Pigs and Pinot 2023 - Healdsburg's Yummiest Smackdown
The Pigs and Pinot wine tasting extravaganza is a Healdsburg tradition. Housed & hosted by Dry Creek Kitchen & the Hotel Healdsburg, this gloriously and gluttonous foodie event celebrates all things swine-y and wine-y. This year’s Pigs and Pinot celebration is scheduled for March 17-18, 2023. And I can’t wait.
I wish I could recall the exact year of my personal Pigs and Pinot inauguration (2011?) - but I remember feeling giddy that I’d scored Pigs and Pinot tickets of my own. I’d been trying to purchase tickets for a few years, with the allocation always selling out before I could buy mine. I got desperate. I remember bringing a frozen yogurt sundae treat to the woman who handled Pigs and Pinot event logistics. I tried to bribe my way into the event. (True story). And by the time I secured tickets myself, I was amped up and ready to chow down on lardons and candied bacon and the beloved cult brands that I’d never otherwise get to taste.
In fact, it was at a Pigs and Pinot event where I first tried pinot noir from the Sangiacomo Vineyard. From the first whiff of Greg LaFollette’s Sangiacomo Vineyard Pinot Noir bottling, I was smitten. And thus began my campaign of harassing the Sangiacomo family until they sold me Roberts Road fruit for Bruliam Wines. You might think that I am joking - but landing my own block of their outstanding pinot noir required 15 months of (polite) harassment. Here’s text copied from that original email, referencing the Pigs and Pinot wine tasting.
My first solicitation (dated 5/2/2011) read as follows:
“Mike, I first learned of your Sangiacomo Vineyard at the Pigs and Pinot wine tasting event. The La Folette bottling from your namesake vineyard was one of my favorite bottlings of the evening. It had such seductive aromatics and juicy berry flavors. It was terrific. So now I am looking to you for a possible collaborative partnership. And right- selling to us is good karma. I am a great cook and baker. I often bake yummy treats for our growers. Just ask Marge Mauritson- she likes my almond biscotti. Blake likes my chocolate zucchini cake (which is actually in the vegetable food group).”
By the time I secured my 2012 harvest fruit contract with the Sangiacomo family, my admiration for the Pigs and Pinot operation was solidified, forever.
The Pigs and Pinot grand tasting brings together local celebrity chefs, national celebrity chefs, and the finest pinot noir in the land to celebrate a bounty of deliciousness. And you don’t have to feel guilty about your gluttony since the Pigs and Pinot event benefits Farm to Pantry in addition to other charitable beneficiaries. This is important to bear in mind, since the Pigs and Pinot event is just so over-the-top. There is so much delicious food and so much delicious wine.
One year, I recall a charcuterie table. Perhaps you know about charcuterie boards?
How about a charcuterie TABLE? Literally- an entire, giant farmhouse table resplendent with porky sausages, salumi, melt-in-your-mouth lardons, and prosciutto.
Obviously, the pork charcuterie was pillowed beside crusty artisan bread and all kinds of fabulous local cheese. But this is where Pigs and Pinot get you. Don’t be a rookie and fill up on bread. You’ll be too full to consume meatballs, pork banh mi, and pork ramen. And don’t miss the fanciful riff on a classic “BLT,” a silver dollar sized brioche base layered with thick cut bacon, tomato “jam,” and topped with a teeny quail egg. Divine! Every bite is as beautifully plated as it is scrumptious. The food at Pigs and Pinot is decadent and delicious. Attending Pigs and Pinot is a truly memorable experience.
And the pinot!! The other half of the Pigs and Pinot experience is the wine. I can promise you that you’ll be sipping the top pinots in the world. Of course, being a hyper-local event, Pigs and Pinot leans into Sonoma County pinot noir. Charlie Palmer’s Dry Creek Kitchen champions local wine, so it makes sense that the Pigs and Pinot grand tasting event does too. Still, competition to be selected as a Pigs and Pinot gala winery is fierce. Every year wine organizer Daryl Groom rotates some 50 wineries OFF the previous year’s roster to move eager participants up the 100+ winery waiting list. Furthermore, the grand tasting always features global pinot players, both New World (like New Zealand or Australia) and Old World (like Burgundy, naturally). So, Pigs and Pinot truly provides a global cross section of pinot noir.
The pinot noir selections at the Pigs and Pinot grand tasting are showcased among various rooms and spaces on the Hotel Healdsburg property. Arrive on time since your palate will be covering a lot of ground. Haha! There are 60 wineries featured, and you may try to taste them all. Yup, you can try. Luckily, ticket sales are capped, so while the event feels full, you should have the opportunity to taste everything you desire. This year’s featured 60 are listed here.
I have been lucky enough to be a Pigs and Pinot featured winery three times already: in 2014, 2016, and 2018.
Pigs & Pinot 2016 showcasing Bruliam Wines Soberanes Vineyard Pinot Noir at the grand tasting
It is such an honor to be selected - and fun. Everyone is attendance is excited to eat and sip, so the crowd feels dynamic and energized. Plus, it’s super exciting to see your favorite celebrity TV chefs up close and in person. I’ve gotten giddy and weak-kneed waiting in Tyler Florence’s food line. One year, Chef Chris Cosentino was kind enough to snap a photo with me. Since I am lucky enough to know many of the winemakers in my community, it’s the chef star power that amps up my taste buds. This year promises to be equally star studded and yummy.
One fun feature of the Pigs and Pinot grand tasting is the crowning of the Pinot Cup winner. Three celebrity judges blind taste all 60 participating pinots and chose their favorite. I am not sure what criteria they employ for judging which wine tastes “best” from among so many stand out bottles. Every year the Pigs and Pinot judging panel includes wine writers and critics, who probably use reliable criteria like body, balance, and typicity to rank their top picks. Every panel also includes a fan favorite, sometimes a Hollywood celebrity who simply follows their tastebuds to the select a winner! Some winners come from leftfield, a total surprise, like when TR Elliott “beat” Kosta Browne. But honestly, every pinot is a winner. (P.S. I know that sounds cliché and canned). The guests at Pigs and Pinot will taste pinot noir from a who’s who bounty of the BEST producers in Sonoma County, and every sip is truly spectacular. Every bottle selected is an exquisite and worthy treat. (And yes, wine organizer Daryl Groom pre-tasted and vetted every selection like months in advance).
I have never won the Pinot Cup at the Pigs and Pinot Grand Tasting. I never even made runner up (sigh). But every year I get sucked into the excitement as winners are announced. Perhaps 2023 will be my year. As they say, “fourth time’s a charm!!” Haha. And here’s a fun fact. Winners get to participate in the Pigs and Pinot events for two years in a row and are rarely rotated off the annual roster. That’s a cool perk (along with local bragging rights, the ultimate flex).
2023 marks my fourth appearance as a featured winery in the Pigs and Pinot grand tasting. And I am as excited for this year’s springtime pinot party as I was the first time I was selected as a Pigs and Pinot featured winery.
Pigs & Pinot 2014- the first year Bruliam Wines was selected for the grand tasting
2023 also marks my first Pigs and Pinot event post-COVID. I am sure this year’s event will be sold out and even sold over to an eager foodie crowd. However, here’s an added fun fact: this year I’ve been selected for the Pinot Smackdown.
Master Somm Keith Goldston personally and specifically requested my Gap’s Crown Vineyard pinot noir for his team. I know. I am dumbfounded, too. Kosta Browne is my teammate.
But most all, I am excited to talk smack. For those of you who don’t know me, I love wordplay, bad puns, and throwing down a well worded insult. I am such an admirer of excellent insults that I look forward to taking arrows as much hurling them. This smackdown will be fun.
