FESTIVAL'S RETURN DOESN'T DISAPPOINT
PEBBLE BEACH >> Tourists, returning visitors and residents poured into Pebble Beach this weekend to welcome back the Food and Wine festival after a yearslong hiatus.
The event, which began Thursday and runs through Sunday, offers dinners, seminars and walk-around tastings as well as other options. The last Food and Wine Festival was held in 2019. This year under new organizers A21, the event was able to go on as planned despite the rainy weather Thursday and Friday. Saturday offered sunny skies.
More than 60 events, from dinners made by famous chefs to wine tastings and educational seminars from chefs, were lined up at various locations in Pebble Beach.
The hallways of the Spanish Bay Inn were crowded with attendees decked out in their finest smart casual wear making their way from one event to the next in between attractions.
Visitors were able to try out fine wines in seminars, such as the D2 Retrospective: The Test of Time, a Cheese and Wine Exploration Seminar with Kent Torrey from The Cheese Shop, or Fortunate Beginnings: The Birth of a Napa Icon Seminar with Landon Patterson, chief executive officer of Hundred Acre.
Different whiskeys and beers were available, as well as champagne during a social hour for guests where many congregated at the Spanish Bay Inn and were waited on by hundreds of Pebble Beach staff.
Pebble Beach resident Karhryn Cross said she has been coming to the Food and Wine Festival for several years with a group of friends who fly out to the Monterey Peninsula from Dallas.
“I've been coming here for about six or seven years. It's been great, we went to a tasting this morning and it was very educational,” Cross
“The best thing is always the people, even when it's busy, there's always someone to talk to. You never know who you're going to see here.”
— Surya Shrespha, an employee with Pebble Beach
said. “We've been here several times and it's always a fun time, especially when you get to see some celebrity chefs from Food Network.”
One of the highlights of the festival was the tasting
pavilion, where dozens of vendors, chefs and others offered samples of different specialties.
Robert Bynum, a Bay Area resident, came with his wife and another group of friends and said they planned early when they heard the festival was happening again this year. He added that this was a chance to try different foods they may not have heard of before and to enjoy the Pebble Beach scenery.
“It's almost overwhelming how many options there are,” Bynum said.
“You have to learn how to decide what you'd like to try the most, otherwise you're already full before the next event.”
An event planner with A21 said it's always chaotic during the days of the event for staff and volunteers, but seeing people enjoy themselves made all of the hard work worth it.
Surya Shrespha, an employee with Pebble Beach, said one of the best parts of working with the resort was being able to talk with different people who come from all over the world to attend.
“The best thing is always the people, even when it's busy, there's always someone to talk to,” Shrespha said.
“You never know who you're going to see here.”