There are a lot of events on at the weekends; it would be a full time job trying to keeping up with them. However one that I look forward to is the annual barrel tasting at Woodside.

As you probably know, the property at 340 Kings Mountain Road has been sold and the winery is moving to an industrial unit off Willow Road. However that move isn't complete yet so this year's tasting will be held at the old winery one last time.

Unlike previous years the tastings will be hourly, starting at 5PM, 6PM and 7PM on Fridays (4th and 11th) and 1PM, 2PM, 3PM and 4PM on Saturdays (5th and 12th) and Sundays (6th and 13th). Barrel samples of 2007 Estate Cabernet and Zinfandel, and 2008 Pinot Noir will be poured with the opportunity to buy on futures. Traditionally I believe the futures discount has been 20%, plus you only have to pay half the cost up front, with the balance due on delivery.

Over in Milpitas, Big Dog Winery is open from 12-5PM on Saturday and Sunday in December until Christmas. I have yet to taste their wines so I'll try to head over and report back. If you're interested they are at 4545 Felter Road in Milpitas.

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I've spent the evening recompiling a whole bunch of code and cleaning up the errors. At the same time I decided to go through and review the winery database.

I'd heard of a couple of new wineries recently and wanted to ensure my lists were up-to-date. Sure enough, several wineries that were marked as simply "Registered" last time I checked (way too long ago I admit) now have web sites and in most cases are selling wines. I'll try to dig out more information on them and hopefully get hold of some bottles to taste. But here's a few new names to look for.

GBH Vineyard is a tiny producer based in Woodside. The winery makes about 100 cases of estate Pinot which retails for around $21. GBH apparently stands for Great Blue Heron, though I suspect that part of the name is fellow British ex-pat Paul Smith's private joke. The 2006 vintage is available now; the 2007 will be released some time soon.

Regale Vineyards is another Pinot producer. Based in Los Gatos they also claim to produce a range of unspecified wines from other appellations. Their waiting list is currently open, but no indication of when the first release will be.

Big Dog Vineyards is based in Milpitas and is producing estate Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, together with a sweet wine based on Cabernet Sauvignon. They are also sourcing Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah from Napa Valley. All are priced around $32 except the sweet wine which is $22 for a 375. The current releases are all from the 2005 vintage.

Satori Cellars from Gilroy has two 2006 Estate Zinfandels carrying the Santa Clara Valley appellation priced at $25 and $28 as well as a 2006 Walla Walla Cabernet Sauvignon at $30. Total production appears to be around 400-500 cases.

Monte Verde Vineyards are producing estate Merlot in Morgan Hill carrying the Central Coast appellation. There's also a second Merlot and a Syrah, as well as a red blend called Tres Amigos. All of these are 2006 vintage, but the web site is "under construction" and there's no prices or release date posted.

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