When Lilith Fair was in town at the Shoreline Ampitheatre I joined a bunch of my friends, including Ziggy the Wine Gal (rock star sommelier and personal sommelier for Journey—talk about a title!) to pour wine backstage for the “talent”. Roadie to rockstar, wine and music are hard to separate. 

There's a surprisingly great synergy between the art of winemaking and music making. For instance, famed cult winemaker Bob Foley has his own studio and music area in his caves and plays guitar. He makes wine for Jeff Smith at Hourglass, who can give you advice on guitars himself. 

The mashup of wine and art and music goes farther than just enjoying them together or using wine to increase the creative energy or lube the voice. Luckily, there are multiple opportunities to enjoy some very intense research.

1. Roll Over Beethoven! A Fundraiser for Music in the Vineyards
A perfect pairing!  20 vintners and music pros with dinner and a live auction. 
Silver Oak Cellars, 915 Oakville Crossroad, Oakville (Sat, July 24)

2. The Concerts at Wente Vineyards
August and September upcoming acts include Huey Lewis & the News, Chris Isaak, ZZ Top, Willie Nelson and Harry Connick Jr. (Aug and September)

3. SF Chefs 2010
The night full of music, food, wine and spirit also includes Q Street and chef Joey Altman and his Back Burner Blues Band. The opening party, Hog in the Fog, features San Francisco’s  wines from Wente, Murrieta’s Well, Tamas Estates and Domaine Chandon and more than 25 local restaurants will be preparing bites. (In full disclosure this event is one I am working on!) Proceeds benefit the Golden Gate Restaurant Association Scholarship Foundation. (Fri, Aug 13)

4. Staglin Music Festival for Mental Health 
Dwight Yoakam performs at this year’s concert at Napa’s Staglin Family Vineyards, enjoy the symposium, tasting cult wines in the caves and the concert or go big and add a dinner cooked by Redd chef Richard Reddington.  100% of all proceeds go directly towards mental health research.  I have worked as a volunteer sommelier for the event for about ten years, it’s always a blast. (Sat, Sept 11)