2009 Food and Wine Festival at California Adventure

On Saturday, May 2, I went to the 2009 Annual Food & Wine Festival at Disneyland California Adventure which is going on from April 24 through June 7, 2009. I enjoyed eight different wines from eight different wineries, from three different wine tasting events in one location.

With the price of admission, it was free to attend the complimentary culinary events, wine seminars, and beer & spirits seminars. I for one was late, so I was limited to how many features I could sit in.


To start the day, I first went to the Golden Vine Winery and did a sample tasting of three wines including, a 2006 Merlot from Cupcake Vineyards. This merlot is fruity and tart. It’s extremely light bodied with soft tannins, and tastes of chocolate and blueberries. It’s a little too sweet for a Merlot. In fact, it’s almost like drinking a glass of port.

My second pour was a 2005 Rosso from Rosso & Bianchi presented by Francis Ford Coppola. This traditional table wine is a blend of 51 percent Zinfandel, 29 percent Syrah, and 20 percent Cabernet Sauvignon. It’s a bold wine with a lot of texture and rich juicy flavors of plum, black cherry, dark chocolate, oak, and spice.

My final pour from Golden Vine Winery was a Laird Family Estate 2000 Mast Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon. These cabernet grapes are grown in the Sonoma appellations and Laird Family Estate uses 100 percent Cabernet grapes for this vintage. With a deep garnet color, this wine is rich in oak aromas and strawberries, and a hint of thyme. The flavors are rich with dark chocolate, cherry, and vanilla oak. This full bodied wine is very flavorful in the mouth, with the perfect balance of tannins that ends smooth.

The next tasting event was down by the Bountiful Valley Farm called the Festival Wine Walk. In this wine walk are 12 wines from countries all over the world including Italy, New Zealand, South America, France, Germany, and Spain. For $10 a person, you could enjoy a pour from four different countries or enjoy a full glass from any one bottle of wine. I chose a tour and I was handed a passport. The passport is used to give you an idea of the location from where these wines came from and it is also used for the vendors to keep track of your tasting tour with a use of a grape stamp.

My first pour was a 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon from Emilians winery. It is a natural organically grown wine. While most wineries use chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides, Emilians does not. They use a process called “biodynamics”. It’s an Austrian technique that involves undisclosed homeopathic processes, astronomical and astrological processes that involves the mapping of the constellations and planet alignment. The real question is – does the growing process match up with the hype. The answer is “no”. Not even close. The wine was tainted with a smell of manure. Unfortunately, I had to pour it out and move on to the next wine.

My second pour was the 2008 Gascon Malbec from Argentina, South America. This wine was much better. It is a full bodied wine with a nose of blackberry, plums, and a hint of chocolate truffle. It has a long smooth finish and it is delightful.
My third wine was the 2006 Matua Mariborough Pinot Noir from New Zealand. This wine is light and spicy, but possesses too much of that oaky flavor. They offered two other wines, but I was not interested in the Sauvignon Blanc nor the Gisborne Chardonnay.

My fourth and final wine came from France. It is the wine of the day, the Barons de Rothschild Collection, 2007 Bordeaux. This Bordeaux reserve is a made up of 70 percent Merlot and 30 percent cabernet. Surprisingly smooth and medium bodied as I would expect from a Bordeaux wine. With aromas of currant and fruity elegance, this lovely wine ends with a long pleasant finish.

The final part of the Disney wine portion of the festival ended with the final presentation, which was the Wine Education & Tasting seminar by Remick Ridge Vineyards. The host was Marci Smothers, wife of Tommy Smothers, the owner and winemaker of Remick Ridge.

Marci talked about some of the history behind the vineyards and how they began to develop wine. “The wine making began in 1976 when the planted chardonnay, Cabernet, and Merlot grapes,” said Marci. Then she had us sample a taste of their 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon. Made from 100 percent Cabernet in French oak, these grapes are grown organic and were picked during its stressful period during September through October of 2002. Only 300 cases were produced for this vintage, so it has a high price tag of $32 per bottle. “Varietals that are stressed yield the least amount of productive grapes, but those grapes are of the best quality,” said Marci.

“This cabernet is best enjoyed with a rack of lamb seasoned with garlic, salt and pepper, cooked at 400 degrees for 25 minutes, and also meatballs,” Marci added.

That was the last event for the day for the wine shows. I tried to make it to a culinary event, but tickets were all given out. I plan on returning for another part of the Food & Wine Festival, but it won’t be for another month or so. The good thing is this festival is daily and hosted by a variety of different chef’s and winemakers. If you’re in the Anaheim area, come to the California Adventure and see as many as the events as possible. Come early and enjoy the atmosphere and free festivities.