Bottle Service

Two new spots for little-known wines

Natural wine bars are multiplying like indigenous yeasts. The lists at the Bay Area's newest vinous watering holes--The Punchdown in Oakland and Pause Wine Bar in San...

Mellow Yellow

Vin Jaune, a most unusual wine

There's wine, and then there's Vin Jaune. Translated as "yellow wine," the unusual libation hails from eastern France's mountainous Jura region, yet tastes more like Spanish...

Wine List

The essential new book from a famous wine expert

The swirling, the tasting, the ceremony: There's an aura of mystery around the job of the sommelier. In Secrets of the Sommeliers: How to Think and Drink Like the World's Top Wine...

Heavy Pour

Yoon Ha explodes the familiar pairing paradigm

Benu, the buzziest Bay Area restaurant in a season chockablock with frenzied openings, is gunning for greatness. If (or when) it achieves it, such standing will be due in no small...

Power Play

Meet big flavors head-on with brawny wines

Bigger is indeed better--sometimes. As restaurants in the Bay Area continue to embrace bolder flavors, a new way of thinking about wine has emerged. Instead of pouring...

Drunk on Pelaverga

Italy's eno-aphrodisiac arrives stateside

Please welcome Pelaverga, an uncommon Italian wine said to be an aphrodisiac, to San Francisco. Thanks to intrepid importers and curious sommeliers, this light red from the edge...