Updated 11:00am, 24 May (Victoria Day)

Picnic in Livermore wine country plus some tasting of the local fermented produce. We can sort out the details of picnicking later and choose the specific winery(s).

If you've got winery suggestions, put them in the thread or PM me. I'm going to ask my friend who pours in Livermore for some suggestions, too. I've never been there to taste.

Tentative plan:
Step 1: Meet at Concannon at 10:45am. Taste the offerings.
Step 2: Picnic! Pot luck style?
Step 3: Walk down Livermore Ave/Tesla Road, stopping at such wineries as we see fit.
Step 4: Return to vehicles.

Vehicle arrangement: either we can have somebody stash their car at the end to do a car shuttle for the 1.8 miles back to Concannon, or we can just walk back.


Move your name from the "maybe" list to the "attending" list!

Attending:
klezman (+ 1-3)
kittykris
tenuki (+ 1-2)
mewalk707
joannevicious (+ >1)
CAGrl + 1
javadrinker (+1?)

Maybe:
SJCwineaux
ckeilah

klezman wrote:It got mentioned a week or so ago to plan a NorCal gathering in the spring.

Post away, and then it'll actually happen!

May 1st is the date CAGirl and mewalk and I were talking about, since Vincent Arroyo open house or something is that day, hit some other places, and then have it that night up in wine country.

J's birthday party is the night before, in Berkeley, and she mentioned she might open it up to wine.wooters since she's had a blast with you guys so far. More on that later if it happens, but it means I probably wouldn't make Vincent Arroyo in the morning

I also still mean to host one at some point but with that one and the Vegas stuff, would probably be past June. If I do anything in April, it'd be more like hey, I'm having people over to drink wines, feel free to drop by than a woot gathering.

And if anyone else is picking dates and hosting, 4/9 and most of May are booked :P

I'd like something to be East Bay-ish. I can't really do the wine country trips b/c of the small ones.

I definitely can't do anything until after the first weekend in April.

Once I actually file the dissertation I wanted to do a gathering, but even though I've written the thing the official filing is up to committee approval. So could be May or June or July or August or ?

Five (www.five-berkeley.com) in Berkeley has free corkage on Mondays.

How's that for not helping?!

tenuki wrote:May 1st is the date CAGirl and mewalk and I were talking about, since Vincent Arroyo open house or something is that day, hit some other places, and then have it that night up in wine country.

J's birthday party is the night before, in Berkeley, and she mentioned she might open it up to wine.wooters since she's had a blast with you guys so far. More on that later if it happens, but it means I probably wouldn't make Vincent Arroyo in the morning

I also still mean to host one at some point but with that one and the Vegas stuff, would probably be past June. If I do anything in April, it'd be more like hey, I'm having people over to drink wines, feel free to drop by than a woot gathering.

And if anyone else is picking dates and hosting, 4/9 and most of May are booked :P

joannevicious wrote:I'd like something to be East Bay-ish. I can't really do the wine country trips b/c of the small ones.

I definitely can't do anything until after the first weekend in April.

Once I actually file the dissertation I wanted to do a gathering, but even though I've written the thing the official filing is up to committee approval. So could be May or June or July or August or ?

Five (www.five-berkeley.com) in Berkeley has free corkage on Mondays.

How's that for not helping?!

Hahaha...somebody else in dissertation hell! I'm in the same boat - defending at the end of March and out of town until after the first weekend in April.

Good luck getting the dissertation done. Mine must be in by the end of May or my funding runs out. :-)

What about wine country by day, back to the bay by night? Unless Scott Harvey opens his house again. That looked way too awesome.

Bump.

MarkDaSpark wrote:Bump.

Bump you.

Still got nothing here.

Let's propose dates in June. I'll start - how's about June 4 or 5?

Hi Klezman,

I'm pretty new to the forums but would love to meet NorCal folks. That 1st weekend of June is the 5th & 6th. I'll probably be working TAPAS (Iberian tasting)at Fort Mason on the 5th-but the 6th would be good. In any case, I'm pretty free after April.

I'm in the East Bay. Maybe we could do a Livermore picnic?

p.s. Congrats!

kittykris wrote:Hi Klezman,

I'm pretty new to the forums but would love to meet NorCal folks. That 1st weekend of June is the 5th & 6th. I'll probably be working TAPAS (Iberian tasting)at Fort Mason on the 5th-but the 6th would be good. In any case, I'm pretty free after April.

I'm in the East Bay. Maybe we could do a Livermore picnic?

p.s. Congrats!

I don't actually know the normal way of organising these gatherings since I've never been to one. It seems from the event titles and boards that people pick themes and then everybody brings a bottle. Tenuki has done this before...we should ask him.

June 6th sounds good to me. Livermore is the far side of the Bay Area for me, but I'm flexible.

klezman wrote:I don't actually know the normal way of organising these gatherings since I've never been to one. It seems from the event titles and boards that people pick themes and then everybody brings a bottle. Tenuki has done this before...we should ask him.

June 6th sounds good to me. Livermore is the far side of the Bay Area for me, but I'm flexible.

Livermore picnic sounds kinda interesting, I'd kinda defer to CAGirl on theme or date though since she's leaving in July.

klezman wrote:I don't actually know the normal way of organising these gatherings since I've never been to one. It seems from the event titles and boards that people pick themes and then everybody brings a bottle. Tenuki has done this before...we should ask him.

June 6th sounds good to me. Livermore is the far side of the Bay Area for me, but I'm flexible.

Yeah, tenuki... get in here and help :P

I like the idea of a Livermore picnic. Here is a list of wineries. Several have places we could picnic including Concannon.

If we do daytime activities a Saturday would work best for me. That way I can find cheap lodging and drive home the next day. But this isn't about me... who's hosting?

Seriously, as far as the actual date goes... i'm flexible. Somebody pick one

klezman wrote:Funny you should mention that...get yourself over to the NorCal #5 Thread and chime in!

OK, I'll check in, but only to say I'm interested in principle, but unlikely to participate in practice. It all depends on the time, date & final location. I'm pretty booked up in June. (I'll be sending my baby away to college next fall. Maybe I can get my own life back once the nest is empty. Or maybe not, SWMBO says she can tell red from white and I should keep picking good ones. She doesn't show a lot of enthusiasm for events & scheduling cooperation can be a little hard to come by, but probably not impossible.)

Anyway, plan without me and have fun!

What are you No.Cal. winos doing in June? How do I "subscribe" to this thread, so I can get pinged when there is a response? I always forget there is a wine.woot.community outside the regular woots. ;-)

ckeilah wrote:What are you No.Cal. winos doing in June? How do I "subscribe" to this thread, so I can get pinged when there is a response? I always forget there is a wine.woot.community outside the regular woots. ;-)

If we ever settle anything I'll send you a pm, which is also almost unnoticeable but ... :P or pm me your e-mail or hit me up on facebook.

If it's a wine tasting DAY thing I can't do June 5th but can do June 6th.

So I ran into a friend the other day who actually pours for a couple of the wineries in Livermore from time to time. She said it would be a great way to spend a day. And that she would come and try to work her magic in getting discounted tastings.

So let's say June 6. Sunday. There were two votes in favour of that day, and one preference for the 5th instead.

I'll ping my friend about potential locations that would be optimal for a picnic and to start out, and we can go from there.

Sound good?

June 6th works for me. Thomas Coyne & Fenestra are both at the West End of Livermore & both have great picnic areas & very knowledgeable winemakers who are usually there. I sometimes pour at Fenestra & also bid on a private barrel tasting which I never did so will see if it might be possible to schedule one.

Forget who said they didn't like TAPAS, but you might try it again this year. It is in a bigger venue this year & I believe the food issue is being addressed.

Cheers to all...

Oooo...Livermore on a Sunday for a picnic and wine tasting? Put me down as a maybe +1. Driving to Livermore is obviously much closer to me in So Cal than driving to wine country plus I really want to explore more of the area. I hit Concannon on the way home from No Cal #4 and ended up with an extra case of discounted wine from them. Funny thing is I'm drinking that very wine right now...a 1998 Concannon Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve. This could be fun.

Put me and hubby down as a maybe for now. And if we can bring Lexie (the dog) that might go a long way in convincing us. But with moving, packing and such, we need our weekends and our money for the move. So as time gets closer, we'll know better. It sounds like a great idea though.

Greetings,

This sounds lovely, but this is the first time I've stumbled upon this. What usually happens at these events? Random mix of fun people all interested in wine-tasting and hanging out, or do you do this frequently and all know eachother??

Just looking for info, thanks!

mclindy wrote:Greetings,

This sounds lovely, but this is the first time I've stumbled upon this. What usually happens at these events? Random mix of fun people all interested in wine-tasting and hanging out, or do you do this frequently and all know eachother??

Just looking for info, thanks!

We all started off at strangers at some point It's usually a random mix, a few of us know each other from previous gatherings, some I only know online like klezman. This one looks to be about half and half between people I know and don't know. It's always fun, people bond pretty quickly when drinking and wine.wooters in general are pretty awesome.

mclindy wrote:Greetings,

This sounds lovely, but this is the first time I've stumbled upon this. What usually happens at these events? Random mix of fun people all interested in wine-tasting and hanging out, or do you do this frequently and all know eachother??

Just looking for info, thanks!

I haven't actually met any wine.wooters in real life yet, which is one of the reasons I'm psyched about this gathering. Every gathering thread I've seen so far (especially the NorCal #4 one from Feb) has sounded like way too much fun. Random mix of interesting people + tasty beverages. What's to be bad?

Bump.

And let us know if you're going to come! It's getting closer...

klezman wrote:Bump.

And let us know if you're going to come! It's getting closer...

Count me in.

mewalk707 wrote:Count me in.

I should be in as well, might be +1 or 2.

Also not sure if anyone was planning on going to TAPAS the day before (Sat. June 6 2-5), Grand Wine Tasting tix on goldstar for $25 (+$6). For that price I'm tempted to check it out, and hopefully they fixed the problems people complained about last year (no food or water).

tenuki wrote:Also not sure if anyone was planning on going to TAPAS the day before (Sat. June 6 2-5), Grand Wine Tasting tix on goldstar for $25 (+$6). For that price I'm tempted to check it out, and hopefully they fixed the problems people complained about last year (no food or water).

Sounds like fun but i'll be at the Oakland A's Beer Fest. Mmm... beer...

tenuki wrote:Also not sure if anyone was planning on going to TAPAS the day before (Sat. June 6 2-5), Grand Wine Tasting tix on goldstar for $25 (+$6). For that price I'm tempted to check it out, and hopefully they fixed the problems people complained about last year (no food or water).

Don't know what Grand Wine Tasting Tix are but, Bay Area Half Off has 2 tickets for $35.

I might go to TAPAS. Not sure yet though.

Ok, seriously, I think I'm moving myself to the ATTENDING list. Probably plus AT LEAST 1. I've been wanting to do the Livermore wine tasting. Will get back with more attendance deets as I have them.

Who's in charge of the itinerary?

Also, I have a minivan so can bring people (in the Berkeley-ish area).

joannevicious wrote:Ok, seriously, I think I'm moving myself to the ATTENDING list. Probably plus AT LEAST 1. I've been wanting to do the Livermore wine tasting. Will get back with more attendance deets as I have them.

Who's in charge of the itinerary?

Also, I have a minivan so can bring people (in the Berkeley-ish area).

"Who's in charge?"
"We don't know!" (undergrad engineering sloganeering)

Seriously, no agenda on my part...just out to try new things. Which is all the wineries of Livermore.

So bumping this thread up and to see if we can get something more definitive going.

Sounds like a great idea so we definitely have to do some planning now that Vegas is over and tenuki and mewalk can concentrate on the next nor cal.

CAGrl wrote:So bumping this thread up and to see if we can get something more definitive going.

Sounds like a great idea so we definitely have to do some planning now that Vegas is over and tenuki and mewalk can concentrate on the next nor cal.

Good job reading my mind!

I was just looking up the Livermore wine map, and am thinking of places to go. Or at least to start. Things seem much more clustered than either Napa or Sonoma, so it might even be possible to gather in one place and walk to a few others.

Cuda Ridge looks interesting.
They're right next door to Ryhan Vineyards, who seem to make some wacky wines (e.g. almond sparkling)

There also seems to be a string of wineries along S. Livermore Ave, which would make for a natural progression. Could start at Concannon or Page Mill.

Thoughts?

klezman wrote:Good job reading my mind!

I was just looking up the Livermore wine map, and am thinking of places to go. Or at least to start. Things seem much more clustered than either Napa or Sonoma, so it might even be possible to gather in one place and walk to a few others.

Cuda Ridge looks interesting.
They're right next door to Ryhan Vineyards, who seem to make some wacky wines (e.g. almond sparkling)

There also seems to be a string of wineries along S. Livermore Ave, which would make for a natural progression. Could start at Concannon or Page Mill.

Thoughts?

I'm a good mind reader. I'm a follower. So I'm usually good going with what others who are more in the know decide.

CAGrl wrote:I'm a good mind reader. I'm a follower. So I'm usually good going with what others who are more in the know decide.

Concannon's a must given that's the one Java might actually drive up for.

For one's I've never heard of/never tasted, I'd be interested in Red Feather and Bent Creek, admittedly because both offer port as well as reds and whites, Red Feather I think also has a sparkling.

Fenestra is a slightly bigger name I've been meaning to try but also have no experience with.

As for attendance, J will probably come as well. Not sure if I'll be able to drag anyone else out

tenuki wrote:Concannon's a must given that's the one Java might actually drive up for.

For one's I've never heard of/never tasted, I'd be interested in Red Feather and Bent Creek, admittedly because both offer port as well as reds and whites, Red Feather I think also has a sparkling.

Fenestra is a slightly bigger name I've been meaning to try but also have no experience with.

As for attendance, J will probably come as well. Not sure if I'll be able to drag anyone else out

Concannon is always a good one, especially if Java is going to come.

I've been to Fenestra during a bachelorette party, but since I was the driver, I didn't drink too much. If I remember from my time a year ago, the tasting fees were reasonable for the amount of tastings they offer.

Anyway, I'm really excited about this.

CAGrl wrote:Concannon is always a good one, especially if Java is going to come.

I've been to Fenestra during a bachelorette party, but since I was the driver, I didn't drink too much. If I remember from my time a year ago, the tasting fees were reasonable for the amount of tastings they offer.

Anyway, I'm really excited about this.

OK, so in the dual interests of getting Java to come and to start some place simple, why not say we kick it off at Concannon at 10:45am or so? Then we don't need to wake up annoyingly early (yay!), and we can get in a tasting before picnicking. Then we can just pull out the map and go from there.

My god...is this a plan coming together?!

klezman wrote:My god...is this a plan coming together?!

Just in time for the A team remake!

I'm a late riser too so 10:45 sounds good, people that want to hit more places could go earlier and just meet at Concannon then.

Thinking about Livermore also reminds me there's a putt putt place out there. J's been wanting to play forever, so might head there after wineries (looks like most close at 4:30) if people want to join.

tenuki wrote:Just in time for the A team remake!

I'm a late riser too so 10:45 sounds good, people that want to hit more places could go earlier and just meet at Concannon then.

Thinking about Livermore also reminds me there's a putt putt place out there. J's been wanting to play forever, so might head there after wineries (looks like most close at 4:30) if people want to join.

Earlier is better for me anyway since I have late afternoon plans in the east bay. So we'll meet at Concannon at 10.45? I'll prob be exiting the area around 3ish...

I checked out the map and here's wineries around Concannon and their hours:

Concannon 11-4.30
Page Mill 12-4.30
Crooked Vine 12-4.30
La Rochelle 12-4
Wente 11-6.30
Cedar Mountain 12-4
Garre 11.30-5
Nottingham Cellars 12-5
Occasio 12.5
Hidden Creek 12-4.30
Cedar Ridge 12-4.30
Ryhan 12-5

I just vote for not a lot of driving.

joannevicious wrote:I checked out the map and here's wineries around Concannon and their hours:

Concannon 11-4.30
Page Mill 12-4.30
Crooked Vine 12-4.30
La Rochelle 12-4
Wente 11-6.30
Cedar Mountain 12-4
Garre 11.30-5
Nottingham Cellars 12-5
Occasio 12.5
Hidden Creek 12-4.30
Cedar Ridge 12-4.30
Ryhan 12-5

I just vote for not a lot of driving.

Would recommend Concannon, Wente and Retzlaff as "must visit"s.