Kai Oliver-Kurtin | Downtown News  

The ninth annual San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival is expected to draw more than 10,000 people to the Embarcadero and beyond Nov. 14 – 18. The largest of its kind in Southern California, the festival offers wine tastings, cooking classes, wine pairing meals and culinary cook-offs.

Last year over 300 wines and 70 eateries participated in the festival. Over 30 events will be featured, including the signature Grand Tasting Event at Embarcadero Marina Park North on Nov. 17. The grand tasting serves as the festival’s finale, and will feature over 170 wine labels, 70 chefs, 30 gourmet food companies, live entertainment and the “Chef of the Fest” competition.

“Each year the content stays the same, like the grand tasting and reserve events, but the culinary and wine education lineup changes with different sommeliers and chefs,” said Festival Co-producer Michelle Metter.

Spotted throughout the festival this year as the official car sponsor, Buick luxury cars will be on site during the larger events. At the grand tasting event, Buick will host a chocolate and port pairing station. Booth visitors can pair chocolate with up to 10 different ingredients to create an original flavor profile that’s recorded and later made into a personalized candy bar, shipped directly to participants’ homes.

For wine collectors and connoisseurs, The Vault: Reserve Wine Experience and Silent Auction on Nov. 16 boasts fine wine from 160 wineries, and silent auction items including large format bottles, libraries and decanters. Held at the San Diego Marriott Marquis & Marina, auction proceeds will benefit the American Institute of Wine & Food (AIWF) culinary arts scholarship programs.

For a more informal evening, SWISH: Serious Sips & Urban Eats at Fifty Seven Degrees will include a food voucher for purchases made from the outdoor food truck block party on Nov. 14. Formerly held at a nightclub, the event will feature tastings from 25 wineries and breweries.

Closing out the festival on Nov. 18, the Wine Spectator’s Celebrity Chef Luncheon will bring together renowned chefs from across the country to prepare a six-course lunch for attendees at the San Diego Marriott Marquis & Marina. Each course is paired with wine from one of 15 wineries. A live auction featuring over 25 wine lots will fund culinary and enology scholarships through the AIWF and Chaine des Rotisseurs.

To date, the festival has raised over $205,000 in scholarship funds, typically ranging in amounts of $1,000 – $5,000 each. Depending on the number of applicants, there are usually about 10 scholarships awarded per year.

As a previous scholarship recipient, Lisa Redwine is now the director of restaurants and beverage operations for the La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club, The Shores Restaurant and The Marine Room. Redwine is the second woman in San Diego to be accredited advanced sommelier status and is on her way to becoming a master sommelier.

“The scholarship was the starting point of where I’m headed,” Redwine said. “It enabled me to go to the Culinary Institute of America where I found a very clear path to my career. I wouldn’t be where I am today without that scholarship.”

In her current role, Redwine is tasked with keeping the beverage programs at each of the properties she is responsible for current and up-to-date with popular trends, as well as on par with their culinary counterparts. Despite her busy career, she has continued her involvement with the festival, and will be testing the quality and integrity of wine served during classes at the San Diego Wine & Culinary Event Center.

When they established the festival, Metter and fellow co-producer Ken Loyst thought San Diego could benefit from the tourism that a wine and food festival would bring to the city.

“Michelle and Ken do an amazing job at cultivating the curiosity and exploration of new wines,” Redwine said. “The festival is an especially great showcase for boutique wines.”

Their hunch was also correct, as approximately 35 percent of today’s festival attendees are out-of-town guests.

“People keep coming back to San Diego from all across the U.S.,” Metter said. “The festival is an amazing tasting opportunity to try some of San Diego’s best restaurants and discover new wine – some from boutique wineries that isn’t available on the market.”

For more information and to buy tickets and festival packages, visit sandiegowineclassic.com.