7 Reasons to Attend Wine & Food Affair 2023

There are many reasons to attend this year’s Wine & Food Affair, but here are my top seven. If you don’t already have your tickets, get them ASAP. If you have your tickets, keep reading so you don’t miss the best parts of the Wine & Food Affair weekend.

#1 – The Scenery

No matter the month, the beauty along the Wine Road is breathtaking, but the autumn scenery in Northern Sonoma County is exceptional. The vineyards will be displaying their fall color palette, as will many of the local trees. Plus, the quality of light in early November makes every photo appear as if you spent hours waiting for the right moment to shoot. It’s the perfect time to take your holiday photo with the ideal backdrop — a gorgeous vineyard!

#2 – Unique Experience

Where else can you enjoy a two-day progressive food and wine tasting experience? Have you looked at the program and seen the delicious food options and all the wineries who are participating?

If you’ve not had the pleasure of attending Wine & Food Affair before, let me fill you in how it works.

You go online and buy a ticket that is good for the entire weekend. At the time you purchase your ticket(s), you select a starting winery where you’ll check in. At check in, you get a wristband to indicate you’re a ticketholder and pick up your Wine Road logo glass that you’ll use all weekend and then take home. Once you’ve checked in, you’re free to go to any of the participating wineries.

To make the most of the event, be sure to review the program and have a general plan for the day so your progressive tasting follows a logical path.

#3 – Add-on Events

There are three Friday Night events ticket holders can attend as well. Two require an additional ticket purchase and one is complimentary.

Alexander Valley Vineyards is hosting an insider’s tour of their barrel-aging wine cave and tasting with light appetizers. This is a ticketed event.

Hook & Ladder Winery will have a complimentary concert, with their wine and food truck fare available for purchase.

West Wines is offering a Sunset Library Cabernet Sauvignon Tasting with their winemaker Katarina Bonde. This is also a ticketed event.

There is also a VIP package with Friday Night Happy Hour at Limerick Lane and Saturday Morning Breakfast at Jordon Winery, plus a six-pack of spices, but all the VIP tickets quickly sold out. Maybe you can snag VIP tickets next year!

#4 – The Food

Each winery will be offering a tasty treat to pair with their wines.

Here are just a few of the offerings:
Smoked Duck Breast and Bresaola served with Rustic Bakery Olive Oil and Sel Gris Flatbread at Baldassari Wines
Mushroom, Spinach and Gouda Puff Pastry at Bucher Wines at Grand Cru
Conchiglioni Ricotta e Spinaci at Colagrossi Wines
Rosemary Dark Chocolate Bonbon at EHRET
Curried Orzo Marrakesh Al Baldi at Ektimo Winery
Traditional French Cassoulet at GC Lurton Vineyards
Kathleen’s Local Harvest Vegetable Paella at Kelley & Young
Rigatoni Bolognese at Mengler Family Wines
Lobster Bisque Drizzled with Truffle Oil alongside a Pullman Sourdough Grilled Cheese with a Savory Dollop of Tomato Jam at Pech Merle Winery
Salmon Cake and Zucchini Fritter with Red Pepper Aioli at Russian River Vineyards
Pumpkin Pear Bisque with Goat Cheese Brioche Croutons at Soda Rock Winery

The list of foods being served is just mouthwatering. To view all the food offerings, check out the Wine & Food Affair program online.

#5 – The Wine

The wineries along the Wine Road all produce stellar wines. By attending Wine & Food Affair, you’ll have the opportunity to explore new wineries, plus visit some of your favorites.

The Wine Road website lists all the Wine & Food Affair participating wineries, and has a link to a map showing each winery’s location. When you click on a colored winery marker, a side window opens, giving details about the winery including what food they’ll be serving. This is the perfect tool to help you plan your itinerary each day.

As you’re planning your path, be sure to add in a few off-the-beaten-path wineries on Sonoma County’s renowned and beautiful less-traveled roads.

#6 – The Value

Have you purchased a winery wine and food pairing experience recently? If you have, you’ll know that rarely are any of them offered for less than $50 and often they are much more. A ticket to Wine & Food Affair is $125 for the entire weekend. Each day you can go to as many or as few wineries as you like during the five-hour tasting window.

If you like to linger and thoroughly enjoy the experience at each stop, you might only able to do five wineries a day, or ten over two days. However, I know folks who carefully plan their itineraries and visit eight or more wineries each day. Whether you go to ten wineries for the weekend or more, this wine and food experience is a bargain!

Can’t make it both days? There are Sunday-only tickets, and if you’re lucky enough to have a designated driver, there are reduced tickets for the DDs as well. Plus, if you’re a Wine Road Insider, you get 10% off your purchase one or two tickets.

#7 – Ideal Wine Country Weekend

What could be more enjoyable than spending a weekend in Northern Sonoma County’s Wine Country than cruising along scenic backroads, sipping on delicious wines and partaking of tasty treats at each stop? I can’t think of too many things I’d rather be doing the weekend of November 4^th and 5^th, can you? Hope to see you along the Wine Road at Wine & Food Affair 2023.

Happy Sipping!