the good monks of Hungary’s Pannonhalma Abbey have got their …board meetings!? The abbey has been making wine for nearly a thousand years, yet today, cloistered monks, with their rigorously-scheduled rounds of prayer and study, have “labors” which include sitting in committee with representatives of the country’s third largest bank. This makes them: 1) modern winemakers, and 2) Execu-monks, if your will. (more…)