San Francisco Vintners Market

Wine should start and end with a good smile.

The wife and I were invited by a friend to go check out a wine tasting event up in the city.

We pre-ordered our tickets over a month in advance which came with a 60% discount! On my coworkers recommendation we decided to upgrade to the Reserve Room for a few extra dollars which included tasting wines worth over $50 a bottle.

We stopped by Squat and Gobble for a late brunch and were lucky enough to sit in the back outdoor patio which is gorgeous! We fought back at the cold weather with a Chai and Cafe Mocha, a Denver Crepe and Eggs Benedict.

We rather foolishly strolled over to Fort Mason well after the doors were first opened and were greeted by hundreds of other wine goers already in line to get in to the abandoned military building. Good thing too as they are rather convenient now for events such as this. :-)

When you first walk in they slap a colored wristband on you and hand you your very own shiny new wine glass to sample with! We tried a little bit of everything in the reserve room and liked most of what we tasted.

The place was packed!! We managed to snap a shot from the back of the building in the reserve area, up on a loft area where expensive whiskey and cigars were also available to try. You can see the white fence separating the much larger general admission area in the background from the smaller reserve area in the foreground. As we ran out of time, we didn't make it to the general admission area...

The best surprise of the event came in the form of a desert wine called Angelica from Swanson Vineyards. It costs a small fortune ($140) and normally neither of us would ever consider purchasing alcohol as expensive as this but the taste can only be described as magical. (not iPad "magical," but honest-to-goodness indescribably excellent.) After two pours the wife had to have a bottle, but when we returned to the stall we found out that they were sold out. :*(

Being rather new to Northern California, neither the wife or I thought it prudent to check the weather report, bring a rain jacket, boots or umbrella. After I stopped sampling wines and was ready to drive us home, we decided to scanter back to our car a few blocks away in a parking garage through the dark, pouring rain, lightning and thunder. We honestly tried to find a store that sold umbrellas, but even a quick pop in to Safeway on route didn't help.

Completely soaked a few minutes later, we very much enjoyed all the heat provided by the car. The wife snapped a shot of a fancy domed building while stuck in traffic on the way down Van Ness Ave. It turns out it is SF city hall.

We'll be sure to come back to the next Vintners Market to find some more rare and magical wines to share with you!