The Claremont Hotel in Berkeley invites you to the second annual Berkeley Wine Festival, which begins March 11 with a grand gala and continues through May 18 with intimate wine dinners and seminars.
The March 11 opening reception will feature more than 50 wines from around the world, as well as gourmet eats from the Claremont’s Executive Chef Josh Thomsen, who will be assisted by the likes of Chef Sean Baker of Gather in Berkeley and Paul Arenstam of Summer Kitchen in Berkeley. Tickets are $85 per person.
Other events to come include a reception and dinner with Miner Family Vineyards on March 16 (tickets are $140 per person); and a reception and dinner with Opus One Winery on May 11 (tickets are $195 per person). For a complete list of events, click here.
Guests also can stay overnight at the Claremont on festival days and receive 20 percent off the best available room rate. Call (800) 551-7266 or book online by using the code: WINE.
Food Gal is thrilled to be able to give a pair of tickets to the March 11 opening reception to one lucky person.
Contest: Entries are limited to those who can be in Berkeley on March 11. Entries will be accepted through midnight March 5. The winner will be announced March 7.
How to win?
Just tell me about one of your most memorable winery experiences.
Here’s my own:
“Years ago, I was visiting the Coppola Winery, when it was still located in the Napa Valley, when I spotted the man, himself — Francis Ford Coppola — wandering around the gift shop. The noted director and winery owner likes to mingle with guests at his winery, so it’s not unusual to see him there. I had just purchased a bottle of his Claret and thought how wonderful it would be to have him sign it. So, I hunted in my purse for a pen, then pulled the bottle out of its brown paper bag, only to find myself thoroughly dejected. Of all the Coppola wines I could have bought that day, I had to have chosen one with a black label on it. Sigh. So much for that. But ever since then, I always make sure to carry a silver-ink pen in my purse anytime I visit the Coppola Winery.”