With all the fanfare surrounding Cabernet and Pinot Noir coupled with the obsession this country seems to have with Chardonnay, it’s sometimes hard for people to remember that California produces a lot of different kinds of wine. It’s even harder, it seems, to get people to drink some of it.

Perhaps some of the most under-appreciated and least consumed California wines are those made from grapes like Gewurztraminer, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris, and Riesling. There aren’t a lot of places in California where these grapes thrive, but the Anderson Valley, three hours north of San Francisco, may well be the best place in the state for growing and making wines from these varietals in the style common to the French border region of Alsace.

California grown Alsatian-style wines are not plentiful, nor are they particularly well publicized, but that seems to suit both the winemakers of Anderson Valley, and the folks who have been happily buying these wines for years. But in the interest of spreading the word, and the love, a couple of years ago all the winemakers who produce these wines decided that they needed to get together to showcase and celebrate their shared passion.

In this, the third year of the festival, the local winemakers will also be joined by a few Alsatian winemakers as well as other winemakers from around California and the US who have decided to support this rather unique celebration of the wines they love, even if it is so far from home.

The weekend begins at 8:15 AM Saturday morning, February 9th, with a technical seminar on growing and making Alsatian style wines given by both local and visiting winemakers. The grand tasting begins afterwards at Noon and goes until 3:00 PM, after which attendees have a chance to relax before a winemaker dinner begins at 6:30. Tickets are available for each event separately, or as a package. On Sunday the 10th, most wineries in the valley hold open houses with food and, of course, more wine to taste.

The following winemakers will be pouring at this year’s public tasting:

Amity Vineyards
Arista Winery
Barra of Mendocino
Breggo Cellars
Chateau Grand Traverse
Chateau Ste. Michelle
Chehalem
Claiborne & Churchill
Claudia Springs Winery
Domaine Marc Kreydenweiss
Domaines Schlumberger
Esterlina Vineyards
Foris Vineyards Winery
Graziano Family of Wines
Greenwood Ridge Vineyards
Gundlach Bundschu
Handley Cellars
Husch Vineyards
Kumeu River
La Crema Winery
Lazy Creek Vineyards
Londer Vineyards
McFadden Farm
Navarro Vineyards
Pey-Marin Vineyards
Philo Ridge Vineyards
Ponzi Vineyards
Robert Sinskey Vineyards
Steele Wines
Thomas Fogarty Winery
Toulouse Vineyards
WillaKenzie Estate
Zin Valle
Zmor Winery

Though I have not yet attended this festival personally, I know several folks who have, and who report that, like a lot of things in Anderson Valley, it’s low-key, easygoing, and a lot of fun. Couple that with some pretty damn good wines, and it’s a winning combination, provided that it isn’t pouring rain (cross your fingers).

3rd Annual Anderson Valley Alsace Varietals Festival
February 9th & 10th, 2008
Mendocino County Fairgrounds
14400 Highway 128
Boonville, CA 95415

Tickets for the public tasting are $65; the technical conference costs $35, or both can be attended on a joint ticket for $85. The winemaker dinner is an additional $85. Tickets can be purchased online in advance.

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There are three ways to taste older vintages of the top wines of Bordeaux. The first is to be wealthy enough to collect them, or to buy them at restaurants. The second is to pool your money with friends and buy a couple of bottles that you wouldn’t ordinarily be able to afford. The third is to attend pre-auction tastings.

An often poorly publicized part of the high stakes wine auction market, pre-auction tastings are held by many major wine auction houses to allow prospective bidders a chance to taste some of the wines they will be bidding on in the auction. The fact that these tastings are open to the general public, often for a nominal fee, is one of the best kept secrets of the wine world. Such tastings offer an opportunity for wine lovers to sample wines that are not only incredibly expensive, but also often scarce.

Some auction houses are beginning to recognize the opportunity that such events represent for a wider class of wine lovers, and have begun to promote them more heavily. Such is the case with Hart Davis Hart Wine Company, who is putting on an annual event they call their Comparative Bordeaux Tasting.

On Friday evening, at the Newberry Library in Chicago, they will open 1995 and 1996 vintage wines from all of Bordeaux’s first growths and 15 other top Chateaux for their guests to taste. Latour, Lafite, Mouton-Rothschild, Haut Brion, Margaux, they’ll all be open and available for the tasting.

Here is a list of most of the wines that will be poured:

Château Margaux
Château Mouton-Rothschild
Château Latour
Château Haut-Brion
Château Lafite-Rothschild
Château Cheval Blanc
Château La Mission-Haut-Brion
Vieux Château Certan
Château Lynch-Bages
Château Pichon-Lalande
Château Ducru-Beaucaillou
Château Trotanoy
Château Léoville-Las-Cases
Château Cos d’Estournel
Château Léoville-Barton

For the average wine lover who has probably never tasted a bottle of Lafite (I haven’t!), that lineup is quite an opportunity, and quite a value, even at the $275 price tag. Anyone seriously interested in educating their palate about what top Bordeaux tastes like should seriously consider attending. I most certainly would if I was in Chicago.

Hart Davis Hart Wine Co. Annual Comparative Bordeaux Tasting
Friday February 1st 2008, 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM
Newberry Library
60 West Walton Street
Chicago, IL 60610 (map)
312.482.9996

Tickets are $275 and must be purchased in advance over the phone by calling Marc Smoler at 312.482.9766 or e-mailing him at msmoler@hdhwine.com.

The nearest metros stops are: Chicago-Red and Grand-Red. A free parking lot is also available behind the museum.

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The Australian wine maker John Duval, once maker of the fabled Penfolds Grange, joins an international venture with an imposing Washington State Syrah.

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