Monday, October 17, 7:00 pm
Members $100, guests $125

The 2004 film Sideways turned its stars into Hollywood A-listers and Academy Award nominees. It also raised the celebrity quotient of Pinot Noir, the wine of choice for the movie’s main character, Miles, a pretentious, Merlot-hating wine aficionado who never missed an opportunity to rhapsodize about the subtleties of his favorite varietal. Thanks to Miles, the rest of the world is now in on what connoisseurs and amateur wine lovers have always known: the famous Burgundian grape is unmatched for its ability to express terroir.

John Winthrop Haegar fell in love with wine while getting his PhD in Chinese history and language at Berkeley in the 1960s, and he has been contributing articles on wine to publications like Connoisseur, Wine & Spirits, and Saveur since 1985. Winner of the Louis Roederer International Wine Book of the Year award, Haegers’ North American Pinot Noir is a comprehensive reference guide, including profiles of Pinot Noir producers, a how-to guide for consumers on buying, storing, and serving the wine, and a map of all the major Pinot-producing regions.

Chef Arnold Eric Wong is known throughout California for his wine-friendly cuisine. The native San Franciscan’s culinary career started out in his family’s retail food shop, the Ashbury Market. After enrolling in the California Culinary Academy, Wong worked his way up in several of the city’s top kitchens, including Silks at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Masa’s, and Cafe Kati. Wong made a name for himself as executive chef at Eos Restaurant and Wine Bar, where he helped pioneer the West Coast Asian-fusion craze and for which he was named a rising star by the San Francisco Chronicle. Now also the chef/owner of Bacar Restaurant and Wine Salon, Wong creates modern American dishes that pair perfectly with wines chosen by Debbie Zachareas, the restaurant’s wine director.

At Bacar, Zachareas has developed an impressive 1,400-bottle wine list, nearly 100 of which are available by the glass. A New York native and NYU grad, Zachareas moved to San Francisco and began working at Wong’s family’s Ashbury Market, where she created a stellar wine selection and established a reputation as a pioneer of lesser known producers. She went on to work at Rubicon under master sommelier Larry Stone and at Vertigo before teaming up with Wong at Eos and Bacar.