As a wine lover in Los Angeles, there is a wide range of dinners, tastings and classes one can attend every month and unless you have unlimited funds, you have to become fairly selective in where you spend your wine tasting budget. I've heard many great things about Wally's Annual Central Coast Wine & Food Celebration, but was never able to attend until this year. This past Sunday, I decided to take a chance. For me, the biggest factor in whether I'm going to drag myself (and my designated driver, a.k.a my husband) out to an event is what we call "bang for the buck." I don't normally go to festival-type functions because I want to talk to the winemakers about their offerings, which rarely happens when you're trapped in a tiny room with other, equally excited, wine lovers who you have to elbow out of the way just to get a 1-ounce pour. Plus, it's hard to feel like you'regetting your monies worth when you only remember tasting 20 wines...and that's if you're taking notes.

Wally's began this event seven years ago as an annual fundraiser for the Michael Bonaccorsi Scholarship Fund, drawing many of the most renowned wineries from both the Santa Barbara and Paso Robles regions as well as the top restaurants from both Los Angeles and the central coast. The food at these things is usually a tired cheese plate and some crackers, but this event is clearly important to both the food and wine communities to get places like Mozza, Spago, Cut, Jar, Lucques, A.O.C., Comme Ca and The Hungry Cat to show up. >>The whole story...