Woo hoo, the Californian gold, er, wine rush is on!

How often is it that you get a chance to taste any American wines? In Australia, they're a bit scarce on the ground so interesting wines like zinfandel are rarely seen, let alone tasted. My last experience of American wine was a cracker of a pinot noir that left me wanting more, much more and who would have thought that a decent gerwurtztraminer could come from here?

The good people at Prince Wine Store have just imported a range of Californian wines, some from well regarded, long established producers as well as those from more accessible makers. These wines come from three distinct wine making regions and typify the varieties best suited to each region. This is what Prince's Michael McNamara has to say...

In origin they hail from across three very distinct winemaking zones in Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino (and the many sub-zones therein). These areas share staggering natural beauty that include the redwood forests of the Russian River Valley, the fog-shrouded northern coastline and the sheer compact impact of the Napa Valley itself. In many ways that’s where the similarities end though, as the regions diverge and play to their strong varietal suit; Napa and the Bordeaux varieties, Sonoma takes zinfandel, pinot noir and chardonnay and sleepy Mendocino is emerging as an excellent source of the Burgundy varieties as well as the aromatic whites.

Producers such as Philip Togni, David Ramey and Laurel Glen are well regarded in their home and export markets and Michael felt lucky to get any allocations at all of some of these wines and has kindly put them on at a free tasting, that's right, FREE. Some of the wines are apparently quite stunning, so if you have nothing else on this Saturday afternoon, head on down and learn about Californian wines. All of them are new to Australia.

Where: Prince Wine Store
Location: 177 Bank Street, South Melbourne
When: Saturday, August 11th, 12-2pm