Hosted by the vintner/grower organization, Carneros Wine Alliance, the annual Carneros Heritage Festival is a family-oriented celebration held in the southwest winegrowing pocket of Napa County in late May every year.

In addition to sheepherding and falconry demonstrations, wildlife and ecology exhibits, kite flying, and entertainment, there’s always tasty lamb barbecue and lots of outstanding Carneros wine to share.

Added a couple of years ago as part of the food offerings is a friendly competition between Napa and Sonoma chefs. The chefs are asked to prepare a lamb dish to be tasted by a panel of judges who will then rate each entry with the idea of picking a favorite.

For this year’s Napa vs. Sonoma culinary “throwdown,” participating chefs were asked as well to pair a wine with their dish.

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Wednesday June 3rd, 2009

Chef Ryan Pollnow Triumphs in the First-Ever Carneros Heritage Festival Napa vs. Sonoma American Lamb Throwdown!

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Winning Recipe Features
American Lamb Grilled Over Pinot Noir Barrel Chips

Sonoma, CA, June 3, 2009 – Top emerging chefs from Napa and Sonoma battled one another on May 30th in the debut of the Napa vs. Sonoma Lamb Throwdown!, showcasing the best of the regions food and wine at the annual Carneros Heritage Fest. The head-to-head contest, sponsored by the American Lamb Board (www.americanlamb.com), featured American lamb along with local wine pairings with a cash prize on the line. The competition was judged by a panel of food experts including Monty and Sarah Preiser, Founders of Preiser Key Travel Guides; Stephen Exel, Food Writer for Traditional Home and Better Homes & Gardens; Pierce Carson, Food Writer for the Napa Register; and Joanne Weir, James-Beard Award-winning cookbook author...

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Friday May 22nd, 2009

Wall Street Journal & The Carneros Heritage Fest!

LIFE & STYLE | WINE EVENTS | MAY 22, 2009

Cooking Out, Drinking Deep

Carneros Heritage Fest | Sonoma, Calif.

It’s all about the grilled lamb tostadas at this annual festival, now in its fifth year. The locally sourced gourmet lunch also includes Rancho Gordo beans, braised Swiss chard, and Pinot Noir from the area (23 wineries are pouring Pinot Noir and other varietals). Kids will enjoy the sheep herding demonstration, falcons, bees, reptiles and kites. Everyone screams for Straus Family Creamery ice cream. Tickets at carneros.com.

WHEN May 30, noon to 4 p.m.
WHERE The Donum Estate, 24520 Ramal Rd., Sonoma, Calif.
HOW MUCH $75, children under 12 free

Saturday February 14th, 2009

Carneros Renaissance on Track

Volume 7, Issue 12 February 12, 2009

"...Wine historian William Heintz of Sonoma has stated that Carneros may be the second oldest vineyard region in Northern California, with plantings dating to the late 1830s. One of the largest early Carneros vineyards, comprising more than 300 acres, was John Stanly’s Riverdale Ranch located south of Napa. Phylloxera had devastated all the vineyards in Carneros by the 1920s but Stanly Ranch had been planted on Vitis riparia rootstock which was resistant to phylloxera and some vines survived. Andre Tschelistcheff and Louis M. Martini both bought grapes including Pinot Noir from the Stanly Ranch in the 1930s. Charles L. Sullivan, writing in A Companion to California Wine, noted that Tschelistcheff had first appreciated the potential of Carneros for producing Burgundian-style wines after he tasted a 1918 Stanly Ranch Pinot Noir. Martini eventually owned 200 acres of the Stanly Ranch and along with Harold Olmo, did extensive Pinot Noir and Chardonnay clonal experimentation in Carneros, leading to the development of Chardonnay clone 108 and UCD clones 13 and 15 of Pinot Noir. These clones were widely planted in California from the 1970s to the early 1990s.

Carneros received appellation status in 1983 and is the only AVA in California that overlaps two others in different counties (Napa and Sonoma). It was the first AVA based on climate rather than political boundaries. In 1983, there were few wineries in Carneros: Acacia, Bouchaine, Buena Vista, Carneros Creek, and Saintsbury. Saintsbury became the most popular Pinot Noir choice on restaurant lists throughout the country, but Carneros struggled for recognition against its more well-known neighbors, Napa and Sonoma. Many Napa and Sonoma wineries invested in vast acres of vineyard land in Carneros including Beaulieu Vineyards, Clos du Val, Clos Pegase, Robert Mondavi, St. Clement and William Hill. By the 1990s, the region became little more than a silent supplier for these well-known wineries which were located in the more high-profile Napa and Sonoma appellations. Pinot Noirs from the Russian River Valley, Sonoma Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands and Santa Barbara County overshadowed those from Carneros in quality..."

Click here for the complete 16-page article!

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