Labor Day! Gateway to Cheese!

And no, I'm not talking about VH1 Classic 80 Hours of the '80's, although let me tell you, the big haired earnest drama and clumsy special effects call to me with a siren song as strong as the saltiest cave aged Gruyere!

Anyway, the Cheese School in San Francisco's North Beach has been around since 2006. Located in a naturally aged brick walk up, the sunny space host events suitable for the food professional or the merely curious. As the Indian Summer heat waned, Xandria and I hit their Drop in Night. Ukulele music? Not sure about that. However, I was instantly in love with the locations; attention to cheese and wine pairing. They served two wines, a Tocai Friuliano "Vida Rose" from David Noyes and WELLINGTON 2004 GRENACHE "ESTATE VINEYARD" SONOMA VALLEY. These were selected to pair first the white with the softer, floral goat cheeses and the red, with the harder cheeses. In actuality, both went interchangeably. The heat of the day made the Tocai a welcome palate refresher. The grenache was a great wine. With complex chocolate, spice and a hint of licorice at the end. The cheese, as you can imagine, was off the hook.

Tomme - Georgia This cheese was a cow milk variety with Havarti like characteristics

Chapparal - Santa Margarita Valley, CA. Made from a blend of sheep and cow milk, this had a rich, round flavor with a hint of sheep on the finish. Because I'm not the biggest fan of anything gamy (read: all things ovine), I needed bread with this to balance the taste

Ayr - Vermont This cow milk cheese tasted like a creamier cheddar. Hard and salty, it was a masterful pairing with the Grenache. A slight grapey taste rocked alone or with bread. My favorite!

Promontory - Utah Is Promontory Mormon for "velveeta"? This cheese tasted off and kind of processed.

Grayson - Virginia Delightful slightly ( and when I say slightly, the aroma wafted over on the early evening heat the second we crossed the threshold of the place) stinky cheese with brie-like qualities along with a more assertive sharpness and lovely rose colored rind. I'll be looking for this one.

Bellies full of cheese, we wobbled out into the evening prowling for wine. Having never been there and already having parking, we thought we would try to take public transportation to Cellar 360 ://www.cellar360.com/cellar360/index.jsp Of course, you're exactly right...this has trouble written all over it. The public transportation part. We gave up and cabbed it out to their location. And a good thing too, as we were cutting it a little close. But we were able to get a great overview of the interesting classes they offer and are definitely signing up for the Mushroom class. The tasting room is lovely, the staff super friendly and knowledgeable. We had a quick taste of the good things they have to offer: Etude Pinot Noir! Since they had already locked the doors, we reluctantly left this lovely spot and ventured into the fog to trace our way back to the car. Xandria's inappropriate footwear and my latent lazy streak prompted us to dispense with the pretense of public transpo. Grabbing a cab in SF can be like hunting ocelet. Luckily, Ana Mandara is like a watering hole for our elusive quarry, so in seconds (almost like a reward for resisting the pull of cocktails!) a towncar pulled up. We know value when we see it and snagged it. A good time was had by all!

It's a Family Affair

400 Wineries gathered in one place to celebrate the rich past, present and future of wine making and provide samples for a thirsty public ---trade/media and otherwise. Entering was a little overwhelming as tables filled the Festival Pavilion at Fort Mason all laden with offerings from the dedicated wine professionals who harness their passion and drive to create diverse wines. All things wine A - Z from Abundance Chardonnay to Zenaida Zinfandel. I did not pace myself and instead flung headlong into tasting with no rhyme or reason. However, this was one of those events. where you simply could not go wrong. Except in not reading that there would be no concession area and in skipping lunch. It could have been so very tragic...Except my saviours the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board and Columbo Baking Company were there serving up all the cheese you could eat!!! With a deal like that, who needed concessions? Standouts for me:

Twisted Oak Petite Syrah

Ackerman Family Vineyards Cab Sauv (Napa. YUM!)

C.G. di Arie Barbera

Chasseur Pinot Noir (PS: Chasseur = hunter... Chaussure = shoe)

Siduri Pinot Noir

Small Vines Pinot Noir (Delightfully Burgundian!)

Yorkville Cab Sauv

Taste of Railroad Square

If there's anything I love, it's boozing and noshing for a worthy cause. It's great to snack for the kids/disease/injustice or in this case to benefit the 6th Street Playhouse, a 501(c)(3) not for profit organization, celebrating its outstanding youth and adult School of Drama education programs and a full season of musicals and plays in the G.K. Hardt Theater and The Studio.6th Street Playhouse is a proud member of the Historic Railroad Square Association.For information about 6th Street Playhouse including show and class schedules visit http://www.6thstreetplayhouse.com/. Yes people, drama is important.

We walked around sampling wine and snacks and getting reintroduced to a very cute area, downtown Santa Rosa. The standouts for me were the Sunce wines at Fabulous finds. I love visiting Sunce for the Russian River Valley events and their wine does not disappoint. Rich, fruit forward Zinfandel and Syrah. Both paired well with the pulled pork sandwiches. The Wine Spectrum Bar and shop had a delightful Willowbrook pinot noir---so delightful, I did not miss the no snack aspect. The place itself is super cute and the staff knowledgeable and fun. I'll definitely be back here! The standout wine for the day for me had to be the Matrix and Mazzocco being poured at Sherrie Blondin's Photography. Besides the fact that "Dr. Sherrie" (she can so fix the look of your abs, nose, significant other! The girl has Talent!) was showcasing her work, the wine was excellent. I particularly enjoyed the Matrix '03 Bordeaux Blend. Composed of 64% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Merlot, 8% Malbec, 8% Petit Verdot & 4% Cabernet Franc, I got floral infused notes as well as black currant and a delightfule woodsy aroma underneath. I also like the Mazzocco, but cannot remember which one it was! From a snack perspective, my favorite was the Kobe beef slider served with truffle fries! Kobe beef needs to be properly cooked to maximize its juicy goodness and the folks at Stark's did a great job seasoning, selecting the brioche bun and pairing it with truffle fries, which are quite possibly the world's most perfect food. Paired with a nondescript, but serviceable KJ, one longed for a more inspired match, however, the smoky ambiance more than made up for it. Comfortable leather club chairs and a live band serving up late '70's AOR straight out of the movie "FM" took me back to Marin County. Someone find me a peacock feather! Delightful. By now somewhat tipsy, we somehow found a place serving Fred Flintstone portions of *gasp* Cold Stone Creamery Ice cream cake. Ambrosial delights of ultra creamy strawberry ice cream artfully wrapped around tender yellow cake. A few more stops then I reluctantly parted company with the Luscious Lushes, at Bistro Syrah, I grabbed a bottle of Rochioli Sauvignon Blanc to take to my next stop. Railroad Square definitely left me wanting more! Thanks, Thea!!!