Now is a great time to visit our regional wineries, as new releases are being introduced every week and Autumn is beautiful in the vineyards. Plus, crush is over, so the employees and owners are far less stressed and have more time to discuss their craft with you.

If you are new to our local wine scene or are just tired of stuffing 10 different wine maps in your glove compartment, the Sacramento Convention and Visitors Bureau publishes the Official Regional Wine Tasting Guide. It includes maps and phones numbers for both the foothill wineries (Amador, Placer, El Dorado, Nevada and Calaveras Counties) and the valley wineries (Sacramento, San Joaquin and Yolo Counties).

Order your guide today by calling (800) 292-2334. You can also find this information at http://www.sacwineregion.com/.

Doooooo Dooooooo Da Dum Dum Dum Dum

That is the sound of me singing the Olympic Hymn after several glasses of fine California wine. You, dear reader, may get to hear this masterpiece in person if you join me at the Winelympics at the Old Sugar Mill in Clarksburg this weekend.

In a clear attempt to make this a classy event, organizers decided not to name it the Wine-Olympics, which evokes an image of Bum Fights and probably skirts a copyright law or two.

The Winelympics is a fund raiser for the Make-a-Wish Foundation and will feature competitors from local wineries and other organizations. Events include the Waiter’s Relay, Barrel Rolling and both corking and uncorking contests. Doors open at 11 AM with an admission fee of $10 per day with three events held on both Saturday and Sunday between Noon and 5 pm. The six wineries at the Old Sugar Mill will be pouring.

If you wish to field a team of three (or more!) there is still time to register. Your friendly neighborhood Stickie will be joining the good folks at Revolution Wines to bring home the gold to Midtown.

It turns out that you can make wine almost anywhere. Growing the grapes with which to make the wine is another story. But the actual storing, crushing, filtering, and fricasseeing necessary to make great wine can be done almost anywhere where you can match a bit of floor space with regular temperatures. Why, then, should it be a surprise that some of the best wine this writer has tasted in a long time comes out of a nondescript white brick warehouse across from a discount furniture store and a card room?

Rail Bridge Cellars, located on North 16th Street, may be a trailblazing entity, injecting the business of winemaking in to the urban core, but regardless of its geography, the wine’s the thing that makes this small wine producer stand out. Winemaker Jon Affonso (Jesuit High class of ‘88, Go Big Red!) confidently, and with obvious passion produces only two wines at the present, but what wines they are. Continue reading “Rail Bridge Cellars: Drink Local” »

Happy birthday to everyone’s favorite prankster, policy wonk,  campaigner,  imbiber, proud dog papa, non-participant in Facebook games like Scrabulous, and all-around good guy.

This weekend, you could put on a sombrero and drink a Corona Light like a guero. Or, you could go to the best Mexican restaurant in town and enjoy the widest selection of premium tequila in the area. It is up to you, hombre.

El Patron at 66th and Folsom is one of our few establishments serving gourmet Mexican cuisine, and they will be celebrating Cinco de Mayo all weekend. With more than 40 brands and 100 different 100% agave tequilas, you owe it to yourself to enjoy a taste of real cultura Mexicana. Check out the schedule of events.

Continue reading “El Patron Cinco de Mayo Festival” »

Help.

What was the name of that bar that was on Fair Oaks Boulevard near Cadillac Drive in the early ’90s?  It got demolished in the late ’90s and became a Smith Barney building, and I believe it’s where Lord Beaverbrooks used to be.

The sign out front had a parrot on it.  I only went there once when I first moved to Sacramento, but it came up in conversation last night, and I’ve been flipping through the rolodex in my brain trying to remember what it was called.

Why kill brain cells on eggnog and turkey-tinis when you can just turn on VH1 and catch a local or two on “America’s Most Smartest Model.”

Grass Valley native VJ is still in the running, while Sacramentan Jesse has already been sent home. Some may remember Slavco (also already sent packing) from VH1’s “Kept” from 2004.

Thankfully, I’ve only caught one full episode, so there’s still hope for a full recovery. The one redeeming quality of this show is that it is co-hosted by the wry Ben Stein; although, I’d love to see guest appearances by Tyra, Miss Jay, Benny Ninja — and just for kicks, Michael Kors and Tim Gunn (just keep Padma away, por favor.)

I was pleased to find a winery two blocks from my house, and hope that I continue to find new wineries throughout Midtown, but that seems unlikely. Too bad, as I can imagine an urban wine country running through Downtown and Midtown, up to the North Sacramento Wineries in Del Paso Heights. Call them microwineries. Sacramento can become California’s Urban Microwinery Country. Say it aloud, and feel it just roll off the tongue!

But, enough of my dreams. Revolution Wines is tucked behind a hair salon on P and 21st. You may have already enjoyed the 2004 vintages that were poured at various Sacramento area charity events during the past year. With a tasting room that opened in July, Revolution is pouring three of Winemaker Jason Fernandez’s 2005 vintages: The Pinot Grigio, that is grown in Clarksburg, an Amador Zinfandel, and Renzo, a red blend. All three are excellent, and I look forward to the December release of a Clarksburg Syrah. Four more vintages will be introduced over the next year.

Revolution Wines
2114 P Street
Thursday 4 PM - 7 PM
Friday & Saturday 11 AM - 9 PM
Sunday 11 AM - 5 PM

It’s that time of year again when the leaves start turning, the kids go back to school and the Eats household celebrates another birthday.  In what is becoming an annual tradition, the Mrs. and I played hooky and headed up the hill midweek to sup full of apple flavored delights.  In the process, we found some new delights, and wound up finding out a few new things about our old favorites.  Follow me, won’t you, as we trip the apple fantastic to find the best of the ‘Hill for 2007.

Rainbow Orchards- There are few reason to hang around Rainbow Orchards other than to consume the finest doughnuts you will ever have, apple cider doughnuts, that is.  Freshly made, piping hot, covered with sugar, and crisp yet chewy, these doughriffic bites of heaven are the main attraction in the cavernous barn that makes up the whole of Rainbow Orchards commercial enterprise.  They sometimes have bluegrass music in the orchard, which is a nice offering, and the Mrs. and I found a beautiful selection of decorative pumpkins in a kaleidoscope of shades (including blue) but really, we’re all just going there for the doughnuts.  Did I mention the doughnuts?  And yes, I still refuse to spell it “donuts.”  Caution:  Mill View Farms produces and sells a similar apple cider doughnut, but be warned, this is an inferior product and not worth your doughnut calories.  The proprietor is very sweet though, bless her heart.    Continue reading “Your Unofficial Apple Hill Guide: New, Updated, Now With More Apple Flavor” »

I had the good fortune to catch the last night of Presenting Mexico, a three-day tasting from Chef Ramiro Alarcon at El Patron Bar and Grill.

For $20, we had a brief culinary discussion and a hearty sampling of dishes from 8 different Mexican states. My favorite was the Michoacan Pescado Blanco de Pasquero, a white fish baked in egg, served with a smoky red pepper sauce with Sopa de Melon, cold melon soup. Everything that I tried, from the Guerrero inspired Chiles Campanos, marinated green chiles stuffed with queso fresco, to the Sinaloa Sopa Verde, a traditional green soup with fish and clam, was a reminder that Sacramento is sorely lacking for high quality, adventurous Mexican dining that offers atypical dishes and new flavors.

Tequila tastings were also provided by Trago tequila. Unfortunately, they ran out of the Reposado, but their Plata has a fruity aftertaste with little raw alcohol burn. Their Anejo is aged a year in bourbon barrels, imparting a deep, sweet carmel flavor on top of the fruit. Both were excellent and presented in tall rectangular bottles with great angles, sure to stand out at a bar and scream “Taste me and look classy, I’m expensive but worth it!.” The bar featured at least 30 other 100% agave tequilas, including great brands such as Chinaco, Don Julio (including the 1942 reserve!) and Centenario.

El Patron Bar and Grill
6601 Folsom Blvd
(916) 455-8945