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	Upcoming Events Recent Events Calendar Regional Groups Calendar Archive About SIGS	Myth-Busting in Livermore By Tim Patterson The Livermore Wine Country is a) hot as blazes—they pretty much cook their grapes out there; b) able to make decent white wines, but not reds; or c) dead in the water—a region time has passed by. The correct answer: “None of the Above,” as 20 Food Society members and guests learned in tasty detail Saturday June 23rd. Talking and tasting at Les Chênes, Livermore’s newest winery, our delegation got the straight story from Carolyn Wente (representing Murrieta’s Well, a label owned by the Wente family), Thomas Coyne (of Thomas Coyne Winery, natch), Dane Stark of Page Mill and host Richard Dixon of Les Chênes. Wines from Murrieta's Well The session began like a meteorology seminar. The image of Livermore as far too hot for making fine wine is simply not true, we learned—or if Livermore is too hot, Napa is off the charts. Both Livermore and Napa have multiple meso-climates, but taken overall they’re quite similar in terms of growing season temperatures. For the record, on the day of the event, the high in Livermore was 77º; the high in St. Helena 85º. Livermore has a proud history—starting with California’s first-ever Grand Prize at an international competition in 1889 and carrying through on a par with any part of the state into the 1950s. The Napa wine revolution of the 1960s and 1970s—half winemaking, half marketing—left everyone else in the dust for a time. But now with 38 wineries and counting, Livermore is a player again, for anyone who takes the time to check it out. The wines spoke for themselves, though the winemakers added some interesting comments of their own. Most of the wines were red, all of them found enthusiastic fans, and all of them were rationally priced, a refreshing surprise in today’s wine market. There was an illuminating discussion about the difficulties faced by small producers—most Livermore wineries make under 5,000 cases a year—in a non-glamour region. By the end of the afternoon, the solution to that problem was obvious: buy more Livermore wine.	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A Lively Discussion of Today's Most Challenging Food Choices July 12, 2004 Blenheim Apricot Food Tour May 17, 2004 Stirring the Pot: A Conversation with Hubert Keller, Michael Mina and Bradley Ogden March 15, 2004 Stirring the Pot: A Conversation with Gerald Asher February 10, 2004 SFPFS Traveling Table goes to New Delhi Restaurant January 26, 2004 AGM / NMR Review November 10, 2003 Reel Food - Castro Theatre September 25, 2003 Food Tour - Heritage Fruit Orchard at Filoli Gardens September 17, 2003 Rick Knoll on Organic Farming June 16, 2003 A Conversation with Thomas Keller: The Soul of Haute Cuisine in America May 19, 2003 The SFPFS Traveling Table - Roxanne's in Larkspur April 28, 2003 Stirring the Pot: A Conversation with Marian Burros and Marion Cunningham March, 2003 Stirring the Pot: A Conversation with Marion Nestle


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