About "SF Chefs. Food. Wine.":
SF Chefs. Food. Wine. is a four day food and wine event celebrating the unique flavor, diversity and bounty of Northern California. The main tasting tent will be in Union Square, where chefs, wine makers and distillers will offer an exploration of taste featuring local products. Classes and seminars will offer interactive opportunities for the public to participate with local farmers, ranchers, chefs, winemakers, distillers, media, luminaries, authors, vintners, mixologists and culinary experts in an entertaining forum.
www.sfchefsfoodwine.com
Featured on the show:
Cabernet Sauvignon 2007, California
$12.99 available at Cost Plus and Falletti Foods
About Rebecca Chapa:
Rebecca Chapa, is a Certified Wine Educator and holds the Diploma Wine and Spirits from the Wine and Spirits Education Trust in London. Chapa is the Chairman of the Los Angeles International Spirits Competition. She has taught wine classes for consumers with her own company, Wine by the Class since 2001. Chapa is an adjunct instructor at the Culinary Institute of America teaching Tasting Terroir, Oregon and Washington Intensive and the Fortified and Dessert Wine Intensive. She also teaches WSET classes and classes at the Professional Culinary Institute. Chapa's blog www.rebeccachapa.com explores wine, spirits, travel and culture.
Chapa launched Tannin ManagementSM in 1999, a San Francisco-based wine consulting firm whose clients have included Napa Valley Vintners, Canyon Road Winery, Geyser Peak Winery, Heck Estates, Credit Suisse, Wines from Spain, Iluna Basque, Twenty-Four Restaurant, Cetrella, XYZ Restaurant at the W Hotel, Belon, Westin St. Francis Hotel, and Auberge Del Mar,. Rebecca is also a Contributing Editor for Wine & Spirits Magazine and has written freelance for Santé Magazine, Wine Business Monthly, Patterson's Beverage Journal, Cooking Pleasures and Millevigne in Italy. She wrote chapters on California wine regions for The Global Encyclopedia of Wine and on the California Wine Business for Greenwood Publishing's The Business of Wine. She hones her palate tasting as an international judge for competitions such as the Concurso Internacional de Vinhos Cidade de Porto (Portugal), the Los Angeles International Wine and Spirits Competition (formerly called the Los Angeles County Fair), Dallas Morning News and National Women's Wine Competition. She served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Society of Wine Educators and was Co-Program Chair of their 2000 conference in San Jose. Chapa was a judge for Santé Magazine's Restaurant Wine and Spirits Hospitality Awards in 2000, and is a frequent judge for Sunset's Wine Awards. She has been a featured speaker for New Orleans Wine and Food Experience, Restaurant Business' Menus 2001 Conference, Motto Kryla & Fisher's Wine Trends 2001 Luxury Seminar, World Wine Market, the Pacific Rim Wine Education Center, Crystal Cruises, Celebrity Cruises and the Wine Institute of California's Wine by the Glass Program in Osaka and Tokyo, Japan. Chapa has been featured on television in a satellite media tour for Canyon Road Winery, a pilot for Wine Country Living, as a guest reporter for Latin Eyes and has done video clips for Epicurious.com. As former ambassador for Rubicon Estate she travelled the United States fostering relationships with the top sommeliers in the country and gaining sales experience.
Originally from New York, Rebecca Chapa began her career in the restaurant industry at age fifteen while working at her family's Mexican restaurant, Pancho Villa's. The restaurant background steered her in the direction of Cornell University where Rebecca discovered her passion. The study of wines and spirits earned Chapa a spot on Cornell's victorious Wine Challenge™ team, winners of a wine competition started by Kevin Zraly of Windows on the World. She graduated in 1993 eager to pursue a career in wine.
During the fall of 1993, Rebecca was selected to participate in the Arcigola Slow Food Vini Piemontesi education program, an intensive study of the wines of Piedmont, Italy. Upon her return, Rebecca took her first wine-related role as coordinator of Kevin Zraly's Windows on the World Wine School. She also helped Kevin Zraly organize Wine Challenge events at The Boston Wine Expo and in New York.
In the fall of 1994 Rebecca wrote her first wine list as Cellar Master of the New York Vista Hotel in the World Trade Center. There she controlled an inventory of over 1,200 selections and more than 16,000 bottles of wine from the original cellar of Windows on the World. While in Manhattan, Rebecca also helped organize the Fifth Annual Bon Appetit Wine and Spirits Focus in Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center.
In April of 1995, Rebecca joined the Myriad restaurant group to work with Wine Director Daniel Johnnes at Montrachet, Nobu, Tribeca Grill and the Reebok Sports Club, all in New York City. In the fall of 1996, her desire to move closer to wine country resulted in a transfer to Rubicon in San Francisco. As assistant to Master Sommelier Larry Stone, Rebecca tuned her service skills and gained management experience. Prior to leaving New York, she tied for second place in the Eastern division of the Sommelier Society's Regional Finals Competition to determine the candidate to be sent to the Concours Mondial des Sommeliers competition in Austria in May of 1998.
In July of 1997, Rebecca followed former Rubicon Chef Traci Des Jardins to open Jardinière. As Wine Director, Rebecca constructed a list of over three hundred selections earning accolades from Santé Magazine and the Best of Award of Excellence from the Wine Spectator. Rebecca believes that wine should be fun and wine service should not be intimidating. She strives to make information accessible to those who want to educate themselves about wine, yet also understands that wine can be enjoyed without fanfare. Her other interests include singing, songwriting, banjo, guitar and painting sand dollars.
