The Chronicle is Bleeding but the Wine Must Flow

The San Francisco Chronicle may be having a bad week but at least they get to close the week out with a drink.

The largest competition of American Wines in the world returns to San Francisco this Saturday and it is sponsored by no other then our bankrupt newspaper friends.

The San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition Public Tasting returns to the city by the Bay, indulging the palates of wine and food lovers alike. They don't have money to pay their unions but the Chronicle sure know what parties to sponsor.

The competition is known as the largest of American wines in the world and the Bay Area's premier tasting experience, according to its organizers.

The SFCWC Public Tasting is held at Fort Mason Center’s Festival Pavilion and features award winning wines from across the country. There will also be a panel who judges over 60 professional wines at the Cloverdale Citrus Fairgrounds as they unite for four days in January.

Last year's festival featured a record-breaking 4,235 wine entries from 1,500 of the country's finest wineries and the annual judging brought more than 60 professional wine judges to the Cloverdale Citrus Fairgrounds in Sonoma County for an extensive four day period of evaluation, during which panels of five sat for hours at a time to determine what was worthy of drinking and what was not.

But the judges are not the only ones who get to have fun. The public can get into the tasting act by trying the award winning wines. The event will also feature hand crafted food creations from some of the world's premier artisan food purveyors including award winning artisan breads, savory meats, exotic oils, hand crafted cheeses, delicious desserts, floral jams, sumptuous sauces, and more from several Bay Area restaurants.