This past year, we have seen a huge number of beer festivals taking place in the Los Angeles area. It seems like every other week there is a new beer festival taking place. However, with so many wine lovers in this world, it almost seems like a tragedy that there is such a scarcity in wine festivals. However, this past Saturday, Pinot Days presented their 7th annual Southern California Pinot Days. Finally, an event where true wine lovers could attend and sample everything pinot!
Pinot Days Southern California is Pinot Days fastest growing event, and it makes sense! People who enjoy blue skies and an easy, breezy lifestyle gravitate to pinot noir because it is easy to pair, easy to drink, and fascinating to talk about. Couple that with the area’s innovative food, and you have a fantastic coupling of place with pinot. The event took place at the Skirball Cultural Center and gave attendees a chance to meet winemakers, hear their stories and enjoy the most diverse, lovely wines on the planet.
The event showcased 80 phenomenal producers of pinot noir. Consumers had the pleasure of sampling over 100 pinots from every important domestic pinot noir region, from the Russian River Valley to the Santa Lucia Highlands, Oregon to Carneros, the Anderson Valley to the Sonoma Coast to the Santa Rita Hills.
The event had every vineyard set up at their own table pouring cups of their signature wines. One was able to go from one to the next sampling a variety of different wines. The best part was talking to those that make the wines and hearing all the details that make each one unique.
While there were so many delicious wines present, we had a couple favorites.
Navarro Vineyards– Novarro Vineyards is a family owned vineyard that has been growing grapes, making wine, and producing non-alcoholic grape juices in the Anderson Valley in coastal Mendocino since 1974. They are small enough that you probably won’t find them in any stores. Thus, we were very lucky to get to try their wine at the event!
Ancient Oak Cellars-The Ancient Oak, the companies namesake, has presided over the Siebert Ranch for more than 100 years. Their wines are made with a hands-on approach and provided us with some of our favorite wines of the day.
Besides all the wonderful wine being poured, there was also some other great treats to sample.
Krave Jerky– Krave was sampling at least eight different flavors of their jerky, and wow, were they all delicious. Krave describes their Jerky as, “A cut above the old, leathery, chemically processed products, Krave represents a jerky renaissance, providing an all-natural, artisanal snack that is both healthy and flavorful, made using only high-quality ingredients.” We will definitely be buying this jerky from now on!
Monterey Chocolate Company– Let’s face it. Almost every chocolate tastes amazing. However, every once in a while, you will try a chocolate that just takes its taste one step further. That is what Monterey Chocolate Company does. All of their chocolate is hand crafted on a limited edition basis only using fresh, organic, seasonal fruits, herbs, and nuts from local farmers, infused into our organic and fair trade chocolate.
About Pinot Days
Pinot Days is a non-profit dedicated to the promotion of one of our very favorite things – domestic pinot noir. The majority of the producers Pinot Days features fall into the “boutique” category; they are not big corporations with their own marketing teams.Rather, the winemaker and/or the winery owner often make up the entire staff and thus, they are limited in their ability to bring their beautiful wines to you, the interested wine lover.That’s where Pinot Days comes in!
Pinot Days is a wine event that celebrates pinot noir in its many styles, ranging from modern to earthy to elegant. Unlike wine events that appeal to a narrow customer base featuring wines more alike than different, Pinot Days brings together pinot producers representing every California pinot style, appellation and price point, as well as a number of pinots from Oregon, Germany, New Zealand and Burgundy. Pinot Days also celebrates the passionate people who make pinot noir, which is no easy variety of grape with which to contend, but one that has the innate ability to surpass all other grape varieties.Pinot Days will enable you to explore new producers, find wines you love and can afford, and become a pinot devotee if you are not one already.
From the Grand Festival to the Winemakers Dinner to the more intimate tastings, each of the Pinot Days events will be educational, stimulating and fun. Our goal is to make each event accessible to everyone by keeping the costs reasonable and the attitude casual. Pinot Days will never become an elitist event affordable only to the rich, nor will it become an “insider” event accessible only to industry folks and pinot geeks like us. Rather, we invite insiders to come and enjoy, and we encourage those new to pinot noir – those of you who do not yet know the depth, breadth and sheer loveliness of our noblest grape – to come and taste for yourselves.And meet the winemakers, who are some of the most interesting, passionate, gifted and colorful people we know.We hope to see you there.
