Snaps From JC Cellars Beach Party (7/14)

I went to the JC Cellars Open House ages ago (July 14) and had a fantastic time. It's taken me forever to upload these photos, and they were all taken on my iPhone so...there's that. But I'd definitely encourage anyone who has a chance to attend next year to jump on it.










I clearly started with the food spread. Ok, I didn't actually start with the food spread, I started with the wine, but I didn't want to be obnoxiously snapping pictures of the people as they poured, so I took snaps of the food instead. It was a good line-up. Fancy cheeses and bread (I've provided a close-up just in case you wanted to know more about the cheese), grapes, salami, and these amazing little freshly made pizzas by Casey's Pizza. There were a couple of people devoted just to keeping the pizza stocked, and it had this fantastic charred crust. The pizza crew would walk around with the pie, offering slices to you, so no matter how lazy you were you'd get pizza in yo face.There was also zinfandel ice cream from Tucker's! Which I forgot to try, but there was a small child thoroughly enjoying it. I approve of that parenting.

The beach-theme was in full effect, with beach balls, Hawaiian shirts, beach towels, and a few random parrots. A DJ named Brett provided the tunes, and numerous stations were set up with a couple of wines at each for sampling, running from light to dark to dessert.

Just for the party, JC Cellars pre-released their 2009 Zinfandel line-up, many of which were my favorites of the wines I tasted (and I tasted them all). The Zins included grapes from Landy Sweetwater Springs, Iron Hill Vineyard, Dusi Vineyard & St. Peter’s Church Vineyard.

And below is JC (Jeff Cohn), clearly hiding from me (Hawaiian shirt behind the Hawaiian shirt). He was an amazing host, telling us about how he sources grapes (from all over the state), and the inspiration behind naming a white blend of Roussanne and Marsanne "First Date." While it doesn't look like the winery has any events planned in the warehouse yet, you can check out their website for a list of events where they'll be pouring their wines. At least take the time to try their zin.

55 4th St., Oakland

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