Taste Our Terroir, an annual, four-day celebration of meals and wine sponsored by the Livermore Valley Winegrowers Association, will return in July with occasions starting from dinner in an olive orchard and an electrical bike tour of the area to a wine and meals pairing competitors with 11 wineries and their restaurant companions.
The celebration begins on Thursday, July 14, with the signature Food and Wine Pairing Competition at Garre Vineyard and Winery, 7986 Tesla Road, Livermore. There, 11 wineries will accomplice with cooks from native eating places to create appetizers that complement the wines. The groups will compete for prizes in a blind style check overseen by Bay Area culinary and wine judges. Guests can even pattern the pairings, together with a dessert buffet, and weigh in by voting in the People’s Choice class.
Pairing competitors groups embody Big White House Winery and Charming Fig Catering; Fenestra Winery and Oyo; Garre Vineyard and Garre Café; Las Positas Vineyards and Locanda Wine Bar; McGrail Vineyards and BottleTaps; Murrieta’s Well and its personal chef; Occasio Winery and Sabio on Main; Page Mill Winery and Much Ado About Pizza; Rosa Fierro Cellars and Norm’s Place; Wente Vineyards and its personal chef; and Wood Family Vineyards and First Street Alehouse.
General admission tickets for the competitors, which runs from 6 to 9 p.m., are $95 per individual. Early admission VIP tickets are $135.
On Friday, July 15, the celebration will proceed with a wine lovers’ hike from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at Murrieta’s Well, 3005 Mines Road, Livermore. Hikers may also be taught concerning the vineyard’s small lot strategy to wine rising and pattern wines and bites ready by the Murrieta Well’s culinary crew.
Tickets for the hike and wine and meals tasting are $70. From midday to 2 p.m. on Friday, cheesemonger Brandon Wood from The Cheese Parlor in Livermore will share his information of the cheese-making and getting older course of with a pairing of artisanal cheeses and wines on the Fenestra Winery, 83 Vallecitos Road, Livermore. The tasting may also embody wines from the Garre Vineyard & Winery and Del Valle Winery. Tickets are $55.
Friday’s occasions will proceed from 4 p.m. to six p.m., with a tasting and dialogue of Cabernet Franc by sixth-generation winemaker Steven Kent Mirassou at The Cellar at The Lineage Wine Collection, 5443 Tesla Road, in Livermore. Mirassou believes that Cabernet Franc, a black grape selection that’s used in many wine blends, would be the future of wine rising in the Livermore Valley. Tickets for the Cabernet Franc Retrospective are $65.
From 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., the Livermore Valley Vintners’ Collective will host a four-course, farm-to-table dinner offered by On the Vine Catering, set in an olive backyard on the Purple Orchid Wine Country Resort & Spa, 4549 Cross Road, Livermore. The collective contains Fenestra Winery, John Evan Cellars, Las Positas Vineyards, Page Mill Winery, and Wood Family Vineyards. Tickets for the dinner are $175.
Events on Saturday, July 16, start with yoga led by licensed teacher Lisa Stanford, from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m., on the Fenestra Winery. Tickets are $25.
From 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., the Pedego Electric Bikes retailer in Livermore will sponsor a guided tour to a number of native wineries. Participants will choose their bikes on the Pedego store, 1911 Second St., earlier than heading to Page Mill Winery, adopted by lunch at Charles R Vineyards, a tour and tasting at Big White House, and lastly a late-afternoon wine tasting at Wood Family Vineyards. Tickets are $220.
From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Rosa Fiero Cellars, 2245 S. Vasco Road, Livermore, will host a tasting and dialogue of rose’ wines. Winemaker Rosa Fiero shall be joined by Alexandra Henkelman from Omega Road Winery, Beth Refsnider from The Lineage Collection, and Samantha Bunegin from Las Positas Vineyards. Charming Fig Catering will present bites. Tickets for Stop and Smell the Roses are $55.
Also on Saturday, from 1:30 p.m. to three:30 p.m., winemakers from Cellar 13, Cuda Ridge Winery, Darcie Kent Estate Winery, McGrail Vineyards and Winery, Wente Vineyards, and The Lineage Collection will provide a tasting of extremely regarded 2017 classic Livermore Valley Cabernet-based wines. The tasting shall be at McGrail Vineyards, 5600 Greenville Road, in Livermore. Tickets are $65.
Finally, Saturday will wrap up with Secrets of a Sommelier, with LeeAnn Kaufman providing recommendations on correct serving temperatures, methods to discover the proper glass, and different secrets and techniques of having fun with and serving wines, at Concannon Vineyard, 4590 Tesla Road, Livermore. Tickets are $75.
Yoga Instructor Lisa Stanford may also get Sunday underway with a category from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at Concannon Vineyard, adopted by a glass of rose wine. Tickets are $35.
From 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., wine lovers can be a part of sommelier Jeremy Troupe-Masi at Nottingham Cellars, 2245 S Vasco Road, in Livermore, for a 16-foot ‘sensory bar’ that can permit them to see, scent, contact, and style their method by greater than 40 flavors and aromas. Wines shall be paired with choices from The Cheese Parlor in Livermore. Tickets for the Sensory Extravaganza are $75.
The last occasion of Taste of Terroir shall be a port wine and chocolate tasting from 3 p.m. to five p.m., at Cedar Mountain Winery and Port Works, 10843 Reuss Road, in Livermore, with winemaker Earl Ault explaining how pink and white port wines are made. Tickets are $35.
Participants should be 21 or older for all occasions. For extra info or tickets, go to lvwine.org.