Elite Event: Friendsgiving @ JAX Vineyards

My first Elite event – and a blast. I have to admit, walking through the tasting room’s front gate felt a heck of a lot like walking through the doors of my Middle School on the first day of classes. Sweaty palms – thumping heart – clumsy feet – the agonizing worry that I’d spend the day in the corner, uninvited to the Cool Table.
Turns out, Middle School would have been WAY more fun had there been 1.) wine 2.) really nice Unilocal Elites. No one there knew anyone else, so everyone was very welcoming and friendly – and we all, of course, had Unilocal in common. I generally can’t go up to a stranger and say «Hey! Know what I really like? Looking at pictures of food! And then taking pictures of food myself! And then writing in extreme detail with copious adjectival sprinklings about my experiences! In my free time!» But among the Unilocal Elite, no one thinks that’s weird. In fact, as I noted at the end of the event, no one even mentioned TV. It’s not that I don’t love TV (Where are you G.O.T. Season 6? Is John Snow alive??!), but it’s massively refreshing to spend a whole night only discussing the Real World, with other people who love reading, writing, and adventuring.
JAX winery’s tasting room is also a splendid place. They have a beautiful outdoor space with a very warm fire pit, a really cool interior that looks sort of like a hip loft, and some awesome, very knowledgeable, friendly staff. The wines were delicious, too. I generally don’t love Sauvignon Blancs, because they can be quite acidic/​minerally, but this one was so crisp and refreshing. Their Chardonnay was so good I took a bottle home – none of that heavy, oaky, butteryness, but a refreshing, light, fruity and lovely flavor. The reds also rocked – especially the Cab, which I would have taken home as well had my Scrooge-​like wallet not primly reminded me that I need to save $$ for Christmas presents.
The food was great too – they said it was «by no means enough for dinner,» but it sure was – and then some! Plus there was an awesome raffle at the end, with such fantastic prizes as a magnum bottle of wine and a YEAR’S SUPPLY OF LOBSTER ROLLS. My heart wept a bit when I didn’t win that.
I’ll definitely be back to another Elite event – they’re great opportunities to check out new spaces, have green food and wine, and meet some really nice people. I’d like to see the people I met again!

There are Unilocal parties that are large and in charge and then there are intimate events like this one where you get to chat with almost everyone in the house and have a slew of new Unilocalie friends. Such was the case last night at this urban winery around the warming campfire drinking whites and reds and savoring lobster, noodles and small-​batch dark chocolate. I’m definitely planning the next time we’ll be able to enjoy this spot again, just loved the fire pit and wine and company. Thanks everyone for an awesome Monday night.

This was the best Unilocal Elite event I’ve been to yet! The food and drinks were great, the vendors were very welcoming and informative, the venue was beautiful, and the Unilocal Elites in attendance were very friendly and approchable.
The Jax wines we tasted were delicious (my favorites were the rose and red blend, which I purchased bottles of), the LobsterMe lobster rolls were amazing, the Noodles & Co. red pasta was very good, and the Poco Dolce chocolates were incredible. All the food and drink were truly top-​notch.
I also appreciated the fact that the vendors were so warm, welcoming, and forthcoming with information about their brands and products. The Jax team was very down-​to-​earth (not at all snooty, as some winery staff can be). I also enjoyed my conversations with the LobsterMe, Noodles & Co, and Poco Dolce teams. (I only wish Poco Dolce had brought chocolates for sale so I could take some home with me!)
The Jax venue is beautiful, classy, and welcoming. I was glad to discover a new SF event space. I will definitely be back for happy hour with my husband and friends, and will also add this to my list of venues to consider for future work events and birthday parties!
Last but not least, I found the Unilocal Elites in attendance to be very approachable and friendly. I think events that don’t allow +1s (like this one) are better for making new connections, since no one has a partner or friend to «fall back on.» I also think the intimate nature of this event made it more conducive to mingling than some of the more packed Elite events I’ve attended in the past.
Thank you, Unilocal,for organizing such a wonderful Elite event!

One of my favorite Unilocal events! Great space with great company and great food – what more could you ask for?
So happy to have discovered JAX, which has delicious wines and an amazing heated outdoor space with a stunning fireplace, which is perfect for happy hour with a group of friends.
There were delicious lobster rolls by Lobster Me (someone won free lobster rolls for a year!!) and a small group of awesome people from the Unilocal community. Happy Friendsgiving indeed!

My very first Unilocal event got off to a great start!
I had JAX bookmarked as one of my places to try for a while. Now (Thanks to Unilocal) I finally had excuse to come here and realized how close it is to my office. It was an awesome space, particularly the outside patio and fireplace. I could definitely see myself coming back here. I had a chance to try a variety of their wines, and quickly realized the cabernet savignon was my favorite and stuck with that for the rest of the night.
Being my first event I wasn’t sure what to expect. All the fellow Unilocalers were really friendly and approachable and it was incredibly easy to strike up conversation with evertyone. The vendors were really enthusiastic to talk about what they had brought. The noodles form Noodles & Co were on point. Especially the thai curry noodles (I went back for thirds).
All in all, a great event with great company in an awesome place.
Thanks Unilocal

Dear Unilocal,
Your Elite events never cease to amaze me. And I say this every time I leave an event but hands down, this was REALLY the best Elite event I have ever been to. !!!
First of all, you made it very tempting to RSVP to an event that has wine and food and I’m so happy I got chosen to come! Second, JAX Vineyards was such a wonderful private event space! I would totally love to host a party or an event here if the situation arose. There is a cozy outdoor patio space with heat lamps and even a fire pit to keep you warm in the cold and stand-​up tables inside to hang out. JAX also produces their own wines from Calistoga. I tried the Rose and Chardonnay– both so tasty and refreshing!
Food for the night: Noodles & Company and Lobster Me. There were two options from Noodles & Company– the Penne Rosa (spicy tomato cream sauce, penne pasta, mushrooms, tomato, spinach) and the Bangkok Curry (rice noodles, sweet coconut curry, broccoli, carrots, red bell pepper, onion, mushrooms). Both were vegetarian options and quite delicious. But my favorite was definitely the Original Maine Style Lobster Roll from Lobster Me. Embarrassingly, I must have eaten at least 2 whole rolls (they were serving it in halves and after the fourth run, I couldn’t get myself to go up to the table anymore). Huge lobster pieces and so yummy!
There were also samples of Sesame Toffee and Burnt Caramel chocolates from Poco Dolce– so good! I wish I could have taken some home! All in all, the food for the night was on point!
Last but absolutely not least– there was a raffle at the end of the night. 3 prizes: a huge bottle of pinot noir from JAX, a gift basket from Noodles & Company (looks like Josh Giosue D. won that one!), and from Lobster Me: one lobster roll a month for a year. !!! When I heard there was a raffle, I had zero expectations to win but you have to always get a ticket, right? The Unilocal team was so sweet and sent me awesome winning vibes and told me that I had to believe that I would win– and GUESS WHAT?! Kristen from Lobster Me called my number and I won the prize!!! ME! Who never ever wins any raffle! BAHHH! This totally made my night and week and month and I am just overwhelmed with so much joy even now as I’m writing this.
THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR SUCH A GREAT PARTY! You all rock. :))))

Unilocal you’re so awesome !!!
I want to apologize in advance by being so emotionless when I won my noodle and co tasting raffle, however it was due to the amazing cabernet sauvignon that jax vineyards was serving.
This was my first Unilocal elite event, and must I say it’s totally worth it, I was stuck on jax vineyard cabernet sauvignon all night, it was superb. Forget French and Italian wine, Napa valley makes some of the greatest wine in the world, sure you won’t be able to get a Nero d’avola or a falanghina in sonoma, but don’t listen to me, I’m just an angry/​bias Italian guy.
Lobster me also elevated the level of excitement with their great signature Maine lobster rolls, and must I say they melted in your mouth.
I can hardly wait to take 4 of my friends to noodles and co. To enjoy this amazing tasting.
Thank you Unilocal team :)