Eve's Wine 101

Pebble Beach Company Announces 2020 Pebble Beach Food & Wine, April 16-19

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PEBBLE BEACH, CALIF.  – Pebble Beach Company announced today that it will host Pebble Beach Food & Wine from April 16 to 19, 2020. The 13th annual festival will feature more than 100 top chefs as well as more than 250 wineries from around the world.

Pebble Beach Food & Wine launched in 2008 and quickly established itself on the festival calendar as a can’t-miss culinary event. Each April, it brings together the pinnacle of talent in the world of food and wine, including numerous Michelin starred-chefs, James Beard Award winners and up and coming best new chefs as christened by Food & Wine Magazine, all for four days of cooking demos, wine tastings, and exclusive dining experiences at Pebble Beach Resorts.

Top industry names headed to Pebble Beach Resorts in April include Alinea Group’s Grant Achatz, Andrew Zimmern, Joshua Skenes, Nancy Silverton, Jeremiah Tower, Fabio Trabocchi, Stephanie Izard, Michelle Bernstein, Carlo Mirarchi, Nancy Oakes, Lorena Garcia, Floyd Cardoz, and Roland Passot. The long-weekend line-up includes fresh event programming – including a Gran Fundo cycle ride – and is available online. Highlights include:

Lexus Grand Tasting Tent: Held on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, it will feature 30 chefs each day and more than 300 wines from top-notch producers around the world, making each day a unique epicurean experience. 

Celebrity Chef & Winemaker Golf Tournament Presented by Chase Private Client: Held at Pebble Beach Golf Links and priced at $1,000 per ticket, this bucket list experience will pair magnificent golf with exceptional food and drink by way of stations set along the course.

Gran Fundo – Velo, Vino & Flavorful Feast with Chef Mike Fagnoni: An inaugural Gran Fundo cycle ride presented by the California Avocado Commission and Pebble Beach Food & Wine invites all skill levels to join the route along the scenic California coastline that surrounds Pebble Beach Resorts. Attendees will be treated to premium California Avocado-themed meals, including a Fuel Up Breakfast and Finish Line Feast provided by Executive Chef and Co-Owner of Hawks Provisions and Public House, Mike Fagnoni. 

Barilla 9th Annual Pasta World Championship USA Qualifying Event: The World Pasta Championship Qualifier returns to Pebble Beach Food & Wine’s opening night reception, giving guests an opportunity to taste pasta dishes from eight rising star chefs alongside Food & Wine Magazine Editor-in-Chief Hunter Lewis and celebrity Chef Elizabeth Faulkner.

 Alinea Family BBQ: The Alinea family of restaurants – including Alinea, Roister and Aviary – will lead an old-fashioned, oceanside barbecue at a private residence featuring the restaurants’ three-star Michelin Chef Grant Achatz. Guests can expect anything but the expected on the evening’s menu.

The Skenes Ranch Experience with Chef Joshua Skenes: Pebble Beach Food & Wine guests can get a glimpse into the heart and mind of brilliant three-star Michelin Chef Joshua Skenes, whose passion for hunting, fishing and open flame cooking led to his newest endeavor, Skenes Ranch in Sonoma, Calif.

 The Grand Finale Celebration of La Folie – In Honor of Chef Roland Passot: Honoring the magic of San Francisco’s French legend La Folie, which soon marks its final dinner service, this only-at-Pebble Beach Food & Wine celebration will bring together a collection of legendary talents who are Chef Roland Passot’s colleagues, proteges and friends, led by Chefs Nancy Oakes of Boulevard and Richard Reddington, formerly of REDD and REDWOOD.

 Heitz Cellars Martha’s Vineyard Retrospective: This epic event features five decades of one of the world’s most legendary wines. Led by Heitz Cellars CEO and Master Sommelier Carlton McCoy, guests will have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to sample vintages dating back decades.

 Steakhouse Feels: Big Cabs & Big Slabs: Making its return to Pebble Beach Food & Wine is the festival’s big steak event, which will pair the world’s best masters of the grill and BBQ with a martini bar, whiskey on the rocks, big red wines, and a caviar station.

The Exclusive Mastercard Presale is available through March 6. Mastercard Presale cardholders receive a 10% discount on tickets and packages.

Package Deals

Epicureans can find their perfect festival weekend recipe via three package options.

The Magnum is a great value for those looking to enjoy all daytime and afternoon events at Pebble Beach Food & Wine along with the Opening Night Reception. Package holders save more than $600 and gain VIP access, including to the Lexus Grand Tasting, and discounts on Jeroboam and Imperial level wine seminars.

The Jeroboam covers premium day and night events over the full weekend. Package holders save more than $1,000 on a $2,950 ticket and gain VIP access.

The Imperial gives package holders carte blanche for the full weekend—the highest level of access available and exceptional perks—and is available only to a select few due to space limitations on the rare wine seminars. Package holders save as much as $2,400 and enjoy VIP access and preferred seating at all wine seminars and cooking demos, complimentary access to the Chauffeured Lexus Luxury Vehicles for travel between events, and access to the Chef, Winemaker and VIP after-hours party each night.

Event Sponsors

The 13th annual Pebble Beach Food & Wine welcomes best in class partners like Lexus, Mastercard, Food & Wine magazine, Chase Private Client banking, FedEx, Barilla pasta and many more.

Ticket Information and Reservations

For tickets, packages and more information, visit pbfw.com. For more information on Pebble Beach Resorts and overnight reservations, visit pebblebeach.com or call 888-251-9790.

About Pebble Beach Company

Pebble Beach Company, headquartered in Pebble Beach, Calif., owns and operates the world-famous Pebble Beach Resorts®, including The Lodge at Pebble Beach™, The Inn at Spanish Bay™, and Casa Palmero®. The company also operates four renowned golf courses: Pebble Beach Golf Links®, Spyglass Hill® Golf Course, The Links at Spanish Bay™, and Del Monte™ Golf Course. Its other famed properties include scenic 17-Mile Drive®, The Spa at Pebble Beach™, Pebble Beach Golf Academy™, and Pebble Beach® Equestrian Center. It annually hosts premier events such as the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance®, AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, TaylorMade Pebble Beach Invitational presented by Dell Technologies, Pebble Beach® Food & Wine, and the PURE Insurance Championship Impacting The First Tee. Future site of the 2023 U.S. Women’s Open and 2027 U.S. Open Championships, Pebble Beach Golf Links® has hosted six U.S. Opens, five U.S. Amateurs, one PGA Championship, and numerous other tournaments. For reservations or more information, please call 800-654-9300 or visit pebblebeach.com.

Exceptional Wine Event at St. John’s College

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Celebrate Great American Winemaking at Fifth Annual In Vino Veritas

In Vino Veritas, a much anticipated annual, two-day wine event at St. John’s College, Annapolis, Md., opens with a dinner and wine tasting that celebrates the legacy of great American winemaking.

On Friday, February 27 special guest Warren Winiarski (St. John’s College, Class of 1952), founder of Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars, joins a panel of notable winemakers and connoisseurs in an exclusive evening of wine tasting. Stag’s Leap produced the winner of the 1976 Judgment of Paris.
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This historical wine event had a revolutionary impact on the wine industry, putting California wines firmly on the world wine map. A bottle of the award-winning 1973 S.L.V. Cabernet Sauvignon wine is on display at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. In its November 2013 issue, “Smithsonian” magazine included this bottle as one of the “101 Objects that Made America.” http://bit.ly/11LGeO8

St-Johns-WinemakersNapa winemakers John Turley, founder of Turley Vineyards; John Williams, founder of Frog’s Leap Winery; and Zach Rasmuson, CEO of Duckhorn Vineyards, will join Winiarski for a discussion moderated by Abe Schoener, founder of The Scholium Project. Turley, Rasmuson, and Schoener are also St. John’s College alumni. St. John’s College is known for its visionary winemakers –The New York Times magazine describes Schoener as a “fearless, risk loving winemaker.” http://nyti.ms/11mafDy

On Saturday, February 28, guests at the Grand Tasting can explore more than 100 wines from around the world, premier wine growing regions and producers, meet the vintners, and sample wines and hors d’oeuvres. Workshops will be offered throughout the afternoon.

For prices, tickets and more information about this two-day fundraiser sponsored by the Friends of St. John’s College, visit: http://invinoveritasannapolis.com/

St. John’s College is located in the heart of historic Annapolis, Md. The college, an independent, four-year institution, also has a campus in Santa Fe, N.M. St. John’s is known for its distinctive curriculum that focuses on the foundational works of western civilization. The college also offers graduate-level programs based on these same principles.

Susan Southard Welcomes you to Maryland Wine Country, with Eve

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Wine Discovery of the Week: My Maryland Taster’s Guild pal, Susan Southard, came for a visit with – you guessed it – Maryland wine.  We had a small group of mutual Facebook friends over and…we all thought the Black Ankle Vineyards 07 Leaf Stone Syrah was one of the best wines on our lazy Susan that night…Learn more about Maryland wine from Susan’s new ezine Welcome to Maryland Wine Country.

Susan Southard, Eve, circa 2011

The information above ran in my Dear Wine Friend newsletter last week, and, as you can tell was prompted by a visit from my friend Susan Southard.  It prompted me to do an interview with Susan, so our readers could also learn a little bit more about Maryland wines.

EB: Hi Susan, can you tell me what you like best about Maryland Wines?

SS: Variety, Maryland has many sub- climates (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryland_wine), with that there are many types of wine produced in MD; a wine for all palates.

EB: Tell us about the tastings you’ve had with your Taster’s Guild group and what your role is with the group.

SS: Tasters Guild is a wine and food appreciation group that holds monthly tastings and other side events. The guild focus is wine education and food pairing. The Tasters Guild directors work directly with local restaurants and chefs in development of the menu for the event’s tasting plates or dinner. Each event has a theme that revolves around wine. The monthly focus could be on a specific region (From the Heights to the Sea – Wines of the Middle East), a specific varietal (Riesling – From Alsace to Australia), to a wine/food seminar (You’re Serving That With What? – Wine/Food matching and miss-matching). Oh, and I can’t forget the annual Bubblie Brunch where the whole meal is designed around sparkling wines. That is our next event.

I have been a member of Tasters Guild since 2006 and their social media/ web specialist since 2007.

EB: What are some of the challenges faced by the Maryland wine drinking community as far as access to wines from other areas?

SS: Wine stores offer many wines from all over the world so we can get many wines. However, with the new direct shipping laws, Marylanders can now get wines that are not offered through the normal distributorship. While this is an improvement, more still needs to be done. Marylanders are still restricted to receiving wine directly from the wineries but we still can’t have wine shipped to us from out of state wine retailers or from wine auctions. I realize that this situation is limited to a small number of Maryland consumers but when you’ve finally located that special bottle of wine…

For more information on who is shipping into Maryland and how to apply to ship in http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/news/2011/08/11/which-wineries-are-shipping-to-maryland.html?appSession=639230226813699&RecordID=&PageID=2&PrevPageID=&cpipage=11&CPISortType=&CPIorderBy=

EB: Tell us about your new ezine, Welcome to Maryland Wine Country.  (http://www.welcometomarylandwinecountry.com/)

SS: The purpose of Welcome to Maryland Wine Country is to educate people in Maryland and the world about Maryland wines, the restaurants and stores that sell Maryland wines. The emagazine hopes to spark interest to bring people to come to Maryland, explore the Maryland wine trails, enjoy Maryland wineries, restaurants, and other features of the state of Maryland.

EB: And, when is good time to visit Maryland?  And wine tasting events we should be looking into?

SS: Well…. anytime is good, however, fall is my favorite time of the year. The weather is cooler, and we have the change of seasons here, which is beautiful.

When it comes to wine events there are many wine festivals throughout the year in Maryland. The two biggest are Wine in The Woods, held in May, and Maryland Wine Festival, held in September. Of course the wineries have events going on all year long, Tasters Guild Maryland has a tasting every month except May, Tasters Guild Maryland runs the wine education tent at Wine in The Woods.

A Long overdue update from our wine friends in Maryland (sent to me Nov. 4, 2011)

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Corkage Update
The Baltimore Business Journal came out with an article about the upcoming corkage debate (“MD Wine Connoisseurs Want Another Pop at Repealing Corkage Law,” October 28) last Friday.  The article profiled Cristin Dadant, co-owner of Clementine Restaurant, who asked the rhetorical question, “Why tie my hands even more to make my business accessible to people?”

This morning, their editorial board came out supporting a repeal of this discriminatory law.  To quote from their opinion entitled “Time to Uncork Maryland’s BYOB Restriction on Restaurants,” a corkage prohibition “hinders those growing smaller restaurants with intriguing menus and little room for a big cellar.  The current law limits enterprising restaurants (our emphasis). We’re not talking about a dramatic shift in the way people would wine and dine. Most people eat out because they want to buy food and drink. But it would be great to give patrons and restaurateurs the option many customers in other great restaurant cities enjoy.”

We could not agree more!

Virginia has historically been ahead of Maryland when it comes to wine: more wineries, more developed support of wine tourism industry, passage of corkage, etc.  The enterprising Virginia wineries realized that corkage was actually a boon to them because so few restaurants carried substantial Virginia offerings.  As a result, a few of the winery owners are listing restaurants within driving distance of their establishments who allow corkage, suggesting people taste then purchase a bottle for dinner. For other wineries with wine clubs, the wineries credit 50% of up to $10 of their members’ corkage fees as long as they bring their receipt to the winery.  We can only hope to be seeing some of the same in Maryland in 2012…

Direct Wine Shipping Update
As many of you were licking your lips thinking about shipping your favorite wine to your Maryland home, you probably didn’t realize how diverse your neighbors’ palettes were.  There have been a number of really interesting wineries to sign up for Maryland’s permits, not surprising given that there are now over 500 (wow!) permit holders.  Here are some interesting highlights:

Florida Orange Groves Winery (wine from the Sunshine State)
“Finally!  Wines That Taste Good” is their apt motto.  They make wine from a wide variety of ingredients including blueberry, carrot and key lime.

Crushpad (custom crush facility)
Crushpad provides grapes, a wine making team and a winery where you can make your own wine in small lots. Interestingly, one of our members came to testify in Annapolis that he had made his own barrel of wine while working in California but could not legally bring the wine into Maryland because of the prohibition on shipping.  Now he can!

Hagafen Cellars (Kosher CA wine)
Hagafen Cellars has been producing kosher wines from Napa Valley since 1979, one of the few kosher wineries in the US.

The Maryland General Assembly requires a fiscal note for any piece of legislation, and their venerable research staff must issue hundreds of them in any session.  We found the fiscal note for the direct wine shipping bill to be wanting, largely because it did not include the sales tax revenue that legalizing direct wine shipping would generate; rather, it focused only on the number of permits to be issued.  The fiscal note estimated that Maryland would issue 302 permits in FY2012, generating $60,200 in additional permit revenue.  We are pleased to report that the Comptroller has collected over $100,000 due to the substantial number of wineries signing up for Maryland’s permit.  The final sales tax numbers are not yet in for the previous quarter, but we can’t wait to report how much additional sales tax revenue the direct wine shipper’s permit generates for our beleaguered state budget.

‘You Are Not So Smart’: Why We Can’t Tell Good Wine From Bad
Auther David McRaney reveals something you probably already suspected yourself in his recent book You Are Not So Smart: we can be fooled by our expectations of how good a wine can be.  Try his experiment on your own: buy three bottles of the same type of wine (chardonnay, pinot noir, etc.), wrap them in foil, and label them A,B and C.  Invite a few friends over and ask them without discussing with one another to write down the most to least expensive wines based upon taste.  McRaney points out that we are terrible judges of character and will inevitably fail.  What is most interesting, however, is that professional wine tasters also do too!  He describes an experiment where white wine was dyed red and tasters were offered a glass of the white as well as the “red” wine and asked to describe them.  Not surprisingly, the tasters “described the sorts of berries and grapes and tannins they could detect in the red wine just as if it really was red.”

Please be in touch if you have some available time to help our organization.  Thanks for your interest!

Tastefully yours,

Adam Borden
President
Marylanders for Better Beer & Wine Laws
4315 Underwood Road
Baltimore, MD 21218
Tel: (443) 570-8102
http://www.mbbwl.org
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MBBWL
Twitter: http://twitter.com/mbbwl
Donate: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=2184279

Sssh…I got the list of Maryland Wineries that can, and will, be shipping out of state:

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Berrywine Plantations Inc. – Pending
Black Ankle Vineyards – Active
Boordy Vineyards Inc. – Active
Cove Point Winery – Active
Diamondback Wine LLC, dba Terrapin Station Winery – Active
Elk Run Vineyards – Active
Fiore Winery Inc. – Active
Great Shoals Winery LLC dba Great Shoals – Pending
KH Winery Ltd Partnership/Knob Hall Winery – Pending
Layton’s Chance Vineyard & Winery – Active
Mesozoic Technologies LLC – Active
Noble Landing LLC dba Bordeleau Winery – Pending
Running Hare Vineyard – Pending
St. Michaels Winery – Active
Sugarloaf Mountain Vineyard – Pending
Tilmons Island Winery – Active