Visit Santa Rosa Welcomes Annual Sonoma County Harvest Fair Weekend; Celebrates Best in Wine Country Food, Wine, Brews & Ciders
Santa Rosa, California (PRWEB) September 09, 2013 -- Each October food & wine lovers travel from near and far to experience The Sonoma County Harvest Fair in celebration of the local harvest. The weekend long event is three days of wine tasting with over 150 wineries, food pairings, craft beer & cider tastings, an extensive marketplace and chef demonstrations, workshops and the beloved World Championship Grape Stomp. Gate admission is free and includes entrance into the Marketplace & main events. Admission to the Tasting Pavilion is $50 per person; or $90 for two (pre-sale). This new all-inclusive tasting experience includes medal winning wine, beer, ciders and food from this year’s professional competitions. The event runs Friday, Saturday & Sunday, October 4-6, 2013 at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds 1350 Bennett Valley Road, Santa Rosa, CA more information at http://www.harvestfair.org or call (707) 545-4200.
For over 38 years thousands of visitors have gathered from near and as far as South America, India and even Australia for the Sonoma County food and beverage exploration focused on locally produced products. This year offers the best of festival favorites with new twists & features including educational demonstrations, a renewed focus on local and artisanal products and cooking competitions and tastings. The crowd favorite, the Grape Stomp, is highly entertaining to participate in or just watch, teams compete throughout the weekend and the final stomp is on Sunday at 4:00pm. In addition to bragging rights and purple-stained extremities, winning teams vie for a grand prize of round-trip airline tickets.
"The Harvest Fair board is excited to bring this renewed approach to the event, to promote the local flavor and to celebrate all of the skilled craftsman who grow and produce Sonoma County artisan wines, beers and foods," said Nick Frey, Sonoma County Harvest Fair President. The new categories in the culinary competition have attracted Sonoma County’s most famed restaurants to participate this year.
The heart of the Fair is at the Tasting Pavilion, featuring award-winning varietals from this year’s Professional Wine Competition and cuisine from the Professional Food Competitions. The Marketplace is free for everyone to explore and guests can pick-up gold-medal winning wines including vintages not available in stores. Sonoma County has been in the news lately as a hot spot for artisan breweries & ales and the Pavilion will highlight craft beer and cider producers this year. Shoppers will find local products hand-crafted in Sonoma County like jewelry, clothing, lavender soap and olive oil.
The Marketplace will host a variety of tasting seminars and chef demonstrations. In the new Do It Yourself (DIY) interactive experience guests learn to brew beer, cure olives or even farm wine grapes. Brent Farris from KZST Radio will host the World Wrapped Competition, similar to the Food Network show Chopped; contestants will be provided a mystery basket of fresh, local ingredients and a time limit to create a recipe. A panel of celebrity judges will be on-hand to taste and critique the creations.
About Visit Santa Rosa:
Visit Santa Rosa provides assistance to visitors and groups seeking information about lodging, dining and entertainment opportunities in Santa Rosa. The bureau also operates an Official State of California Welcome Center, and helps to bring major events to Santa Rosa. For more information, please call (707) 577-8674 or VisitSantaRosa.com.
Brad Calkins, Santa Rosa Convention & Visitors Bureau, http://www.visitsantarosa.com, 707-577-8674 11, [email protected]
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