Pinot Days Represent Good Wine and Charity

Steven and Lisa Rigisich began with the Bay Area Wine Project to bring together wine lovers, provide information on wine and exchange wine knowledge. It was there that they met Eric and Teri White. The two couples put their wine knowledge together to start Pinot Days, a series of events held each year. Pinot Days allows the public to taste wines - mostly Pinot Noir, a red that smells like cherry and tastes everything from blackberries to lavender. Pinot Days is about a lot more than wine tasting, though.

Pinot Days is a celebration of wine from the places that make it best. Even though every state in the country now makes wine, the best producers are so far coming from California and Oregon. During Pinot Days you have an option to going to one event or all activities. The Grand Tasting is the highlight as all the wineries are pouring samples (up to 300 different pinots) and local food makers bring samples that pair well with the wine, including bread, chocolate and cheese.

If you want to get the whole Pinot Days experience, you can sign up for a VIP Tour with a private tasting and early access to Grand Festival. During Pinot Days weekend you will also have the opportunity to purchase tickets to additional events, including winemaker dinners. A ticket to just the Grand Festival is very reasonable ($60 in 2011) considering all the wine and food you can have. As expected, no one under 21 is admitted to Pinot Days events.

Pinot Days is especially attractive because the celebration does good beyond keeping everyone in drinking and learning about a good red wine. It is a non-profit organization and during the weekend they raise money for those in need. Through the years Pinot Days has donated more than $96,000 to charities from Uganda to Tanzania.

The San Francisco Pinot Days, which is held each November, was the first in 2005. Since then they have added the Southern California Pinot Days each January and one in November at Navy Pier in Chicago. The Chicago event was first held in 2007 and, despite the fact that it isn't in the backyard of the country's Pinot Noir grapes, it still gets about 100 wineries to bring out their bottles for tasting.

Additional Pinot Days may be added around the country. To keep informed on Pinot Days, visit the website and sign up for their newsletter.