8th Annual Pinot Days San Francisco
June 9th-16th
Pinot Days San Francisco features intimate tastings around the Bay at places like Vine at Bridges, Dixie Restaurant, Press Club, California Wine Merchant and Ottimista Enoteca, and culminates with our Grand Festival at Fort Mason, featuring over 200 pinot producers and over 500 celebrated wines. Click Here to View All the Events.
How to find the Best Pinots in the room?
You can’t taste every pinot – don’t try – it’s not the point! The point is to follow your palette like a North Star, and experience this beautiful little grape in as many forms and styles as compel you. Rule #1: Ignore the critics! They have a different tongue than you do. Instead, taste and decide for yourselves. You will know what you like when you taste it.
A Big Gathering Around a Tiny Grape.
Pinot Days is the biggest Pinot Noir tasting in the world. It has to be! Pinot’s greatest asset is its stylistic diversity, and we aim to give you a place to experience pinot noir in any style and from any region you choose. They will all be there. Come marvel at the vast range of very pretty forms this little grape can embody, and the fascinating, very different artistic visions of its winemakers. Open-minded when it comes to pinot? Good! You can taste, and quite possibly fall in love with, regions and styles that are new to you.
Still reading? You must be hungry by now.
Because pinot is the most versatile grape on the planet, you can find a pinot to match any food under the San Francisco sun. We’ll prove it once again at our Winemakers "Table Hop" Dinner at Dixie Restaurant, where unusual pinot pairings will knock your socks off.
What to wear at Pinot Days?
We recommend that you wear a smile and if you don’t present one at entry, it’ll be our mission to give you one to take home. If our winemakers set the dress code, you will want to be in jeans with a little bit of vineyard soil on your knees. Avoid white because the wines are red. And very, very good.Click Here to View All the Events.
Our mantra is "Serious Wine, Serious Fun."
Pinot is seriously diverse, offering a breadth of styles and quality that no other variety matches. So tasting a number of different pinots side by side is fun in and of itself, but what pushes "fun" over the top is the people behind the tables, who are some of the most colorful and charming characters you will meet. Bring friends along and the "fun" is a guarantee.
Our Pinot Principle
Pinot Days is the largest gathering of Pinot Noir producers in the world. It has to be; pinot noir is exceptionally stylistically diverse, and our aim is to give every pinot lover a place to "go deep" within the style you love. And, if you’re open to venturing outside of your comfort zone, you can experience, and quite possibly love, other styles as well. To this end we gather hundreds of pinot noir winemakers to pour hundreds of pinots that range from the picture of elegance to forward and "wow." You can’t try them all – don’t try – it’s not the point! The point is to follow your palette like a North Star, and experience this beautiful little grape in as many forms and styles as compel you. Ignore the critics; ask folks in the crowd, "Who have you tried? What do you like? " Pinot noir is way more than a grape variety –it’s an art form. It is an endlessly fascinating intellectual and aesthetic pursuit for people who want to savor the good things in life. So we invite the world to Pinot Days, because pinot noir can change the world, one pretty, little, thin-skinned grape at a time.
- Grand Festival Tasting
Saturday June 16th, 2012 2-5pm $50
Fort Mason, San Francisco
Over 150 Producers from California, Oregon, New Zealand and Burgundy - Grand Festival VIP Seminar and Early Access
Saturday June 16th, 2012 Noon-5pm $100
Fort Mason, San Francisco
For pinot lovers who want to experience our Grand Festival’s diverse, comprehensive pinot offering but prefer a quieter, more intimate experience. We invite you to come early, sit down and go deep with 4 artisan producers at our VIP "Depth and Diversity" Tasting. From 12:00-1:00pm you will get to know these winemakers and their stories as you taste two limited-production wines from each. At 1:00pm, after the VIP Hour, you are welcome to roam the festival and taste along with the Trade. This will enable you to taste what you like in a quieter setting, before the public is admitted at 2:00pm. You may continue to taste once the Public enters – we will leave that decision up to you! Click here to learn more. - Winemakers "Table Hop" Dinner at Dixie Restaurant
Thursday June 14th, 2012 6:30-10pm $140
Dixie Restaurant – San Francisco @ The Presidio
Pinot Days joins forces with the American Institute of Wine and Food to offer you a spectacular Pinot Days Winemaker Dinner: Fourteen wines, fourteen winemakers and incredible one-night only menu specially designed to highlight pinot noir’s great stylistic versatility and pairing ability at the brand new Dixie in the Presidio by Executive Chef/Owner Joseph Humphrey, previously of Murray Circle Restaurant and The Restaurant at Meadowood in Napa Valley. Click here to learn more. - Pinot Days Kickoff Tasting at the Vine at Bridges
Thursday June 14th, 2012 5-8pm $25
West Restaurant at Hotel Angeleno, Santa Monica
Six prized California pinot noir producers will pour their celebrated pinots to interested customers and will talk about their labors of love making wine from this noble grape. This is an opportunity to taste some of the most acclaimed pinots on the market today, and to meet and talk with the people who create them. Pay at the door but you may call to reserve a spot: contact The Vine here at (925)820-7210. Click here to learn more. - Pinot Days Pinot Pairing at Ottimista Enoteca
Tuesday June 12th, 2012 6-8pm $40
Wine House, Los Angeles
Five pinot producers will pour their finest to those interested in tasting and celebrating pinot noir, as paired with pinot-centric foods. Ottimista Enotecca-Cafe is known for its pairings; this is a tasting you do not want to miss. RESERVE A SPOT BY CALLING OTTIMISTA ENOTECA AT 415-674-8400, or take your chances and pay at the door (though this event usually sells out early). Call to reserve a spot at 310-479-3731, ext. 0. Click here to learn more.
2012 Pinot Days San Francisco
(Click HERE to see all the Grand Festival Exhibitors)