Pinot and the City: Pinot Days 2008

I pulled into the Fort Mason Festival Pavilion parking lot in San Francisco on a foggy Sunday morning, June 29th, 2008, Pinot Noir producers were hurriedly bringing cases of wine in to the Pinot Days Grand Tasting and a line of over 100 eager and thirsty attendees had already formed at the entrance twenty minutes before opening. The 4th Annual Pinot Days in San Francisco (similar events will be held in Chicago in the Fall of 2008 and New York in the Spring of 2009) is a unique opportunity for pinot geeks to sample the Pinot Noirs of small boutique operations whose wines have limited distribution. This year there were over 160 wineries, retailers, and wine distributors offering Pinot for every palate and 3,500 pinotphiles with palates for every Pinot. With many producers pouring several wines, there was nearly 500 Pinot Noirs to sample! Needless to say, I had been in training in the weeks preceding the event, and I was determined to swirl, sip and spit as many of the wines as I could over the 5-6 hour timeframe.

And there's more!