UPPER LAKE – On Feb. 7, the Blue Wing Saloon and Café, located next door to the Tallman Hotel in Upper Lake, will launch a new series of monthly “Meet the Winemaker” evenings.

These events extend the Blue Wing’s focus on offering its patrons the best wines produced in Lake County.

The Winemaker Evenings will be held on the first Thursday of each month from 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.

The evenings will allow restaurant patrons to taste a wide variety of wines and meet some of the most notable winemakers in the area.

The saloon kitchen staff will work closely with the winemakers each evening to produce special dishes that properly compliment the wines being featured.

Following is the schedule for the first five months of the series. The saloon will continue to offer a full range of wines from each featured winemaker for the rest of the month.

– Thursday, Feb. 7: Winemaker Matt Hughes of Zoom Wines will kick off the series. Zoom is a Lake County Zinfandel specialist whose wines have been big sellers at the Saloon since its opening in June 2005. Matt is also winemaker for the Blue Wing Sauvignon Blanc (Bennett Vineyards) and Blue Wing Syrah (Obsidian Ridge Vineyards) as well as the popular Blue Wing house Chardonnay and Cabernet. He is currently chairman of the Lake County Winery Association.

– Thursday, March 6: Ceago Vinegarden winemaker Javier Tapia and owner Jim Fetzer will pour their biodynamically grown Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. The beautiful lakeside Ceago facility and tasting room is located on Highway 20 between the towns of Nice and Lucerne.

– Thursday, April 3: Eden Crest Vineyards owners and winemakers TJ and Tammy Mickel will pour their handcrafted Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon. With production facilities in Kelseyville, this family winery produces less than 1,000 cases a year, but their attention to detail is rewarded with a truly wonderful product marketed at a reasonable price.

– Thursday, May 1: Shannon Ridge winemakers Marco DiGuilio and Mike Wood together with owner Clay Shannon will present a selection of wines, most made from grapes grown on the high elevation Shannon Ridge property above Clear Lake. The quaint Shannon Ridge tasting room managed by Joey Luiz is located in a converted one-room schoolhouse in Clearlake Oaks. Wood also will pour his own Shed Horn wines.

– Thursday, June 5: Naughty Boy Vineyards winemaker Greg Graziano and owners Jim and MJ Scott will pour the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wines made from grapes grown on the Scotts’ six-acre vineyard in Potter Valley. The 2004 Naughty Boy Pinot Noir was recently ranked by the San Francisco Chronicle as one of the 100 best wines on the West Coast.

Re-established in the Lake County town of Upper Lake in June 2005 by owners Lynne and Bernie Butcher, Blue Wing Saloon and Cafe stands in the same location as its namesake, first opened in the 1880s. The saloon remained a popular watering hole until the onset of prohibition in 1920.

In the tradition of the original saloon, the Blue Wing proudly offers customers fine food, local microbrews and wines at affordable prices.

Information on the adjacent Tallman Hotel can be found at www.tallmanhotel.com. Blue Wing Saloon and Café, 9520 Main St., Upper Lake, www.bluewingsaloon.com.

{mos_sb_discuss:5}