Farmstead Cheeses and Wines: Jeff’s Blog

Carol and I were invited to learn about blending wine at the fabulous Handley Cellars. We visited vineyards, blended wine, and ate a fabulous meal. Afterwards, we visited The Apple Farm. For a slideshow of more photos, please click here

Dinner with Raul Perez was optional. Why some of us didn’t jump at the opportunity to get some face time with a groundbreaking, singular visionary winery is beyond me, but needless to say I jumped at the chance. Raul’s red wines are confounding – sometimes they are massive, chewy, dense and aromatic; other times they [...]

We were featured in an article in SFExaminer.com on taking a vacation without leaving home. Say cheese! How to feed the travel bug in recession times, Wanda Henning Visit exotic places. Enjoy foreign tastes. Learn about the bounty of the world. The fabulous thing about being a culinary traveler in the 21st century is that, [...]

Cy Musiker wrote about Farmstead in the 3/23 Bay Area Bites food blog. Here’s the gist: “…and that’s also the mark of a great wine shop. It’s one reason I stop in often at Farmstead Cheeses and Wines, with its two East Bay locations, Alameda and Montclair Village. Wine makers and wine brokers stop in [...]

So, after spending the morning shooting silly photographs of fiberglass dinosaurs, it was time to walk over to Fran Kysela’s warehouse to taste through his portfolio. Imagine: over 200 wines from France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand, set out over 300 feet in a large warehouse in a small industrial park [...]

I’m so excited – I leave for a wine trip to Argentina in a few days with one of my wine heroes – Fran Kysela. Fran is a Master Sommelier and owner of Kysela Père et Fils, importer of a lot of wines that we feature at Farmstead. Check back here often, as I’ll be [...]

Farmstead wins award!

Like any proud parent, we take a lot of pictures of our children. Here’s the latest addition to the Farmstead family

We finally got our clearance to start building out the shop last week, and the construction crew has started work on store number two! There’s a nice trench in the front room, some rough framing installed in the upstairs room, and a lot of noisy hubbub. I’ll start posting in-progress photos on this site.

Wow!  I just found out that I was chosen “Entrepreneur of the Year” by the members of the Alameda Chamber of Commerce! 2007 has been quite a year for Farmstead: Best Wine Store awards from two publications, and now this. We must be doing something right!