San Diego Bay’s Event SoCal’s #1 Wine & Food Festival

Annual San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival Is Top-Rated For its Multi-Day Format With Multiple Fun Parties & Tastings

 

I just love going to wine, beer and food festivals.

They are festive, classy without being conceited and you’ve got something in common with just about everyone there, because you are all there to consume wine and beer (plus, in some cases, spirits) and food from great chefs.

One of the top ones I’ve attended is LA Magazine’s “From the Vine” in the gorgeous canyons of Malibu. And although it’s all beer and wine without the food, the annual Trump National Beer & Wine Festival is sensational.

The problem with these events, though, is that they are like a college basketball freshman sensation headed to the NBA: One and done. When they conclude, people are always hungry – and thirsty – for more.

That is why the one in San Diego, the annual San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival, is the best of  its kind in Southern California.

 

That’s because it is not simply a single day, but a series of events taking place for several days (the 2011 festival is Nov. 12-20, with most events occurring on Thursday, Friday and Saturday). It is most certainly highlighted by the Grand Tasting, the main attraction on Saturday, Nov. 19, that takes place on the water’s edge in Embarcadero Park North, behind Seaport Village.  The fact that it’s a 10-minute walk from the Gaslamp is great, as well.

But there are so many other events, it’s almost like a technology Expo. Except instead of keynote speakers and panelists, it has wine, food and beer-tasting classes. I’ll be attending one on Friday, the Belgian Beer Tasting With Pairing, in which high-end beers from Belgium are paired with food. InBev has actually brought in a master brewer and chef to give the hands-on demonstration for this one.

 

There are also tasting seminars, cooking classes, a tasting and auction, parties, and more. In fact, they are too numerous to mention here and instead of listing them all, I’ll just point you to the event’s website.

Yet that’s just the warmup, the appetizer or Happy Hour menu, if you will, for the rest of the festival. Before the first bottle is uncorked on Saturday, there is an awesome party Friday night. Called the Reserve & New Release Tasting and Silent Auction, it’s a start-up social mixer of the highest quality.

The 2010 event was held on the Hornblower Yacht and the 2011 party is taking place at the San Diego Air & Space Museum (6:30-9:30 p.m.). In addition to the wines and beer, it also has high-end spirits, plus music from San Diego’s “queen of Boogie Woogie,” Sue Palmer. Hundreds attend – the $100 advance fee, or $125 at the door nary a thought – and party like there’s no tomorrow. Except here, there is a tomorrow.

This party is like the perfect touch of foam to a perfectly-poured glass of Stella Artois. It’s such a great party if one didn’t know, they might be fooled into thinking it was the main event.

 

Yet there’s more, and the main event is terrific. First, there’s the location, in a park right on the water. Second, there’s the event itself, which is full of great chefs providing tasty samples of some of their best dishes, hundreds of wines (700, according to the organizers) being poured, as well as beer.

The most popular beer spot is the Stella tent, which gives away souvenir glasses with its pours, and also because people tend to gather there as the afternoon progresses. The presence of beer seems to bring that out in people.

The Grand Tasting lasts from noon-3 p.m. (VIPs get in at 11.)

With all this in mind, I can’t wait for this year’s event, and come back to the PubClub Bar Blog for photos and a full party report!

For more on the San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival, check out these reviews on PubClub.com:

• Grand Tasting Event Review

• The Party at the Stella Tent

• Friday Party, Reserve, New Tasting & Auction Review