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Vittles and Vines

Bacchanalian  trio: 
A slab of bread, a goblet of wine and your hand in mine

By Patricia Kutza

Using my wine glass as a lense, I stood on Lake Sonoma Winery’s observation deck and peered at the sun-dappled ridges of the Dry Creek Valley.  A W.C. Fields-ism came to mind:  “I cook with wine”, he was purportedly to have said, “and sometimes I even put some in my food.”   My sentiments exactly, I murmured into my glass, munching on another bit of truffle.

Listen up all you kindred spirits reading this article!  I bring you great news.  In just about every nook and cranny in the United States this year you can find wine and food events that would send even the inimitable Fields swooning into next year.

Whether you feel like mingling with a bunch of folks or nestling twosome in a corner there’s a good chance that you’ll find an event just right for your mood.  Like to sip that Chardonnay knowing that your bucks are supporting a worthy cause?  There’s also plenty of benefits to choose from.

In one grand scale event over fifty wineries in the Russian River, Alexander and Dry Creek Valleys  host special wine/food tastings during the annual A Wine & Food Affair.  Traditionally held in early November, this colossal Northern California-based wine-a-thon draws a lively crowd, attracted to the incredible fall color display, wide range of available wines and intriguing food samplings.  When my brochure arrived  I was transfixed between joy and agony.  Do I dare miss Turkey Ettoufee on Gorgonzola Polenta (Alexander Valley Vineyards) in favor of Crispy Crab Risotto Cakes with Tangerine Aioli (Chateau Souverain)?  I finally charted a winery path where I could sample the  Ettoufee, Chocolate Chess Torte (Field Stone Winery & Vineyards), Grilled Fig Proscuitto & Goat Cheese Appetizer (Wilson Winery) and Chocolate Cayenne Pepper Truffle (Lake Sonoma Winery).

Vittle and vine-lovers in that same neck of the woods don’t have to wait too long for their next  fix.  January ushers in the crab season and with it, the Mendocino Crab and Wine Days Festival. While the cooking demonstrations are great  and the winemaker dinners spectacular, it’s the crab feeds that  I live for.  At four different locations you’ll find some of the most gleeful faces, raised over enormous bibs with elbows akimbo (and stickiest fingers!) gorging on Dungeness crab.  It’s fun…it’s messy and it’s a not-to-miss part of this event.  For folks who want to get closer to the source, there are crab and whale watching cruises and fishing trips available daily out of Noyo Harbor.  

Just a month later point your compass further north to join the denizens of Newport, Oregon as they celebrate the Newport Seafood & Wine Festival.  This is one of the grand daddy’s of the food and wine circuit, inaugurated in 1978 in this central Oregon location.  Both commercial and amateur wine makers have a chance to win medals in their winemaking competitions.  Don’t make wine yourself but still want to win a medal?  There’s also a coastal 5K race you can join! 

In June up at Telluride, Colorado…and I do mean UP (14,000 ft!) wine aficionados will do what they have done for twenty-one years running…sip and sup for four wonderful days amid the beautiful southwestern Colorado San Juan Mountains. Representatives from over 85 wineries join celebrity chefs to host luncheons, dinners (Chefs Gay Danko of San Francisco-based Gary Danko and Troy Dupuy of NYC-based La Caravelle  will be attending in 2003),  a large choice of seminars and book signings.   The Wine Festival has become an integral part of the Telluride community, implementing a mentorship program for local high school students who team up with local chefs to learn the nuts and bolts of working in a professional kitchen. 

Saint Louis (Missouri)-based THE FLEUR-DE-LYS MANSION offers a unique alternative to these large-scale events, with their theme-based wine and food pairing dinners.  Chef Fio Antognini accompanied each of the five courses at their Music Fusion dinner (January 2003) with music specially selected to enhance the food and wine experience.  Romance is seriously cultivated at the MANSION and small-scale intimate dinners, like  The Valentines Dinner to Remember, reinforce their mission.

Just 150 lucky passengers can take the Grape Escape, evening train rides on the Clarkdale,Arizona-based Verde Canyon Railroad that feature home-grown wines from Kokopelli Winery. Specialty cheeses   chosen to compliment each wine are served throughout the journey. Topping off great wine and food is the chance to see Great Blue herons and black hawks (summer) and deer, antelope, javelinea, red-tail hawks and beltedkingfishers (fall).

If the sheer number of benefit-related wine and food events is any measure, these vines & vittle affairs seem to be great venues for raising funds.  For example, aquariums across the nation have latched on to the concept, capitalizing on their high-profile images to attract marquee name chefs and sommeliers.

The perennially popular Monterey Bay Aquarium (California) features Cooking for Solutions.  This event offers the customary tastings, celebrity chef demonstrations and farm and vineyard tours but their focus is unique.  The emphasis is on sustainable seafood, organic cuisine and sustainable/organic wines with the goal of helping people connect their individual buying decisions to the health of the oceans and the soil.

The Florida Aquarium is also hoping to beef up their educational and veterinary programs by offering a wine and food extravaganza that features over 70 different wines, food samplings from such Tampa Bay based restaurants as Roy’s , Catch 23 and The Ashley Street Grill and live jazz music.

Expect to pay a moderate to pricey sum for your slice of subdued bacchanalia.

Large-scale events can vary between $45 and $60 dollars.  Along with the opportunity to sample many wines and foods (typically over a two or more day period), many venues provide a complimentary commemorative wine  glass and poster plus  the chance to win door prizes.   The Wine and Food Affair also provides a cookbook that includes recipes for many of the wine/food pairings that you sample during their event. 

Winemaker dinners (at large and small scale events) typically range from $100 to $150 per person.  These are elegant and lengthy five course affairs.  Some hotels and Bed&Breakfasts offer package deals, bundling in the price of overnight accommodations discounted over their rack rate.

There are so many other wine and food venues worth noting.   Here’s a short list of more events.  (For a more exhaustive list, input the keywords ‘wine and food pairing events’ to your favorite search engine.)

Large scale

(Typically include several wineries collocated at one destination or several wineries hosting in their own locations)

Cape May Food & Wine Festival  (Cape May, New Jersey)

South Beach Wine and Food Festival (Miami, Florida)

Florida Wine Festival (Tallahassee, Florida)

Newport Seafood and Wine Festival

Mardi Gras/Cayuga Wine Trail (Ithaca, New York)

Beaver Creek Fifth Annual Culinary Classic (Beaver Creek, Colorado)

Small scale

(Usually run by a private organization such as a hotel, Bed & Breakfast or private club)

High Tea at Sea:  (Yachting on the 1790 House’s motor yacht/ Georgetown, South Carolina)

Gulf Coast Connoisseur Club Cruise (Cruise on the Seven Seas Voyager from Rouen to Monte Carlo)

1859 Historic National Hotel (Winemaker dinners, Jamestown, California)

Taste of the Delta (Ryde Hotel, Walnut Grove, California)

Winter Getaways for Wine Enthusiasts (Winemaker dinners, Litchfield, Connecticut)

Benefits

Boca Bacchanal (Boca Raton, Florida)

Einstein on Wine/Einstein Dine (Tampa, Florida)

Annual Rocky Mountain Wine, Beer & Food Festival (Winter Park Resort, Colorado)

A Wine & Food Affair

Russian River Wine Road
www.wineroad.com
1800-723-6336

Beaver Creek Fifth Annual Culinary Classic
www.beavercreek.com
Beaver Creek, Colorado
(888) 920-2787

Boca Bacchanal
Sponsored by the Boca Raton Historical Society
www.bocabacchanal.com
(561) 395-6766
Boca Raton, Florida

Cape May Food & Wine Festival
www.capemaymac.orgTours-Events/Food-Wine-Festival/cmfwf.htm
Sponsored by the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts
Cape May, New Jersey
(800) 275-4278

Cooking for Solutions

Monterey Bay Aquarium
Monterey, California
www.montereybayaquarium.org
(831) 648-4800

Einstein on Wine/Einstein Dine
Museum of Science and Industry
Tampa, Florida
www.mosi.org
(813)987-6100

Florida Wine Festival
www.thebrogan.org
The Mary Brogan Museum of Art and Science
Tallahassee, Florida
(850) 513-0700.

The Florida Aquarium
Tampa, Florida
www.flaquarium.org
813-367-4005

Grape Escape
Verde Canyon Railroad
300 North Broadway
Clarkdale, Arizona 86324-2302
www.verdecanyonrr.com
(800)-293-7245

High Tea at Sea
1790 House
630 Highmarket Street
Georgetown,  SC 29440
www.1790house.com
(800) 890-7432

Mendocino Crab & Wine Days
Mendocino County Alliance
www.goMendo.com
Mendocino, California
crab@goMendo.com
1-866-GoMendo (466-3636)—tollfree

Mardi Gras
Ithaca, New York
www.HotIthaca.com
(800) –28-ITHACA

Newport Seafood and Wine Festival
Greater Newport Chamber of Commerce
http://www.newportchamber.org/swf/
chamber@newportnet.com
 (541) 265-8801 ... 1-800-COAST44 ... FAX (541) 265-5589

Rocky Mountain Wine, Beer & Food Festival
(Benefits The National Sports Center for the Disabled)
http://www.nscd.org/media/article_detailpage.cfm?news_id=41&article=1
800.420.8087

South Beach Wine and Food Festival
http://www.sobewineandfoodfest.com
info@sobewineandfoodfest.com

1859 Historic National Hotel
18183 Main Street
P.O. Box 502
Jamestown, CA 95327-0502
www.national-hotel.com
(800) 894-3446

Taste of the Delta
California Delta Chambers & Visitors Bureau
http://www.californiadelta.org
TEL 209/367-9840

Telluride Wine Festival
Telluride, Colorado
www.telluridewinefestival.com
(800)525-3455

THE FLEUR-DE-LYS MANSION
3500 Russell at Grand
Saint Louis, Missouri  63104
(888) 693-3500
www.thefleurdelys.com

Winter Getaways for Wine Enthusiasts
www.litchfieldhills.com
(860) 567-4506

Images by Patricia Kutza and courtesy of Russian River Wine Road, Mendocino Alliance, Greater Newport Chamber of Commerce, Telluride Wine Festival, Monterey Bay Aquarium (Kevin Candland),  Fleur-De-Lys Mansion and the Verde Canyon Railroad

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