Big Sur for Sensuous Foodie Souls
Chef Michael Rotondo’s fresh take on borscht
This November, the creative, thoughtful, and celebratory Big Sur Food & Wine Festival once again brings together good friends, unique foodie experiences, and the always-on natural beauty in this big land to the south of Monterey Bay. Or “Three days of hedonistic fun!” as festival founder Toby Rowland-Jones describes it.
We’re pleased to support this 6th year of friendly foodies coming together and forging their own paths through the delicious opportunities available across the weekend. We interviewed Toby in mid-October and discussed the wide range of special events the festive souls of Big Sur Food & Wine have planned for you this year. Enjoy learning more about this wonderful foodie experience from our audio interview with Top Hat Toby who gives us an insider’s tour of this special collection of sensuous foodie events.
Smoked salmon infiltrates Wine & Swine
Wine geeks should not miss “The Terroir Talk” panel discussion with gifted sommelier Rajat Parr on Friday 10:30am at The Big Sur Lodge with panelists Paul Draper, Ridge Vineyards; Pax Mahle, Pax Mahle Wines/Windgap; Ryan Glabb, RYME Cellars; Bibiana Gonzalez Rave, Shared Notes; and Josh Jensen, Calera. For your own personal World of Pinot Noir-ish experience, the BSFW team has assembled 30 outstanding Pinot Noir producers from around the world to pour wines at their Friday afternoon casual walkabout tasting. If you’re in the mood for dancing and dessert on Friday night, a few spots remain for a special evening at a beautiful private location (shh, it’s secret) but if you want to rev it up, Wine & Swine should do the trick at the Henry Miller Memorial Library for your food, drink & dance fix. And that’s just Friday….
Saturday keeps up the tempo of this artistic, unique, and exclusive foodie opportunity with the very well appointed Grand Public Tasting among the redwoods in a new location at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park (the park with the redwoods, not the waterfall and beach, FYI).
As always, some incredible auction items that Cannot Be Purchased Anywhere will be awarded to the highest bidder during the extra-generous portion of the weekend—the fundraising auction of incredible wine country experiences. A hefty selection of Saxum wines? Special meals prepared and delivered in memorable Central Coast properties? Lots of magnums filled with wonderful wines? The auction is not to be missed, especially since it gets you to the right place for Saturday evening’s Dinner with Friends Paulée-style meal with generous gifts of wine to share among chefs, winemakers, and their foodie fans.
Why would any sincere foodie miss these three days of hedonistic fun—a wine festival so intimate and close-knit that winemakers bring their very best wines to share and show off while local and visiting chefs seize upon the gastronomic bounty of this extreme region—surrounded on three sides by outstanding AVAs and a fourth side with the Pacific. Guests can have a chance to interact with and meet some of their favorite specialty food & drink purveyors and producers—from winemakers to Pig Wizards to chefs.
A few tickets remain for select Big Sur Food & Wine Festival events but are going fast.
Visit BigSurFoodandWine.org for a schedule, tickets, and lots more information.
**Highly Recommended**
Interview Highlights
“It’s all about friendship. We invite only our friends.”
— festival founder Toby Rowland-Jones
Toasting another incredible sunset (photo: BSFW)
“I wanted this festival to be a way to show off the culinary skills and expertise in the community.”
—Toby Rowland-Jones
~ This year’s festival will feature a special cocktail produced just for the event as well as generous bubbles from Louis Roederer Champagne.
~ Love to drive? Be sure to learn more about the Land Rover driving experience offered through Saturday’s auction which—through the generosity of festival friends and auction participants—has raised over $100,000 for Big Sur non-profits in its first five foodie years.
~ Do you know the foodie neighborhoods of Big Sur?
~ The keep-it-safe shuttle system from Carmel is super user friendly: please keep these friendly BSFW volunteer shuttle drivers busy all weekend.
Don’t miss the Pig Wizard in action at Wine and Swine on Friday
[Full Disclosure: We’re media sponsors of this year’s Big Sur Food & Wine Festival which means we receive media passes to select events across the festival. Thanks BSFW!]
