Here’s hoping you enjoyed a happy and safe Memorial Day weekend… and that you took at least a few moments to ponder the reason for the holiday.
I took the day off — a rarity for your intrepid editor — and caught up with some reading while enjoying a couple glasses of wine (a nice, fruitful Chenin Blanc and a real mellow Merlot, if you must know).
But now it’s back to “reality” — which, when one works in the world of wine — isn’t such a bad place to be.
That said, it’s difficult to keep the mind from wandering after a long weekend… and in my case, the wandering leads to a couple of my favorite wine festivals.
We’ve told you about several in recent weeks, and today and tomorrow, we’ll share a couple more with you. If you’d like wine to be a central part of your vacation this year, a festival is a great way to jam a lot of pleasure into a relatively short period of time.
Just around the corner is the Central Coast Wine Classic, which I started attending in 1987. This is its 24th year, and its program of events has really expanded through the years.
Just a few of this year’s highlights…
* A three-hour barrel tasting. This gives you an opportunity to preview upcoming releases and learn what wine tastes like while it’s still developing and before it’s transferred to bottles.
* A San Luis Obispo County Pinot Noir terroir symposium. Find out how much difference soil and other climate factors make in the flavor of a wine — when the vintner doesn’t blend those characteristics away, or cloak them with too much oak.
* Winery dinners. Among the wineries hosting dinners at some of SLO County’s finest restaurants are Baileyana, Eberle, Edna Valley Vineyard, Justin and Martin & Weyrich.
And that’s just a small sampling of this year’s activities, most of which will take place at the Dolphin Bay Resort & Spa in Shell Beach, California. The dates: July 10-13.
To learn more or to purchase tickets, log on to centralcoastwineclassic.org, or call 805-544-1285.
Tomorrow: A preview of the Valley of the Moon Vintage Festival
