Pigs & Pinot

I was so excited to attend this event. We finally got tickets and planned a whole weekend. We went to the Friday night Pigs and Pinot tasting and it was disastrous. The 2 stars I gave was for the food. The food was delicious. However the venue was terrible. They pack 1000 people into a very small venue, there are very few bar tables and absolutely no where to sit. I think I saw a total of 5 tables to actually sit down for a 2 ½ hour event!?! Then they expect you to have a glass of wine and a plate of food, to be eaten with a fork, and no tables? It’s impossible to eat with your hands full and no where to set anything down. We ended up having each other hold glasses of wine while the other person ate. Then they ran out of glasses. The whole thing was terribly unorganized. For $ 175 it was not worth it. Until they can get a better venue, invite less people or get more tables and glasses I would not suggest wasting your money. Not a fun event.

When did I set my sights on attending Pigs & Pinot? When I saw it on a Top Chef (circa 2009) challenge! I was so excited to see this charity event, centered on one of God’s perfect foods — the PIG. Just imagine, walking table to table — pinot in one hand, some perfect piggy bite in the other. Plus it’s right here in Napa — another score!
Flash forward to 2012 & 2013 — the event was sold out before I could even click that purchase button. However, this year? JACKPOT! I scored 2 of the «Taste of Pigs & Pinot» at $ 150.00 a pop — plus all the fees to bring it up to $ 180.00. Was it worth it? You bet.
Charlie Palmer pulls out his giant rolodex for this event, and it’s a «who’s who» of the local chefs & TV chefs — plus a stunning array of Pinot to wash down that piggy with. The vibe is very celeb, with glimpses all around of familiar TV faces. It’s a bit surreal to be in line for a pig tapa, only to realize Amanda Freitag is putting that avacado on your plate. If you’re like me, rubbing shoulders and trading smiles with these culinary giants is worth the steep price. They really are manning their own food stations & serving their masterpieces.
So what do you get for the $ 180 besides some awesome celeb sightings? You get 2.5 hours of foodie heaven. Sampling 60 pinots, along with 18 food stations. Some of the bites were simply amazing. My personal fave? The knock-​your-​socks-​off BLT bite from Barndiva — sunny side up quail egg on toasted brioche with tomato jam butter, crisp prosciutto and chervil. All in one perfect bite. There were some misses as well, but overall the food stations were great. Most had about a 5 – 10 minute line, which moved quickly. The pouring stations were crowded, and overall the place was pretty packed.
My only complaint is this: Because the lines were all in the 5+ minute wait, I never seemed to have a pig and pinot at the same time, so that was sort of a miss. Hubby and I got a rhythm… get a pour, get on line. Finish the swig & he would run to get us a refill. I’d grab the 2 taste plates. This worked well, but not relaxing.
If they had a bigger space, more elbow room & shorter lines — this would be 5 stars. Maybe next year we will try and score some tickets for the Gala dinner, however those tickets are typically bundled with a very pricey overnight stay at the Healdsburg Hotel.

2011 was our 2^nd Pigs and Pinot.
Pros: Friday Night and Saturday Smack Down were still great events and anyone who hasn’t participated and can manage to get tickets should try it at least once.
Con #1: The only way to get tickets is via lottery, so that means if you are hoping to go with a group you’d better be quick, have a team of people trying to get tickets in the 2 minutes before they sell out and be lucky. Charlie, this is a lousy way to sell tickets especially considering many people travel a good distance to come to this event.
Con #2: The auxiliary dinner held at the H2 hotel was a huge disappointment. The minute I walked in I said ‘it smells very odd in here, like a gym’ then someone pointed out the floor was made from recycled basketball court. Great green idea except when used in a restaurant and especially a wine dinner. After having been to the Gala dinner in 2010 we were worried about being at the ‘children’s table’ at H2. It was worse, more like ‘step children’. The dinner and festivities were unorganized, servers not any where near as polished, and the Pinot from obscure countries such as Slovina. At one point the wines were so bad that the winemaker at our table offered up a spare bottle of their wine to get us through the course. While the Gala dinner folks celebrated with fine wines, food and celebrities, we were 5 tables at H2, in a small undecorated conference room, with no guest speakers. Not even Charlie.
I suspect there will be few repeat attendees from this group.

The group attending this event can be separated into two categories:
1. Young people with an extra 150 bucks who know how to use the interwebz and can click fast at 10 am PST to order tickets.
2. People in the wine industry.
As a result of this, half of the people are bellied up to the bar in a last call-​style frenzy trying to get the free Pinot. And the rest are chatting, networking, hobnobbing and seeing and being seen.
That leaves me. Without much competition to get to the food. Oh, the food.
Chef Palmer announced that there were nearly 70 different pork offerings during this event. All the way from the Porkeo (chocolate and pork oreo with lard) to his grilled tenderloin that he carved personally for each guest. Not every dish was a winner, but I sure had a good time determining which were the most amazing. But even I had to admit that I will probably be OK if I never eat another braised pork belly again.
Like the previous reviewer, I only attended the Taste of Pigs & Pinot and not the Gala Dinner. It was a fun event, but very crowded. Proceeds benefit Share our Strength and Healdsburg Schools.
It’s a great cause and the event is well worth the price of admission. I’d recommend for any fan of pigs, pinot (60 varieties!), celebrity chefs (Voltaggio, Forgione, Palmer, Oakes) and good causes.

Charlie Palmer’s 5^th Annual Pigs & Pinot was one of the most incredible charity events I’ve ever had the privilege of attending. I only managed to attend one of the 4 events of the weekend — the «Taste of Pigs & Pinot.» For a bargain price of $ 135 per person, you get to sample 50 great Pinot Noirs and the most amazing cuisine from some of the greatest chefs in America, including Charlie Palmer, Tyler Florence, Roland Passot, Kevin Gillespie, Bryan Voltaggio — as well as the succulent creations of a number of Michelin-​rated and other fine restaurants such as Cyrus, Zin, Willi’s Seafood & Raw Bar, La Folie, and quite a few others. You also get to spend a few hours socializing, conversing with the many incredible chefs (who you will often find out are also very friendly and kind), sommeliers, and other important figures in the industry of culinary art. Truly, an extraordinary event.