Sommelier Mark Bright | Recommendations - Find. Eat. Drink.
Mark Bright, Markris Wine Group, Saison San Francisco, Vinyl Wine Bar, Sommelier, Restaurateur, Joshue Skenes, San Francisco, CA, California, 94110, 94117, Wine Blending, Unique, Wine Bars, Restaurants, Wine Books, Wine Magazines, Recommendations, Berkeley, Sausalito, Indian, American, Californian, New World Wine, Old World Wine, Burgundy, Gruner Veltliner, What to drink, Beer recommendations, Burger, where to eat in San Francisco, Chardonnay, Hong Kong, Chinese, French, Burgers
Purchase at: Amazon.com
Books
Berkeley, CA
Sausalito, CA
Hong Kong, China
BAR TARTINE
561 Valencia Street, San Francisco, CA 94110 (view map)
T: 415.487.1600 (make a reservation)
Always has a great round-up of wines with a very thoughtful sommelier.
Mission
New American
DOSA
I like Dosa because it softballs South Indian cuisine, they make it more approachable for the American palette, but they’ll also take you downtown if you want.
Multiple Locations
Indian
Restaurants - San Francisco, CA
Secrets of the Sommeliers: How to Think and Drink Like the World's Top Wine Professionals
It’s really good on tasting, understanding sommeliers, and things you should be focusing on if you are going to be a sommelier.
Purchase at: Amazon.com
Authors: Rajat Parr & Jordan Mackay
FRANCES
3870 17th Street, San Francisco, CA 94114 (view map)
T: 415.621.3870 (make a reservation)
I always go to check out new places. If I was to pick a place to eat, Frances would be one of them.
Castro
Modern Californian
HEIRLOOM CAFE
2500 Folsom Street, San Francisco, CA 94110 (view map)
T: 415.821.2500 (make a reservation)
Has an interesting wine list and a very thoughtful sommelier.
Mission
Californian
KASA
4001 18th Street, San Francisco, CA 94114 (view map)
T: 415.621.6940
Kasa is really classic, like Calcutta street-style food. They specialize in kati rolls which are delicious. It’s like an Indian burrito -- how can you go wrong with that?
Castro
Indian
NOMBE
2491 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94110 (view map)
T: 415.681.7150 (make a reservation)
I spent time in Japan and I am really focused on sake. Here’s a bar you should check out: Nombe. It’s a super high recommendation, especially for anyone who is at any level interested in sake. One of the best sake sommeliers in the country is there and he has a huge depth of selection of sakes that you can taste. And the food is amazing. I get the little chicken hearts on the skewers all the time.
Mission
Japanese / Izakaya / Sake
301 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94105 (view map)
T: 415.543.7474 (make a reservation)
Raj [Parr]is the king of wine lists out here in San Francisco. I worked with Raj for a long time and that’s who I learned to do that from. He’s really good at that. He also has a team of sommeliers working for him.
SOMA
Modern American
SUSHI RAN
107 Caledonia Street, Sausalito, CA 94965 (view map)
T: 415.332.3620 (make a reservation)
I eat a lot of Japanese.
Sausalito
Japanese / Sushi
TWENTY FIVE LUSK
25 Lusk Street, San Francisco, CA 94107 (view map)
T: 415.495.5875 (make a reservation)
Has a good wine list.
SOMA
New American
ZEITGEIST
If I am going to go out drink, I am going out for a cheeseburger and beer. It’s a really grungy kind of place and people in San Francisco know it well and they kind laugh. It’s called the Zeitgeist. It’s an outdoor biker bar that serves killer hamburgers and just pitchers of beer. On a sunny day, there is nothing better.
Mission
American / Dive Bar
HEART WINE BAR
Really good wine list, very casual, comfortable setting to taste wine.
Mission
Wine Bar
HIDDEN VINE
Really good wine list, very casual, comfortable setting to taste wine.
Union Square
Wine Bar
Wine Bars - San Francisco, CA
359 Divisadero Street, San Francisco, CA 94117 (view map)
T: 415.621.4132
Vinyl, of course. I do drink at my own a lot more than anywhere else, but that is because I am there a lot.
Lower Haight
Wine Bar
NOMBE
2491 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94110 (view map)
T: 415.681.7150 (make a reservation)
I spent time in Japan and I am really focused on sake. Here’s a bar you should check out: Nombe. It’s a super high recommendation, especially for anyone who is at any level interested in sake. One of the best sake sommeliers in the country is there and he has a huge depth of selection of sakes that you can taste. And the food is amazing. I get the little chicken hearts on the skewers all the time.
Mission
Japanese / Izakaya / Sake
Drink - Sake - San Francisco, CA
THE CITY BEER STORE
1168 Folsom Street, Suite 101, San Francisco, CA, 94103 (view map)
T: 415.503.1033
It’s good because they have all the small production, funky stuff.
SOMA
Bar / Beer
Drink - Beer - San Francisco, CA
ZEITGEIST
Zeitgeist has about 30 beers on tap. They have all the small production and all the imports.
Mission
American / Dive Bar
THE WINE CLUB
SOMA
Wine Store
Wine Stores - San Francisco, CA
THE WINE HOUSE
www.wineaccess.com/store/winesf/index.html
129 Carolina Street, San Francisco, CA 94103 (view map)
T: 415.355.9463
Potrero Hill
Wine Store
KERMIT LYNCH WINE MERCHANT
Berkeley
Wine Store
Wine Stores - Berkeley, CA
NORTH BERKELEY WINE
1601 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Berkeley, CA 94709 (view map)
T: 1 .800.266.6585
Berkeley
Wine Store
Restaurants - Sausalito, CA
Restaurants - Berkeley, CA
VIK’S
2390 4th Street, Berkeley, CA 94710 (view map)
T: 510.644.4432
Really delicious, very pure style Indian food. I have been in India a lot and that is what you’d actually find in India.
Berkeley
Indian
DOMAINE DE LA CADETTE BOURGOGNE BLANC VEZELAY
Available at the following retailers.
It’s up near Chablis, where the chalk goes away and the limestone starts showing up a little more. That’s a great producer and it’s about $18 retail. That’s a wine I could drink all day.
France / Burgundy
White Wine / Chardonnay
Wine - White
ZOCKER GRUNER VELTLINER
Available at the following retailers.
This is a sneaky wine that came out of nowhere. This wine I am really surprised with. It’s the largest Gruner Veltliner vineyard planted outside of Austria. It’s also about $18 retail -- there’s a lot of wine in that sweet spot now. This wine is just absolutely phenomenal, no joking about it.
USA / California / Edna Valley
White Wine
DOMAINE DE TRIENNES ROSÉ
Available at the following retailers.
Delicious rose... really affordable and delicious. Owned by Jeremy Seysses of Domaine Dujac in Burgundy. These are really affordable wines. For the price, they are absolutely phenomenal. You need to go get a bottle now.
France / Provence
Rose Wine
Wine - Rosé
CLAVELIER
Available at the following retailers.
France / Burgundy
Red Wine / Pinot Noir
Wine - Red
COPAIN TOUS ENSEMBLE / COPAIN LES VOISINS
Tous Ensemble: available at the following retailers.
Les Voisins: available at the following retailers.
They have a new wine coming out called Les Voisins. It’s a new blend they have coming out of Mendocino, kind of like the Tous Ensemble. Those are stellar. Purity, acidity, balance, lower alcohol, the purity of the fruit is just great. Very classic pinot. I like them both, but I really enjoy the Syrah -- I am more of a Syrah drinker. I named my dog after a Cote Rotie producer -- his name is Jamet.
USA / California
Red Wine
LITTORAI PINOT NOIR
Available at the following retailers.
I have worked with the wine before, but they are just amazing. I could drink them all the time.
USA / California
Red Wine / Pinot Noir
TRUMER
Available here.
When I’m not drinking wine, I drink a lot of beer and sake -- I drink a lot of Trumer.
Beer
American Pilsner
Beer
STELLAR ARTOIS
Beer
Belgian Pilsner
WINDOWS ON THE WORLD
It’s still a great beginners book. He [Kevin Zraly] makes it so simple for people to understand. That’s a book I suggest to people all the time because it just makes it easy.
Author: Kevin Zraly
DECANTER MAGAZINE
It ties a little more into the things I am doing rather than Wine Spectator and some of the other magazines.
Wine Magazine
Wine Magazines
WINE & SPIRITS MAGAZINE
It ties a little more into the things I am doing rather than Wine Spectator and some of the other magazines.
Wine Magazine
AMBER
The Landmark Mandarin Oriental
15 Queen's Road, The Landmark, Central, Hong Kong (view map)
T: +852/2132.0066
Central
French
Restaurants - Hong, Kong, China
BO INNOVATION
Creative and innovative Chinese cuisine.
Central
Chinese
FINDS
[Finland, Iceland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden]
Kowloon
Sandanvian
LILY & BLOOM
Hotel LKF, 5th Floor [Bloom], 6th Floor [Lily]
33 Wyndham Street, Lan Kwai Fong, Central, Hong Kong (view map)
T: +852/3518.9688
Amazing restaurant [Bloom] and bar [Lily] - an awesome scene.
Central
Cocktails / American Bistro
LUNG KING HEEN
www.fourseasons.com/hongkong/dining/lung_king_heen/
Four Seasons Hotel
8 Finance Street, Central, Hong Kong (view map)
T: +852/3196.8888
Central
Chinese / Contemporary Cantonese
Clubs / Lounges - Hong, Kong, China
HALO
Central
Club / Lounge
VOLAR
Central
Club
GERMAN RIESLING KABINETT
Available at the following retailers.
Thai food and German Riesling Kabinett all day. It’s my number one pairing. It’s magical. If you want to learn about food and wine pairings start here. Take a bottle of Riesling, and make sure it has some residual sugar to it and go to a Thai restaurant and just work it out. I don’t need to tell you the producers, I don’t need to tell you what to order, it is most likely going to work out.
Germany
White Wine Riesling
BECKER ESTATE PINOT NOIR
www.weingut-friedrich-becker.de
Importer: Rudi Wiest (www.rudiwiest.com)
Available at the following retailers.
The wine is light and soft on the palette with some fleshiness and this high-tone, beautiful cherry and cranberry fruit. There is also this almost hint of spritziness.
Germany / Pfalz
Red Wine / Pinot Noir
Photograph courtesy of Mark Bright
Mark Bright is the sommelier and co-owner of the seasonally-focused Michelin 2-star restaurant Saison and casual wine bar, Vinyl, in San Francisco. He became a sommelier at the age of 21 and has built a name for himself by creating unique wine lists with small production labels.
Recommended By:
- Chef Traci Des Jardins of Jardiniere, Public House and Mijita in San Francisco, CA
Sommelier Mark Bright | Saison & Vinyl
April 21, 2011
San Francisco, CA
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