Coming Up: August 10th Dinner and Dance Performance at Tres Sabores

Up for something different in wine country? Skip the crowd scene at the Big Corporate Winery Music Concerts and head for an intimate gathering at one of Napa's most farm-to-table and vine-to-glass friendly wineries - Tres Sabores.

Pioneer of eclectic, artistic nights at the farm/vineyard/winery, Tres Sabores has partnered with the up and coming SF dance company Project B for a night of dining amid the vineyard coupled with a dance performances.

Chef Sean Baker of GATHER restaurant in Berkeley, voted top chef of the year by Esquire magazine in 2010, will be making what is sure to be an exquisitely prepared meal accompanied by Tres Sabores wine.

A special lighting installation will showcase the dance performance.

The cost is $195. For more see the video below or click here for details.


Sitelines from Cinestra on Vimeo.

Philanthropy through Wine Buying: Check Out the Auction Napa Valley's Organic Vintners' E-Offerings

If you're feeling like becoming a philanthropist by buying wine, you can peruse the Auction Napa Valley online offerings, and find some fabulous Napa wineries' exciting offerings.

You can bid on these items online - or just fantasize about them. And then think about how much less wear and tear it is on you, not having to go to Meadowood for the auction, avoiding sweating it out in traffic, or the stress of finding shoes to go with your glamorous gown.

Now you can just enjoy the auction online with these offerings:

• Ehlers Estate

Lunch and tour for 4, plus a bottle of wine

• Frog's Leap

Large format Cabernet Sauvignon

• Gamble Family Vineyards

Overnight accommodations for three nights for 8 people plus wine

• Grgich Hills

Two night overnight stay for up to 6 people, tour, and wine

• HALL Wines - Dinner with Kathryn

Dinner for 12 with Kathryn Hall in the HALL Wine caves

• HALL Wines - Cabernet Vertical

Imperial bottles of cabernet sauvignon from a four year period

• Heitz Wine Cellars 

A 12 year vertical of their Trailside Cabernet Sauvignon (some are CCOF certified years)

• Inglenook

A magnum of 2005 Rubicon

• Madonna Estates

36 bottles of wine

• Neal Family Vineyards

Dinner for 12 and 12 magnums of wine

• Rocca Family Estates

Overnight stay for 2 nights, plus 6 bottles of wine

• Tres Sabores

Overnight stay for 2, including breakfast, lunch and dinner, and 24 bottles of wine, including 2 magnums

Zin Fans Annual Bash: 2013's ZAP Happens (Jan. 31-Feb. 2)

The annual Zinfandel Advocates and Producers Festival (aka ZAP) is coming up a week from now (Jan. 31-Feb. 2) in San Francisco with more than 200 producers attending the Grand Tasting on Sunday.

If you'd like to focus in on the organically grown wines in the Grand Tasting, print out this handy cheat sheet/list and take it with you.

The wineries in bold text are definitely ones to try. The ones with stars are musts.

Bonterra - a certified, reliable Zin you can find in large supermarkets or BevMo stores

***Bucklin - no longer certified but practicing organic on the "Ancient Vines" only - you owe it to yourself to try this heritage vineyard rarity, a field blend of 20+ varietals planted in the mid 1800s.

Carol Shelton Wines (*occasionally has 1 or 2 certified organically sourced Zins - ask about Wild Thing, Monga, and her Rose)

Castoro Cellars (*not sure if any of the certified vineyards are planted in Zin, so ask them)

***Dashe Cellars - McFadden Farm only - a Beaujolais (light) style Zin - you've got to try it to believe it, and then you might be hooked! I have several cases.

Green Truck Wines - certified, superbudget wine

***Grgich Hills Estate - certified organic and biodynamic from the famous Croatian winemaker who helped uncover the mysterious origins of this varietal

***Storybook Vineyards - hands down, the #1 Zin producer in America - and certified organically grown to boot - a hillside Napa Valley legend whose most recent vintages won Wine Spectator's highest Zin scores

The Lucas Winery - all certified organic and from Lodi - a very rare combination! I haven't tried their wines yet, but am looking forward to tasting all their wines.

***Tres Sabores - a Napa Valley gem, and one of the (quietly) famous and superlative (and organically grown) Zins; it made it into the Chronicle's very competitive top 100 wines of 2011. The winemaker grows only 8 acres of Zin in her Rutherford vineyards (prime Cab spot), so it's quite special indeed.