When the invitation says “wine country casual,” what does that mean? That’s what attendees of this year’s Auction Napa Valley, on the first weekend of June, had to think about when deciding what to wear. The four day long event includes dinners at wineries, a food and wine festival with a barrel auction, and the live wine auction. Thursday night dinners at wineries are perhaps the most casual of the events, a low key way to ease into the weekend. At St. Supéry Vineyards, Kara Butler wore a Tilly’s denim jacket, Express white dress and Ariat boots. “These are the same cowboy boots that I where when I go through the vines so I thought what’s better than that?” Pam Prahm chose an Anthropoligie top, thinking about dining in the vineyard. “Just something casual and fun.” At Friday’s barrel auction, held at Raymond Vineyards, stripes and long dresses trended for…
It’s Wine Time
As we head into summer, it’s time for lots of great events happening all over wine country. Here’s a brief listing of what’s going on.
I love the Santa Cruz Mountains wine country, which is between San Francisco and Santa Cruz. It’s a beautiful and diverse region, with small wineries producing really great wine. You can try many of the region’s wines at two upcoming events. Read more
DRINK EAT – Auction Napa Valley 2010
Recession worries seemed to fade as wine lovers opened their wallets and raised paddles bidding up the prices at the 30th Auction Napa Valley, held over this past weekend. There was lots of good food and great wine flowing throughout the event. I went to the Taste Napa Valley and Barrel Auction on Friday, at Rubicon Estates. I love this annual event, and it’s a great one to go to even if you don’t make it to the live auction on Saturday. Dark skies and cool temps threatened rain, but it held off. At Taste Napa Valley, wineries pour whites and rose´and many of Napa’s top restaurants dished out bites. You could nosh on anything from chickpea fries to pulled pork sliders from BarBersQ and watermelon sorbet with chocolate chips (for seeds!), topped with fleur de sel. Martini House served up a creamy mushroom soup that was an inspired pairing…