Wood Tavern is a near universally acclaimed restaurant in north Oakland, at least among my circles. It’s upscale in terms of prices and dish sophistication, although the atmosphere is casual, assuming casual is what you’d call elbow-to-elbow lack of space and sucking in your stomach so you don’t knock over the neighboring diner’s wine glass
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How often do you get to chat with winemakers fresh from harvest with the purple hands to prove it and chefs young and old describing their locally sourced dishes all while helping advance the cause of sustainability with a ticket purchase and silent auction bid on more amazing foodstuffs? Okay, for me, it’s fairly often.
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Last weekend, I had the pleasure of checking out Jeff Cohn Cellars’ tasting room in Oakland along with my friend Peter, the man behind Bung R. Cooper’s wine blog. Jeff Cohn, a renowned winemaker, spent a decade learning from and crafting Rosenblum wines before starting his own winery in 2006.  He’s also a genuinely nice
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Espiral Vinho Rosé Gaia, Portugal Apologies, but I have no wine label to share with you. This is a bottle I picked up at Trader Joe’s — hopefully, that helps if you’re interested in it? Espiral Vinho Rosé is a rosé version of vinho verde, and I was super excited to see it. I love
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Pinot Evil Pinot Noir Dry Sparkling Rosé France [insert photo lost during last week’s hard drive failure. Le sigh] For a dry rosé, this is pretty darn sweet, or rather, it’s a nice blend of sweet and dry.  The flavor is strawberry galore and mostly makes me think of strawberry frozen yogurt. In fact, its
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Trader Joe’s Petit Reserve Rose 2009 Napa Valley, CA It’s a gorgeous soft gold and pink rose color. Smells pleasingly of artificial raspberry flavoring—-this is not a bad smell; think of Chapstick or Fun Dips. The wine’s taste, however, has almost no character whatsoever. It’s very thin-bodied. Raspberry and strawberry notes flee so fast you’ll
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Jujube, Chapel Hill $40 per plate Last Tuesday, I had the pleasure of attending another Jujube wine dinner—it had been a while! These dinners are kept affordable by profiling wines in the $10 to $20 range from the Hope Valley Bottle Shop crew, of which Drew did the sommelier honors this evening. Alas, I was
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Wine:  Incanto Rose Region:  Italy This sparkling rose has no nose to speak of.  It is moderately fizzy and paltry in personality.  I would liken it to a sparkling water with lemon-lime flavoring and a dash of berry.  It would work as a very light accompaniment for a meal but definitely not for drinking on
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Wine:  Clos Roche Blanche 2008 Region:  Touraine, Loire Valley, France This rose is full of berry on the nose that disappears when you drink it.  In the berry’s place, there’s a citrus flavor that tastes like Fresca, except it’s more pungent yet also more grounded.  It’s a velvety wine that is quirky, bright, and stony. 
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Chateau Morrisette Blushing Dog Table Wine This definitely tastes of roses, and smells as though you had just ripped some petals in your hand. There’s also some lime and a buttery undertone. A tad too sweet perhaps, but it’s a rose after all.