When a charity event celebrates 30 years, no doubt it’s not only been successful but has helped beneficiaries and local community along the way. That’s exactly what Winesong, the annual fundraiser on the Mendocino coast of California has done for three decades. “Over 30 years we’ve raised $6.5 million,” says Jeri Erickson, executive director of the Menodcino Coast Hospital Foundation. “Our beneficiary and our sole purpose is to support the Mendocino Coast Hospital, a 25 bed hospital. We service 70 miles of coastline over 540 square miles, as were are a remote region. The closest hospital is an hour away through windy mountain roads, so a hospital in our community is absolutely vital.” Jeri owes part of Winesong’s longevity to its unique location. “All of our events have a coastal view,” she says. Winesong is always the first weekend of September. The Friday afternoon event is the Pinot Noir Celebration…
DRINK – One of the most breathtaking wineries ever
There are no vineyards. Instead, wine barrels on the edge of the coast signal that you’re at a winery. Welcome to Pacific Star, on the northern California coast in Mendocino County wine country. Pacific Star is north of the town of Mendocino and Ft. Bragg. While the remote location is remote, Sally Ottoson’s wines are accessible and highly drinkable. Choose from a number of varietals, including a few Italian grapes, such as Barbera and Charbono and Carignane. I highly recommend Barbera with a spicy tomato ciopinno stew. She also makes a lovely Viognier/Rousanne blend. Recently the winery learned that a fault line runs directly under the tasting room and winery, which has been named the Pacific Star fault. Sally made the It’s My Fault blend — Syrah, Charbono and Carignane — in honor of that fact. This is the definition of a destination winery. Plan a visit here with a…
DRINK – Mendocino wine
The Mendocino Crab & Wine Days festival is a great event in that you’re eating local Dungeness crab and drinking local Mendocino County wines with it. I tasted many of them as a component of the wine competition for the Crab & Wine Days event. The same five judges in the the crab cake cook-off sipped and spit 48 wine entries. Our mission: choose the wine best paired with pure crab meat. In the blind tasting lineup there were only white wines, except for one sparkling Rose. Lots of Chardonnays were entered, but many were over-oaked or butter bombs. The top three wines were #1 Graziano Chenin Blanc; #2 Navarro Vineyards Gewurztraminer; #3 Yorkville Cellars Sauvignon Blanc. At the public crab and wine tasting, my favorite discoveries were the wines from Toulouse Vineyards, and the wines from Elke Vineyards. I almost don’t want to tell you about Toulouse because he’s…