PIT YOUR PALATE AGAINST THE PROS

Each year Cabernet fans in the Bay Area have a special opportunity to indulge their passion!  Moved to the end of March in an historic and convenient Union Square setting, you can enjoy this unique experience without the crowd crush of the mega tastings or driving long distances for Passport weekends

Over a number of weeks, Affairs of the Vine convenes a select panel of 40 winemakers, writers, retailers, educators, and consultants to judge the Cabernet Shootout among artisan Cabernet Sauvignons, Cabernet Francs and Cabernet blends from over 35 different viticultural areas.  Without regard to price, vintage or region, this group of experts moves 64 wines to the final round selecting 32 "best of the best."  An array of finalists are then tasted blind and evaluated by wine lovers at the March 21st event.

The afternoon begins with a VIP panel of winemakers who will present the nature and nurture of crafting their top Cab which will be poured, with time for questions and observations from the audience. They will cover:

~HOW PLACE AFFECTS TASTE: How much does terroir play a role in the crafting of Cabernet versus winemaking techniques.  The panels will concentrate on how site influences a winemaker moving from vineyard to fermentation, touching on appellation and specific geographical location, clone preference, vine management, pick date effected by weather, influence of marketing, and the like.  ~THE WINEMAKERS SIGNATURE: the stylistic choices in the winemaking process--the winemaker's personal decisions, focusing on such specifics as yeasts, whether to go with whole cluster fermentation temperature and tanks, alcohol content, punch downs vs. pup-overs, barrel age, skin contact time, bottling date and related topics.

After the optional VIP workshop, the finalists can be evaluated in a blind tasting.Each Cab enthusiast can choose their favorites in one of two flights of 16 Cabs each containing five of the top 10 wines chosen by the panelists.

In this variation of a Pro/Am competition, the results of the professionals'  Cab Shootout will then be compared to the tally of the  'amateurs' Cab Challenge, both tabulated separately by gender.

This distinctly different format provides a special opportunity to compare your favorites of this taste-off to those of the 'tastemakers' in the wine industry.  It also allows participants to sample and rate very limited production rising star wines.

During the afternoon, attendees will also be able to mingle and meet with a number of the vintners from the wineries that participated in the Cabernet Shootout in an open walk around tasting accompanied by various nibbles.

Sample wines from a mix of boutique producers from appellations located throughout the West Coast including varietals other than Cabernets. Participating wineries will be selling their wines for take away.

We will also be raffling off bottles of killer Cabs from the participating wineries to raise funds for Big Brothers/Big Sisters of the Bay Area.sAnd since we are expecting 25+ wineries  to pour in the walk around tasting, and no more than 350 tickets will be sold, the odds are quite good that you can walk away with a superb bottle of vino. TRANSIT & PARKING: Three blocks away from BART and Muni Metro, and near numerous garages.