Highlights From Pebble Food & Wine 2024

April 9, 2024 – This year’s Tasting Pavilion echoed some elements of past Pebble Beach Food & Wine extravaganzas, with its somewhat grand entrance lined by branches with real cherry blossoms and Driscoll’s berry-bearing beauties handing out trays of strawberries, but it was much better laid out, with two tents instead of one, and a huge open area in the center, with lots of vendors, live music and seating for VIP guests, complete with their own cheese cart. 

Scheid’s Sunny With a Chance of Flowers brand was accented by their amazing floral displays by local florist, Fleur du Soleil by Kim England, and staff wearing floral wreaths and adorable white sunglasses, encouraging people to get into the garden party mood, with a pour of their Pinot Noir rosé. 

The pool/garden party vibe was amply underscored by the presence of Hampton Water (made by Bon Jovi) and Louis Roederer pouring nearby, along with Our Lady of Guadelupe, a Dave Phinney project in Sta Rita Hills. Jessica Yarr of The Grove Cafe and Bakery in Felton was serving up deviled eggs three ways, including a Vaduvan curry version, as the violinist/DJ put bow to string and filled the air with lively notes to complement the building excitement. 

People stood in line for a taste of Paul Hobbs wines, as well as for the fermented pizza by Jason Neroni of Jaybird, a huge hit for its wonderfully chewy crust topped with the smoky goodness of taleggio fonduta offset by oven cured tomatoes. 

Michelle Lee from the C Restaurant and Bar had a yummy Pandan cream crunch cake, which I strategically made my last bite of the day, so I hit the road with something sweet. Pandan is all the rage: it’s a verdant palm-like plant whose leaves impart a light green color and slightly sweet flavor, much prized in Vietnamese cuisine. 

Inside the first tent, I was immediately drawn to the duck tacos from Matt Bolton of C Restaurant and Bar, which was my first outstanding bite of the day, and heralded many to come. Next up was a visit to Hahn, now part of the Gallo empire, where they were pouring the excellent 2022 vintage of Hahn wines, the last ones made by the winemaking team of Paul Clifton at the Hahn facility, which still awaits a new owner. The 2022 Hahn Monterey Pinot Noir is purely red-fruited Pinot Noir, such a quintessentially Monterey flavor profile that proved a lovely match with those duck tacos. Let’s hope the Gallo folks don’t lose the formula. Ugh, I need a drink just thinking about it! As Randall Grahm would say, “What could possibly go wrong?” 

Having never tried Uncle Nearest, I asked the two young men pouring small shots in little cups which of the three they would recommend: the 1884, the 1856 or the rye. They chose the 1884 whiskey, which proved irresistibly smooth and elegant, sporting warm cinnamon, ginger and maple notes. Uncle Nearest was in fact, Nathan Green, a former slave who became Tennessee’s most revered distiller, and is credited for perfecting the “Lincoln County Process” of filtering whiskey through sugar maple charcoal before aging in barrel. Uncle Nearest is the first spirits brand named for a Black American, and his 5th generation descendant, Victoria Eady Butler, curates each batch as Master Blender. 

Passing by, or shall I more correctly say, bypassing, the entire Portuguese peninsula of wine, the largest such offshore display here, I instead sampled some interesting biodynamic wines from New Zealand, under the label Pyramid Valley, including a very herbal Chardonnay called “Field of Fire” done without oak, and like all their wines, foot-trod. The freshness of the surrounding flora botanica, depicted on the labels, influenced the entire lineup in a distinctive way.

There were lots of other non-domestic wineries, including Spain and France, along with many purveyors from across the country, but the local chef presence was abundant. I spied Chef Colin Moody and his crew from The Club at Pasadera serving up torched local mushroom and parsnip “bone marrow,” which had nothing to do with bones, but instead was comprised of pickled candy caps, crispy cordyceps, truffled carrot velvet, garlic blossoms and spring redwood sorrel. Creative!

I was surprised to see Rhys pouring at PBFW: they rarely come out to play. Their minerally and crisp Perpetual Reserve Sparkling was bracing, a mouthful of ocean meets sky. The whisper-of-chalk-textured Mt. Pajaro Chardonnay, with its lithe transparency, interrupted only briefly by a tiptoe of mint, citrus and chamomile, was intriguing. Winemaker Jeff Brinkman, one of the hardest working out there, was also pouring the 2019 Horseshoe and Alpine Pinot Noirs, from two vineyards remarkably near one another and yet eons apart. The Horseshoe carries slightly smoky, stemmy and earthy aromas, over a palate oozing with racy red pomegranate fruit and grippy tannins from the whole cluster. Alpine exudes another level of sophisticated perfume and red raspberry, lovely in its silky robe of superfine talc-y tannins. The exciting news is that Rhys is about to open a tasting room for the first time ever. Stay tuned for details! 

Did I mention there was a lot of wine at this event? Stoller, one of my favorites from Oregon, had a great lineup, starting with an Estate Brut sparkling that was finely bubbled, with aromas and flavors of pure Macintosh and Johnathan apples. 

It couldn’t have provided a more vivid contrast to the mind-bending complexity of La Grande Dame from Veuve Clicquot at the seminar I attended the previous day. This stuff is lively and refreshing, like Spring Break for your tastebuds. Which segued perfectly to the Summer Vacation juiciness of the 2023 Stoller rosé, the kind of wine you could drink all day by a pool. 

A 750ml simply isn’t big enough, which is why both Bernardus and Bricoleur were pouring their rosés from “single serving” magnums. The Bernardus hails from France, while the gorgeous almost fleshy Bricoleur Isa Rosé, is made by Rack & Riddle from Pinot, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris and a splash of Pinot Blanc. 

Little did I know that three of the four best Pinots I would taste all day would be right next to each other. Stoller’s 2022 Dundee Hills Estate was as fragrant as a rose garden in full bloom, leading to a perfect bowl of red cherries, with a lifted note of rhubarb and red currant. This was a Goldilocks vintage, the rep told me, and you can taste it, with the nicely ripe fruit and lip-smackingly fresh acid, not a hair out of place. A bargain at $40! 

Adjacent to Stoller was Nick Franscioni, pouring ROAR’s latest releases, also 2022. The story that year was a bit different for much of CA, where a multi-day triple digit heat wave leading up to and during harvest caused the kind of indigestion Goldilocks must have suffered after eating all the bear’s porridge. The 2022 Rosella’s Pinot Noir is a true triumph, with effusive florist shop notes that keep your nose velcroed to the glass. Reluctantly, I decided to eat my cake, and taste the stuff, and wow! It was explosively fabulous, just as the Testarossa version I’ve tasted. Warm with spice, red raspberry and cherry candy, wrapped in luxurious satiny tannins, it was a magnet for anyone with a hankering for pretty. I wasn’t alone in my admiration, as several other tasters returned wanting to revisit it. The 2022 Roar Sierra Mar fits into that dynamic, dimensional and persuasive category, showing depth and grip, and gravitas that makes it a personal favorite. Franscioni was also pouring a 2011 Pisoni Vineyard Pinot Noir out of magnum, which was still vibrant with the acid-driven horsepower of that vintage. Nick is getting married this year: twice. Once in California with a small ceremony for close family and friends, and then it’s off to Sorrento, Italy, his bride Ali’s hometown. 

Around the corner, I had the pleasure of meeting Chris Kajani, GM and winemaker of Bouchaine, whose 2021 Carneros Chardonnay really nailed that elusive “how much oak does Carneros fruit need?” dilemma with the perfect answer: 25%. She prefers to use a mix of once-filled casks as well as new lightly toasted barrels to tone down the wood impact, and it really shows. 

Matt Horn BBQ had to be my food crush of the day, not only because the combo of spices on his smoked ribs was otherworldly, but because he never stops working, or smiling or feeding people. Just the smell of that beef is enough to scare a vegan away for good. 

I made a beeline to Napa’s Cliff Lede Winery to tell Jason Lede, who is Director of Communications, about it. When I tasted the newly released 2021 Rhythm Napa Cabernet blend, I knew Matt had met his match. The smooth barrel spice and well managed tannins were just what that brisket wanted, and at $125, blows many “can’t drink this stuff until you’re close to dead” Napa Cabs clean away. 

Another standout dish was the duck confit with charred carrot romesco and a slaw of fennel and radish, topped with crispy chicharron and served on fennel pollen-dusted naan bread by chef Christian Ojeda of Lucia at Bernardus Lodge. 

There were so many temptations, including Danny Grant from Maple & Ash’s wagyu carpaccio and Megan Richards’ Monterey caught rockfish aguachile. Although I didn’t try it, I heard that Tim Woods of Woody’s At The Airport and Del Mesa was serving up a fabulous chanterelle and organic chicken stew with asparagus and fava bean succotash. Meanwhile, Mike Fischetti of The Pocket in Carmel was serving up braised Angus beef short ribs on polenta with bacon marmalade, and Charles Phan of the Slanted Door had white Peking duck broken rice porridge.

My wine crush of the day was the Joseph Jewell 2021 Ritchie Vineyard Chardonnay from Russian River made by Adrian Manspeaker, who is an avowed lover of Martini Clone Pinot Noir. His Pinots from Humboldt County—yes, there are vines in the land of weed—will set you free with their ethereality, and blitheness of spirit. But back to this Chardonnay: intense, riveting lemon kissed orchard fruit is made creamy with the perfect layer of peach pie. This wine was recently served at a State Department lunch, along with the 2021 Alderpoint Pinot Noir from Humboldt. Quite an honor! Manspeaker lives next to the Kent Ritchie Vineyard outside Sebastopol, and has for years poked his head over the fence, asking Kent if he can please have some fruit. Finally, in 2021, Kent relented. Persistence pays off. Jewell wines has a tasting room in the tiny but mighty town of Forestville. 

Congrats to the producers of Pebble Beach Food and Wine 2024, for bringing together such a diverse group of wineries from all over the planet, along with talented chefs to match!