Terroir Wine Bar San Francisco

Terroir Natural Wine Merchant & Wine Bar

terroirsf.com

On a mission to locate and taste some orange wines (All About Orange Wine by Wine Folly) before leaving America, my search led me here. Terroir San Francisco, a no frills wine bar and merchant that focuses on providing "the best wines made using only the most natural organic and bio-dynamic methods available today the world over." 

Orange Wine? White wine grapes, left on their skins and sometimes even their seeds and stems during the wine making process...leading to a wine orange/amber in color. 

Terroir has some Italian orange wines for sell by the bottle. Below are the webpages and some adorable illustrations on how the wines may taste. Unfortunately these bottles were priced well over $100usd, which made them out of my price range for the day, and for a type of wine I've never tried before. But not to fret! the staff at Terrior was glad to point me in the right direction towards a shop close by, that also had Georgian orange wines that would be more in my price range. www.klwines.com

www.gravner.it

Illustration from wakawakawinereviews.com

www.vodopivec.it

Illistration from wakawakawinereviews.com

 When I arrived, Terrior was just opening their doors for the day, so I had the staff all to myself. The staff here is extremely knowledgeable about the wines they are providing here, and are happy to give recommendations on other wine bars to check out around the city.

If you prefer privacy away from the crowd, there is more seating located on the 2nd floor.

Wine and vinyls! yes! this is how you relax. 

Read More

It's Personal Wine Bar Folsom

It's Personal Wine 

Folsom Location

www.itspersonalwine.com

Looking for a place to go after checking out The Cellar Wine Bar down the street, It's Personal Wine lured me in by the mesmerizing tunes of their live band. It seems this place is a hangout spot among the locals, which are ever so friendly. The name "It's Personal" may come from the fact that you can order customized wine labels from this shop starting at $1.50. 

The wine here is moderately priced and the bottles on their wine list seem to be under the radar...I couldn't find any information about the labels unfortunately.  Not to fret though! I did happen to spot a bottle of Merlo Family's Syrah rosé, a bottle I previously tried at Merlo's tasting room at The Old Sugar Mill where I first fell in love with it.

The first time I tried this bottle was at Merlo's tasting room at The Old Sugar Mill in Clarksburg. Sharing this bottle with family was a must! I paid some of my relatives a visit in Sonoma, where we feasted on home cooked bbq chicken, grilled garden grown veggies, and my great uncle's proudly grown heirloom tomatoes, which happended to win Best of Show at this year's Kendall-Jackson Heirloom Tomato Festival.

A hypnotically alluring nose of rose pedals, ripe grapefruit, tart strawberries, and a silky body with just the right hint of acid is what I got from this bottle.

A note about the wine from the winery, "The fruit was pressed whole-cluster with no further skin contact into stainless steel to settle overnight. Fermentation was conducted entirely with native yeasts and no manipulation of the juice in ancient French oak barrels that long ago stopped giving oak aromas or flavors. The wine was allowed to rest on its lees until bottling early March 2014."

As I sat at the bar I overheard the bartender talking about a new cider "Shilling Chaider Spiced Chai Cider" they had on tap.  He made it sound so delicious I had to give it a try and I'm happy I did. This stuff is tasty! I wish I could bring some of this stuff back to Asia with me.

Info and photo from Schilling's webpage www.schillingcider.com

Read More

The Cellar Wine Bar Folsom

The Cellar Wine Bar

thecellarwinebar.com

Rustically decorated, an inviting atmosphere, and conveniently located in historic Folsom. This countrified looking wine bar offers, wine, beer, cheese & carcuterie boards, an array of tapas, and artisan flatbread pizzas. 

A handsome shot of The Cellar Wine Bar Folsom check out their food menu

A shot of the bar from The Cellar Wine Bar's page they also have beer!

I do fancy happy hour and weekday specials. These types of offers are especially great if you're a traveler popping into wine bars on the weekdays, which is often the case.  More wines to try! hooray!

Happy Hour Tuesday-Friday 4-6PM $4-$6 wine, beer, small dishes

Happy Hour All Day Tuesdays

Bubbles Wednesdays 50%  Off Bottles of Bubbles

   Thursdays 25%  Off Every Bottle

A better visual of their wine list thecellarwinebar.com/wine/

Try wine by:

 Flights (3 different glasses of wine, same or similar varietal/blend)

by 1/2 glass

by the glass

or by the bottle

I usually like to taste by the 1/2 glass and try much more.

Some of you must think I ought to be getting tired of all these meat & cheese boards by now.....

The Cellar Cheese & Meat Board

So here's how the meat & cheese boards work

Small Board: Choose any 3 items from their meats & cheeses list

Large Board: Choose any 5 items from their meats & cheese list

Add another item $4

Gluten Free $3

Boards are served with nuts, olives, fig jam, apricot jam, Dijon granular mustard, and bread.

Read More

The Rind Sacramento

The Rind

www.therindsacramento.com

FB

1801 L Street, Suite 40, Sacramento, CA 95816

(Near Buckhorn Grill, Down the road de Vere's Irish Pub)

Phone: (916)441-RIND (7463)

Hours:

Monday-Wednesday     11AM-10PM

Thursday                       11AM-11PM

Friday-Saturday            11AM-12AM

Sunday                           11AM-10PM

Dimly lit with a home like feel, The Rind, the perfect name for what they do here, cheese galore!  Grilled cheese sandwiches, mac & cheese, cheese boards, cheese fondue, and of course wine and beer. The Rind even does this thing called "Legen-Dairy Hour" (their happy hour) Monday-Saturday 3PM-6PM and all day Sunday! $1 off draft beers and $2 off wines by the glass.  This is a great place to start the night, especially while your palate is still fresh and able to distinguish between wines if you're doing flights, and trying different cheeses. Because let's be serious, everything starts to taste divine after a few glasses of wine. 

Image by Melanie Wong on Chowhound http://goo.gl/LYnrIY

Snug and cozy The Rind is.  There are quite a few tables for a more intimate setting. And my favorite a bar! great for if you are alone, or if you want to chat up the staff about their wine, beer, and cheeses.  

 At night it is dimly lit, so if you are like me and like to ogle over the color of your wine then I recommend going before dark. 

 Legen-Dairy Hour it is!  

There's an amusing little mix between California wines, some old world wines, and even a late harvest Sauvignon Blanc from Chile on their list.  No wine list is complete without dessert wines! A wonderful contrast food and wine pairing I love to indulge in is Port with bleu cheeses. 

Image by Brian Espinosa https://plus.google.com/+brianespinosa/posts

What I love about this place...besides the cheese and wine of course, is their daily specials.  Their "weekly cheesey-cool things to do" reminded me of all the times I joined "Big Beer Tuesdays" at Beer & Cheese Social House in Taipei, Taiwan. 

Monday Fondue Nights 5-10PM

Wine Wednesdays, All Day- Free cheese boards with $30 or more wine bottle purchase

Thursday Flight Nights 9:30PM-11PM (half pours of any 3 or more wines or draft beers)

"Kitchen closes around 10pm, cheese boards, wine, and beer are served until just before closing."

"Kitchen closes around 10pm, cheese boards, wine, and beer are served until just before closing."

Read More

Revolution Wines Sacramento

Revolution Wines 

rev.wine

FB

2831 S Street, Sacramento, CA 95816

(Near Temple Coffee)

Phone: (916) 444-7711

Hours:
Monday                     Closed
Tuesday-Thursday          11:30AM-9PM
Friday-Saturday             11:30AM-10PM
Sunday                            11:30AM-9PM

"Sacramento's terroir" that's what revolution wines is doing.

 Upon first walking in here I thought Revolution Wines may be like any other wine bar, but that thought was far from true. Revolution Wines is a wine bar and urban winery embodying the concept of Sacramento's terroir, by using wine grapes from locally sourced vineyards, and serving up delicious bites using local ingredients. 

 What is terroir exactly? Think of it as being the taste of a place. Take Chardonnay; a versatile and terroir expressive grape variety that is grown all over the world. Chardonnay grown in Burgundy, is going to taste different compared to Chardonnay grown in California, Australia, or even Canada; due to factors such as climate, soil, terrain, and even wine making techniques.

Courtesy of Wine Folly

Hours of Operation 

Not a fan of sitting inside? Revolution Wines has a giant outside patio prettily decorated with gleaming lights reminiscent of the glow of a city street after the rain. 

Wine on tap! yes!

Picture from rev.wine

Wine and food pairing recommendations 

Wine flights are always a great way to familiarize yourself with the difference between varieties.

 Choose from wine by the glass, half carafe, or full carafe.

Wines on tap are available for the RENEW refillable bottle program. 

List from rev.wine

The Wine List and prices

Picture from Revolution Wines Menu

Cheese Platters

Read More