Chris Macias

We've just about landed on Mother's Day, and Wine Buzz has mimosas on the mind.

With Cinco de Mayo on tap for this weekend, "Wine Buzz" is switching up the subject matter to talk tequila.

And now, "Wine Buzz" gives what could be a final toast to Rominger West, a winery on Second Street in Davis.

Earth Day arrives Sunday, and the family behind Bogle Vineyards invites you to come out and maybe get your feet a little muddy, too.

In terms of the local wine scene, the view from Rail Bridge Cellars' tasting room is tough to beat. It's situated 13 floors above J street in the Elks Tower penthouse, which overlooks the entire city and beyond.

Last week, "Wine Buzz" shared the scoop on Caverna Fifty-Seven, an east Sacramento wine-storage facility with reasonable rents.

Whether you prefer to enjoy Old Sacramento above ground or below, this tourist destination will kick off some of its best-attended activities starting Saturday.

In terms of naming, the new wine-storage facility called Caverna Fifty-Seven makes perfect sense.

St. Patrick's Day falls on Saturday, meaning it's just about time to paint the town green.

Let's catch up with Stuart Spoto, the Sacramentan who creates wine from pristine Napa Valley grapes out of his Arden Oaks home. Spoto is in expansion mode and securing some tasty new accounts.

OK, it's time to let the Wine Buzz faithful in on a secret. Well, maybe it's not such a secret to some of you, but from local sommeliers to savvy wine shoppers, Grocery Outlet remains a go-to place to score interesting wines at often unbelievable prices.

Plans are firming up for the 2012 edition of the Grape & Gourmet wine event at Cal Expo, albeit with some tweaks.

A few hours before Cake hit the stage at a sold-out Hollywood Palladium, frontman John McCrea mused backstage about one lyric that will carry extra irony this night.

We're getting ready for the third annual Sacramento Beer Week, a celebration of all things beer that remains ever popular.

We'll get back to wine soon enough, but the hot beverage around town for the next week and a half is something sudsier.

His birth name is Kenneth Edmonds, but he's best known as "Babyface" or simply "Face."

When it comes to wine glasses, yes, size does matter. A glass that's too small can stunt the wine's aromatics – and you're bound to spill if there's too much swirling going on with a small glass.

Valentine's Day is just about here and one local winery has an especially sweet collaboration that's fit for Cupid.

Despite the Sacramento Kings' dismal season on the court thus far, here's something local wine fans who also like sports can toast.

Welcome to the epicenter of the Western Hemisphere's wine industry, also known as the 2012 Unified Wine & Grape Symposium.

The 2012 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition wrapped up earlier this month, with judges considering 5,500 entries – a record for a U.S. wine competition. With all the votes tallied, a number of Sacramento-region wineries scored some key medals.

Two area wineries are greeting 2012 with especially coveted news: They've made the cut for the third annual WSJwine Annual Dozen. Also known as the Wall Street Journal's wine club, which touts more than 100,000 active customers, the Annual Dozen selects best-of-the-year wines in two categories and offers them for sale.

Now that you've got those holiday appetizer ideas ready to go, it's time for a toast. Let's give it up for those festive fizzes known as Champagne and sparkling wine.

After a second year of unseasonably cool temperatures, the grape tonnage has been tallied and the results are ready. According to the California Department of Food and Agriculture, 3.3 million tons of wine grapes were harvested in the 2011 growing season, a 9 percent drop from the previous year.

The year is winding down, which means it's time for lists honoring the best wines of 2011. And in this bit of good fortune, four local wineries received accolades in Wine Enthusiast magazine's "The Enthusiast 100." They are (cue drum roll):

Now that the holiday shopping season has kicked off, it's time to think about what present the wine lover on your gift list would love to unwrap.

Just like the commercials for Black Friday sales and jokes about the in-laws, the question always arrives this time of year from friends and readers: What wine should I serve for Thanksgiving?

The winery of the future might not need to be hooked up to a power grid, and no worries if the water table isn't sufficient. With the right technology, the building could be self-sustaining and produce a zero-carbon footprint.

So, you want to start a winery? Perhaps you've been making wine at home for some time and have access to some top-notch grapes, or you're an investor who dreams of running the next wine mega-brand. Sounds fairly straightforward, right?

Finally, here's restaurant survey news that deserves a toast. OpenTable, the online reservation site, recently polled its users and shared the findings of its "Top 50 Wine Lists in the U.S."

Lodi is going LoCA.

The wine grape harvest is in full picking mode, especially during the wee hours.

In Japan and the world of spirits, it's revered as the "drink of the gods." We're talking about sake, the Japanese drink made from rice and water, originally consumed for spiritual functions and now a staple of your favorite sushi spot.

Watts Winery of Lodi released its Butterfly line of wines as a way of keeping hope for a 12-year-old boy – and raising money so other families might not have to go through this.

For more than a year, "Wine Buzz" has been tracking Jeremiah Morehouse, who – at 27 – has become one of Sacramento's best regarded sommeliers.

Could Sacramento County become the new home of "Two Buck Chuck"?

September traditionally ushers in a key time for California's multibillion-dollar wine industry. It's the month when the state's grape harvest hits high gear, and for the past seven years, September has simultaneously been proclaimed California Wine Month by the governor.

Once again, we'll get back to wine quicker than you can say "gewurztraminer," but right now there's some big news brewing on the local beer scene.

We're going to give wine a break this time, and make room for the revelry that is Midtown Cocktail Week.

Mario Ortiz kicked off his restaurant career four decades ago, when he was just 16.

Let's take a quick detour from the grapes and get down with a little agave. National Tequila Day will be celebrated Sunday, so think of it as a chance to savor tequila without the Cinco de Mayo distractions of faux sombreros and mariachi overload.

Accolades and good press continue to flow from the Sierra foothills wine country.

If the wine grape- growing season had a theme song this year, it might as well be "Touch and Go" by the Cars.

Browse past the racks of secondhand shirts and dresses, then past a trippy painting of hot dogs and horses, and you'll find … one of the best wine lists in Sacramento?

Sacramento's underground rappers have sold millions of CDs and you probably know little, maybe nothing, about them. Bee pop music critic Chris Macias and photographer José Luis Villegas spent five months exploring the south Sacramento hip-hop scene that is known across the country for its extreme lyrics, gangsta images and big beats.