This was our seventh Earth Day Food & Wine Festival and as I inevitably write every year, it really is one of the best events in our area. The Vineyard Team is the group behind this event as well as the SIP (Sustainability in Practice) Certification for vineyards and wineries. This group talks the talk but actually walks the walk when it comes to being sustainable.
I continue to be impressed with how they manage to make each year better than the previous one. This go around there wasn’t just wine and beer but cider, spirits, insanely good food (and lots of it), and so much more. One of my favorite aspects, aside from the adult beverages, are the people walking around with birds of prey. I got a couple of photos of them, you’ll see in the slideshow below, but I missed the owl again this year. Absolutely amazing animals!
I’d say the best thing at this event is always the vibe. It’s much different than many of the other wine events. People seem far more relaxed at Earth Day versus that fast paced, hectic, crowded vibe you get at some of the other ones. In previous years I’ve described it as going to a big backyard BBQ at a friend’s house. You look around and see people seated at tables listening to the live music, others playing bean bag toss, some hula hooping, and others going picnic style with blankets they brought.
A few things that stood out (photos of some of this stuff in slideshow below):
Sage Ecological Landscapes had another amazing garden creation area.
The air stream trailer where they did food demos was awesome. I think I want one.
We tasted: Paraiso, Wrath, Tablas Creek, Caliza, Niner Wine, Reef Points Hard Cider, Halter Ranch, Pomar Junction, Firestone Walker Brewing, and J. Lohr. We pretty much stuck to white wine and Rose. It was the perfect Paso Robles day for it.
The falcon (pretty sure that’s what it was) I got super close to and remembered to photograph. They are simply amazing. For as small as they are you can still feel their power. It’s mildly intimidating when they are staring at you.
Seeing so many great people. Can’t name them all but it was great to see them.
A big thank you to Kris, Kyle, Beth and all the others that work so hard to make this happen. Your work is not in vain. Thanks to Castoro Cellars for hosting the event for three years in a row. They switch up venues every three years, so it will be interesting to see where the next location is.
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