Events

Wine, beer, and whiskey are all poured frequently at events held around the globe, and here at Drinkhacker we tend to patronize many of them. This category offers our tasting reports from these events — as well as announcements of upcoming events that you the reader may be interested in attending. Watch especially for discount codes and freebies, which we often cross-post to our Contests section.

Top Events Posts:

Tasting Report: Bourbon & Beyond 2018
Tasting Report: WhiskyFest San Francisco 2018
Tasting Report: Bordeaux and Sauternes, 2015 Vintage

Event Report: Slow Food Nation 2008

By Christopher Null | September 1, 2008 |

By now the “Slow Food” movement (get it?) should need no introduction. But for the uninitiated, the idea is to eat local, sustainable, organic, and unprocessed food, as much as possible. They’re big on veggies, biodiversity, and all that other good stuff. Hey, I’m all for it. Lord knows I need no more high fructose…

Tasting Report: Vino in Villa USA Prosecco Event, June 2008

By Christopher Null | June 10, 2008 |

Italian sparkling wine gets little love, and is often hard to find in the U.S., so it was a real treat to get to try a dozen or so Proseccos at a recent event in San Francisco, offering that rare chance to taste numerous producers and varieties side by side. First, a little primer: Prosecco…

Tasting Report: Sonoma in the City, May 2008

By Christopher Null | May 23, 2008 |

Sonoma County’s vintners threw an enormous event in a far-too-small and wholly-unorganized ballroom at San Francisco’s Four Seasons this week, showcasing some of the areas wines (in fact, all 13 Sonoma County AVAs were represented). I only managed to taste a small fraction of the more-than-100 wineries pouring at the event, but some truly inspired…

Tasting Report: Napa Valley with Altitude, April 2008

By Christopher Null | April 26, 2008 |

Rather than focus on a specific grape varietal, this event had the unique idea to get the word out about three small parts of Napa Valley, specifically, the mountain regions of Spring Mountain, Mount Veeder, and Diamond Mountain, which run one after another along the valley in the Mayacamas mountain range that makes up Napa’s…

Tasting Report: Vini Portugal, April 2008

By Christopher Null | April 24, 2008 |

In the world of wine, Portugal is known for two major things: Expensive, fortified dessert wines (Vintage Port), and super-cheap whites (primarily from the Vinho Verde region). Recently, nearly 40 Portuguese wineries, importers, and distributors gathered in San Francisco to offer an updated perspective on the wines of Portugal. The verdict: About the same as…

Tasting Report: Rhone Rangers 2008

By Christopher Null | March 18, 2008 |

One of the most exhausting and exhaustive wine events around, San Francisco’s “Rhone Rangers” celebration of Rhone-style wines (and only Rhone-style wines) was a huge hit last weekend. The only problem: With about 100 wineries in attendance, many pouring 6 or 8 wines at their tables, sampling even one wine from each winery is pretty…

Tasting Report: Bonhams Pre-Auction Event, January 2008

By Christopher Null | January 27, 2008 |

Hit another tasting event this week (check out September 2007’s report here). My notes are less copious this month; the wines were good on the whole, but nothing knocked me off my feet. Here are some thoughts on what was especially interesting over the course of the evening. Nothing of exceptional note among the whites,…

Tasting Report: Bonhams Pre-Auction Event, September 2007

By Christopher Null | September 28, 2007 |

Thirty-six wines in two hours… though we were out in 90 minutes. The trick with big wine events like this is to pace yourself and be able to maintain enough clarity to properly evaluate what you’re drinking, and at a pre-auction event, you have another challenge: There’s only one bottle of each wine available for…