California Wine Clubs & Events

Joining a wine club is a great way to enjoy premium wines at discount prices.

Attending California wine events can be a wonderful way to experience a wide variety of wines. List your California wine event for free. Most of California's 2,000 wineries are owned by families, adding to the unique character that makes a trip to California wine country so memorable. A trip to California wine country is also an education into what is new and fresh in seasonal cooking. Local restaurants focus on pairing regional wines with natural, farm-grown ingredients, often sourced from community farmers' markets.

All dinner wines are classified under six specific classes:

Aperitif (or better known as "appetizer wines"): include dry sherry, Madeira, Vermouth, and other flavored wines, made to be consumed before eating a meal.

Red dinner wines: These wines are usually dry and go extremely well with such main-course dishes as red meats, spaghetti, and highly-seasoned foods. They should be served at a cool room temperature to bring out their aroma. The most popular red dinner wines are claret, Burgundy, Chianti, and Cabernet Sauvignon. Pink dinner wines (also called "rose wines"), a special class of red wines, can be served with almost any dish, but are considered best with cold meats, pork, and curries.

White dinner wines: Usually either very dry or rather sweet, these wines should be served chilled, and go well with white meats, seafood, and fowl. They include Rhine wines, Chablis, sauterne, and wine made from different grape varieties such as Chardonnay and White Riesling.

Sparkling wines: Usually served at any meal with any course, these wines are most frequently served at banquets, formal dinners and weddings. The most common sparking wines are Champagne (white) and sparkling Burgundy (red).

Table wine: Table wine is not bubbly, although some have a very slight carbonation, the amount of which is not enough to disqualify them as table wines. According to U.S. standards of identity, table wines may have an alcohol content that is no higher than 14 percent. In Europe, light wine must be within 8.5 percent and 14 percent alcohol by volume. As such, unless a wine has more than 14 percent alcohol, or it has bubbles, it is a table wine or a light wine.

Dessert wines: Ranging from medium-sweet to sweet, these wines are classified under dessert wines only because they are sometimes served with desserts. Among these are port wine, sweet sherry, Tokay, and muscatel.

Cooking wines: Typically containing a significant quantity of salt, cooking wine is wine of such poor quality that it is unpalatable and intended for use only in cooking.