The Healdsburg Wine & Food Experience — now in its second year — is set to begin Thursday. Co-founder Steve Dveris said it’s the only local wine event with an international twist.
“(The event) is the only one that allows wines from other regions to be poured side by side and also has committed to honor the agriculture roots of the region,” he said.
The event runs from Thursday to Sunday, with the main event, the Vintners Plaza Grand Tasting Experience, from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. Saturday in downtown Healdsburg. That tasting will feature 140 wines poured, 80% from Sonoma County and 20% from other wine regions such as Napa, France, Italy, Australia and Spain. There also will be a beer garden sponsored by Guinness.
But why take an international approach in a region renowned for its local wine production? Dveris pointed to the singularity of the event in that respect. He lauded event co-founder Karissa Kruse, president of Sonoma County Winegrowers trade organization, for her vision in inviting wineries from around the world to participate.
“Her foresight to allow other great wine regions of the world to showcase their wine alongside Sonoma County brands is what makes the event so unique,” he said. Dveris said he wants to build on this model of success.
“Altogether we have sold more tickets than last year. But like last year, we want to keep the overall event attendance to about 2,000 people so we can keep it intimate and not strain the infrastructure on the city of Healdsburg,” Dveris said.
New additions to spice up the event are scheduled, he added.
“This year, we added spirits and are doing a cool craft cocktail event at Lo & Behold restaurant with several local mixologists representing their restaurants alongside the talented mixologists and chef,” Dveris said. “We also created the Zinfandel Live event, which will be a celebration of zinfandel with music hosted by Emmy Award-winning Leslie Sbrocco from (KQED program) ‘Check Please! Bay Area’ and young music phenom Asher Belsky.”
Zinfandel Live will include a walk-around tasting with chefs pairing food with 27 notable zinfandels in California, Dveris added. This event runs from noon to 3 p.m. Sunday.
A media sales and marketing expert, Dveris, 61, said he has sold millions of dollars in sponsorships for events such as The Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, Pebble Beach Food & Wine and The Playboy Jazz Festival. The inaugural Healdsburg event raised $100,000 for the Sonoma Grape Growers Foundation and $30,000 the Future Farmworkers of America’s scholarship fund last year, he said.
Of course, raising money is a top priority of the event again this year, Dveris said. And there are challenges to pulling off such an event in post-pandemic times.
Question: How important is the fundraising aspect of this event?
A: We committed to raising $30,000 for Future Farmers of America high school kids in Healdsburg who want to go to college to study agriculture but have financial need. We also committed to raise $10,000 for Farm to Pantry, which gleans produce from farms and people’s backyards that would otherwise go to waste, in order to feed people throughout Sonoma County. ... Another key beneficiary is the Sonoma County Grape Growers Foundation, which provides support to vineyard workers.
Q: How difficult is it to overcome some of the obstacles with an event of this magnitude?
A: It’s labor- and cost-intensive to run an event of this size and complexity, and recession fears, supply-chain issues, bank failures and general uncertainty have made this year a unique challenge, both for our sponsors and our consumers. We rely on hundreds of volunteers during the event, and we are extremely fortunate that the entire community has been very supportive.
You can reach wine writer Peg Melnik at 707-521-5310 or peg.melnik@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @pegmelnik.
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