Food Partiers! loves to toast life with good glass of wine.

Sometimes it’s about about Natural Wines?.

or a trip down the Back Roads of the Wine Country.

We've been known to imbibe in wine-soaked sun dried tomatoes atop avocado toasts.

or have a good laugh at Doug’s wild adventures in Opus One.

But we don’t take wine quite as seriously as the folks at JamesSuckling.com who just put on one of THE wine events in the City. If you are that serious about Italian wines, or you just like a good party that throws in a little education when you're not looking, Great Wines of Italy is for you. I wish I could get you a ticket – you’d love it - but all dates are sold out, world-wide. Too bad, but no matter, jot the name down for next year. Held at the historic Presidio overlooking sailboats and the San Francisco Bay,



Great Wines filled five rooms with 100’s of wineries from all over Italy.



There was so much wine to taste and explore,



with fun Italians pouring and speaking their ItalianEnglish, while you practice your EnglishItalian. Multi-level seating, perfect house soundtrack, places to stroll outdoors…it was a lovely way to spend a Saturday afternoon (3 – 6 PM). A special shout out goes to party organizers for having enough cheese plate and meat platter to last to the end of the event, a rare and welcomed treat after an afternoon of high-minded drink.

I have to say I washed my hands a little bit more during the event, considering Italy is one of the hardest hit places for the coronavirus. (I just heard we wash for TWO verses of Happy Birthday). It sounds silly but I couldn't help but think about all those cross-culture microbes being swapped. I've never been a germophobe, but I guess this is the new normal, eh?

If any Food Partiers! are in the wine trade, another wine event in town deserves a shout out and your presence. The Gambero Rosso Tre Bicchieri Tour is coming back to SF this week. Nearly 200 Italian wineries pour wines awarded the coveted "Tre Bicchieri" ("three glass") designation, Italy's "best of the best."

Gambero Rosso creates an annual wine guide, the Vini d’Italia, which reviews Italy’s finest wines, as well as passionate Italians who devote their lives to winemaking. A team of 70 expert tasters then blind-taste 45,000+ of them and award fewer than 1% the Tre Bicchieri designation. Those travel to four cities in the U.S. for the 2020 tour. Consider the Tre Bicchieri designation when shopping for Italian wines.

If the germs don't end up winning, we will be Food Partying! at these events and all over the Bay Area these next weeks, writing about new openings and fun food events around Silicon Valley and beyond. Join us here, or if you want to join us in person, send in your name. We are looking for citizen Food Partiers! to come as a guest and write their own review.