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Those who enjoy the finer side of life can indulge in wine tasting year around in the fine state of California. Starting in Paso Robles, we are going to take a look at the annual wine tasting festivities in the Northern California region.

A Relaxing Drive In March

Paso Robles is a three-and-a-half hour drive, going south from San Francisco. On the third weekend in March, Paso Robles holds their annual Zinfandel Festival. In 2008, the event will be staged on the weekend of March 14-16.

This three-day festival offers Winemaker dinners, food pairings, seminars, open houses and special tasting opportunities at more than 90 wineries in Paso Robles Wine Country, accentuating the main event on Saturday evening.

The Zinfandel Grand Tasting, featuring Zinfandel from more than 40 area wineries, is scheduled between 7-9:30 p.m. on Saturday evening, at the conclusion of the Live Auction. Zin-friendly hors d'oeuvres and a silent auction, featuring a wide variety of wine and lifestyle packages, will accompany the Grand Tasting.

You can learn more about this festival by visiting: www.pasowine.com/events/zinfandelfestival.php

25 Years In May

Tiburon, California, is just north of San Francisco, across the Golden Gate Bridge and on the East side of Richardson Bay.

The annual Tiburon Wine Festival sold out in 2007, four days ahead of the event, so it is recommended that you get your tickets early.

The 2008 Tiburon Wine Festival is a one-day event, to be held on Sat. May 17, 2008 - 1-4 p.m. It will feature premium wines from 65 wineries, 20 restaurant and food booths, and live entertainment on the waterfront.

Tiburon is considered to be one of the top five wine tasting events held each year in California. This year will certainly be no exception. To learn more about this 25th Silver Anniversary event, visit: tiburonwinefestival.homestead.com

Monterey County in The Spring

Located near the world-famous Carmel and Monterey Bay, the Chalone Appellation, situated in the Gabilan Mountain Range of Monterey County consistently produces some of the finest wines in California.

When describing the 2004 Chalone Vineyard Chardonnay, the Tasters Guild Orlando (Florida) said it has low tannin, medium body and is very dry. The same vintage was given a ranking of 87-points by Wine Spectator.

The Chalone Appellation benefits largely from its unique geography, which helps to add to the overall quality of the wines they produce. The area offers jagged volcanic rock merging at the Pinnacles, bright limestone, decomposed granite soils and rolling green vineyards in the midst of it all.

The resulting wines from the Chalone Appellation wine-growing region are lush, concentrated and have a distinctive mineral taste, and are frequently given 90 point scores at wine tasting events.

In 2008, the annual Pinnacles Wine Festival is scheduled for April 26th, from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Soledad, CA. 2008 will mark the fifth year for this annual event. The details of the 2008 festival had not yet been set at the time of this writing, but previous years brought together all 14 wine producers from the wine appellation, with an abundance of five-star restaurants participating in the event.

To get the updated information on the Pinnacles Wine Festival, hosted by the Inn at the Pinnacles, in the heart of the Chalone Appellation, please visit: www.pinnacleswinefestival.com

Three Days In May

Lodi, CA is half-an-hour south of Sacramento, and Lodi Lake is the venue for the 4th annual Lodi ZinFest to be held May 16-18, 2008.

The weekend starts with Vintners' Grille at the Lake with a wine reception on Friday night at 6 p.m. At 7 p.m., dinner will be served. And right after dusk (around 8:15 p.m.), the "Light Up the Lake" fireworks display will start. Only 700 tickets will be available for Friday night's festivities and tickets must be ordered in advance through the Lodi Winegrape Commission.

The ZinFest Wine Festival will run from 12 noon to 7 p.m. on Saturday at Lodi Lake. Visitors to the Lodi ZinFest will be able to taste award-winning wines from over 40 Lodi wineries. Local wineries will be on-hand to let festival visitors taste many delicious wines including Lodi's heritage grape, Zinfandel.

Lodi ZinFest includes wine tasting, live entertainment, cooking demonstrations, wine seminars and lots of fun. Food and merchandise will be sold separately.

This event wraps up on Sunday, with more than two-dozen local wineries offering open house and tasting of their complete line of wines, as well as other special activities.

To learn more about Lodi ZinFest or to order tickets, visit: www.zinfest.com

Sacramento In June

The Sacramento Convention