Out with the old and in with the new! We’ve been going to this event on Saturday since 2009. Last wrote about it in 2014. We started to notice a different flow to the crowd last year. This year, for sure, it was a different event.  There were fewer wineries and brewers, lots more high-end jewelry vendors, the cooking demo at noon was The Mountain Kid’s cook-off finals, the Japanese restaurant did not have tables outside, and there were a lot less of our 4-legged friends.

Stella where art thou Stella?!? We missed our favorite brewery, usually they would have at least 2 stands at the event, and we always tasted some new flavor. The flip side is that we had the opportunity to taste new beers and more wine.  Also missing were the winery region exhibits (usually 3 or 4 in the seating areas around the ice rink).  The flip side is that we had places to sit, on an especially hot day, to enjoy the wineries and breweries that were there on Saturday:  Boeger Winery, Blue Frog Brewing Company, Bonterra Organic Vineyards, Coryelle Fields Vineyard, Gekkeikan Sake, MacLeod Family Vineyard, Mount Aukum Winery, Nick’s Cove, Sierra Vintners, Silkwood Wines, Skinner Vineyards Winery, Archer Brewery, Tin Barn Vinyards, and VGS Chateau Potelle.

We had a chance to talk to almost every vendor. Some of the standouts included the 2013 Zinfandel from VGS Chateau Potelle (we bought a bottle), the IPA from DNA Brewing and JOON a Rose Syrah from Coryelle Fields Vineyard.

We’ll take a close look at the program next year; maybe we need to break our pattern and try a Sunday instead of Saturday for the 2017 Food and Wine Festival at Northstar.