Wine Country Weekend Overflows with Eating, Drinking, Frolicking, to Raise $1.3 Million

Hello Cello raspberry limoncello lemonade. Photo by Shana Ray.

“This is just another day in Sonoma,” quipped Carneros Bistro sommelier Christopher Sawyer, as he led a group past the steel drum band near the entranceway to Taste of Sonoma.

He pointed to booths serving grilled-to-order meats and fresh-blended Hello Cello raspberry-limoncello lemonade, parked next to a virtual city of tents packed with chef stations and tables brimming with thousands of wine bottles.

His entourage – some first-time visitors to the area, but others long-time residents – laughed.

Because indeed, even if North Bay types know a thing or two about culinary parties, Taste is thegranddaddy of all food festivals. The highlight of Wine Country Weekend, the three-day extravaganza of all things edible and drinkable that took over Sonoma Sept. 3-5, Taste played to a sold-out capacity of 2,500 guests sampling food and drink from more than 200 wineries and chefs.

Let’s get to the food.

If last year’s Taste seemed to go overboard on gazpacho (weak economy and all), in 2010, chefs were once again rolling out the stops. Just a few steps into the Gloria Ferrer Bubble Lounge, crispy pancake cones overflowed with shredded Liberty Duck mu shu moistened in Santa Rosa plum sauce, courtesy of Feast Catering.

Feast catering making their mu shu duck which paired perfectly with Gloria Ferrer Va de Vi.

Some restaurants celebrated the classics, like Santi’s fig-ricotta bruschetta, or Estate’s meatball on crusty bun. For traditional with a twist, the buzz was about Jack & Tony’s lacy-shaved roast beef and caramelized onions dotted with bleu cheese in a feather light phyllo cup. The line was long, too, for Relish Culinary Adventures’ earthy, tangy panzanella salad of cannellini beans, Quivira basil, heirloom tomato, DaVero olive oil and Costeaux ciabatta.

Others went international, such as Brasserie’s (Hyatt Santa Rosa) standout Korean short ribs with crunchy, not-too-fiery kimchi that cleansed the palate in between succulent bites. Maya in Sonoma had a runaway hit with spicy Yucatan-braised chicken over chips and salsa verde, and Girl & the Fig blended French with rustic California in its gruyere gougères stuffed in guanciale and fig jam.

Tomato BLT from Sante.

Even simple dishes got star treatment. Stark’s steak tartare came accented in truffled miso and shiso on toast, while Sante’s (Fairmont Sonoma) breadless BLT brought a cherry tomato stuffed in a rich salad of applewood smoked bacon, shredded romaine and spicy tomato remoulade. J Vineyards took a similar approach, offering simple but captivating bite-size BLTs layering foie gras mousse, heirloom tomato, applewood smoked bacon and frisee on toast points, paired with J Brut Rose and J Pinot Noir.

Nectar Restaurant had a pop-in-the-mouth attraction with smoked salmon on corn cake dotted in crème fraiche and fresh dill, while Zin proved a bit too popular: it ran out of its Eastside Farms honey-cured ham and pimento goat cheese on Zin biscuits.

In a nice new touch this year, each of the four appellation tents partnered select chefs and vintners, to

Chefs before the hungry crowd arrives at MacMurray Ranch.

show how wine and food can best be paired. For chef/owner Lucas Martin of K&L Bistro, that meant a rice dough bun stuffed with a slab of pork belly and drizzled in hoisin sauce, enjoyed alongside Mueller Winery’s Russian River Valley Zinfandel.

For many visitors, a big part of the excitement was seeing star chefs in action. Kendall Jackson should give chef Taki Laliotitis an endorsement contract for being such a charming hawker, as he lured folks in classy carny-style to try his cheese poppers. The hot, breaded nubbins exploded in the mouth as a decadent rush of creamy Delice de la Vallee and pimento cheese followed by the sharp vinegar crunch of peppadew pepper.

At The Sonoma Steel Chef Competition, meanwhile, with chefs warring recipes in multiple rounds of mystery ingredient cook-offs, Janine Falvo of Sonoma’s Carneros Bistro and Jack Mitchell of Jack & Tony’s in Santa Rosa tied for first place in a highly challenging all-vegetarian basket of beets, potatoes and rutabagas supplemented with local eggs.

Chef Duskie Estes cooking at La Follette Winery.

A Look at Just One of the Many Winemaker Dinners: Guests at the La Follette supper Friday night wanted two things – food to go with their wine, and to hear about host chef Duskie Estes’ experience as a competitor on season two of the Food Network’s Next Top Chef.

The Zazu owner certainly delivered on the food, starting with corn soup spiked in Backyard Anise Hyssop, an herb that tastes intriguingly like fennel and cinnamon. Next up was truffled cauliflower sformato; goose leg confit Shepherd’s pie all rich and steamy under pink peppercorn mashed potatoes; Liberty Duck two ways; and lemon crema Napoleon with Sebastopol blueberry sauce.

As for the inside scoops into the outcome of the show, Estes just grinned and shook her head. The Food Network has her in an ironclad contract to keep silent until the series starts airing Oct. 3.

“I was thrilled to be selected,” was all she could say, adding that talent in the line-up “was very East coast weighted,” and she felt a little at disadvantage since she doesn’t own a TV and thus had no idea what the show was about.

Attendees wearing their beach finest at the Sonoma Valley Harvest Auction.

But TV – who needed that for entertainment, when one was at the party in the delightful barn and garden setting in a Santa Rosa Willowside neighborhood vineyard? The evening started with a tour, as Greg La Follette described his grape cultivation process, the particular stresses of this year’s weather, and the unique clay, loamy soils of his property. It ended with La Follette doing charades of the pump-over process in wine fermentation, and playing bagpipe tunes.

Wine Country Auction: The theme of Endless Sonoma, the 18th Annual Sonoma Valley Harvest Wine Auction, was beach. So guests arrived at Cline Cellars decked in surfer shorts, brilliantly colored sundresses, and in one case, a glittering green mermaid outfit complete with shell bustier.

First, the food.

Park Avenue Catering got things underway with playful hors d’oeuvres like miniature grilled cheese-

Crazy Benziger Boyz at the Sonoma Valley Wine Auction.

curried Gravenstein apple sandwiches. After multiple glasses of wine, guests sat down to a starter of oxtail pate and a tiny cup of truffled cappuccino.

A hint of the entrée was to be had as people arrived at the winery: right there in the parking lot, Syrah restaurant chefs grilled pomegranate-herb lamb that would be served next to Zin Restaurant’s pinenut studded lamb meatballs.

Guests happily sipped their Sauvignon Blanc and nibbled the delicate gravlax from Estate, but they guzzled their muscular Cabernet and pounded the table for more wine barrel stave-roasted steak in salsa verde. Chefs Mark Stark (Stark’s Steakhouse, Willi’s Wine Bar, Willi’s Seafood & Raw Bar and Monti’s Rotisserie & Bar) and Carlo Cavallo (Sonoma Meritage Martini Oyster Bar & Grill) happily complied, sending out platter after platter of crusty edged meat, ribboned in glorious fat.

Yet even as the luncheon stretched over eight courses and nearly six hours, most of the excitement focused on the auction lots, often presented by their sponsors in raucous skits.

The chefs from the Sonoma Valley Wine Auction.

Who could look away from the gut-busting laugh that was the Benziger Boyz, from Benziger’s Imagery Estate Winery? A parade of hairy men pranced about, dressed in atrocious drag that cannot be recounted for a family-oriented blog. But it worked: their lot raised $51,500.

To keep the bidding going strong, the auctioneer, dressed in a cheeky bikini model t-shirt, appealed to virile wallets. “You’re twice as old as that gentleman,” he teased one man in a bidding war against another. “Prove you can still keep it up.”

The prodding proved profitable. A collection of 58 magnums from top vintners throughout Sonoma County sold for $58,000 – twice. Two rival bidders found peace when each walked away with the prize, bringing the lot total to $116,000 – the highest single lot bid in the auction’s history.

In total, the Auction raised $511,000. And by the delicious finale of the festival, Wine Country Weekend had secured $1.3 million for its charities.