Labor Day Wine Weekend Packed with Upscale Fun

September is when the wineries kick it into high gear, not only with grape harvest (and the inevitable “crush”) but with seasonal fairs and festivities.

The month starts with (Sept. 2 – 4) , and ends with the (Sept. 30 – Oct. 2), two of the biggest wine-related events in Northern California.

First up is the Sonoma County Wine Weekend, running from Friday, Sept. 2 through Sunday, Sept. 4. This 19th annual event combines the Sonoma Valley Harvest Wine Auction, described as “a high-end, world-class charitable fundraiser,” with a tailgate party, gourmet luncheons and dinners, and a series of winery barbecues across Sonoma County, as well as Taste of Sonoma, the popular all-day wine “fair” at MacMurray Ranch.

Friday, Sept. 2 and Saturday, Sept. 3 both find gourmet lunch and dinner parties at participating wineries throughout the county, including , , Stryker Sonoma, Pezzi King and several others in the Healdsburg area. Lunches are $85 per person, dinners $160.

Saturday, Sept. 3 is the Taste of Sonoma event, at on Westside Road at Porter Creek. More than 150 wineries will be on hand to show off their finest bottlings, while some 60 local chefs will demonstrate and share their idea of Sonoma cuisine.

Wine seminars, cooking demonstrations and vineyard tours, and other special events are planned from 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. One highlight is always a tour of the Fred MacMurray family home, led by daughter . Admission is $150, but it has sold out in the past and may do so again.

The itself takes place on Sunday, Sept. 4, at Cline Cellars in the southern Sonoma Valley (Carneros region). It’s billed as “California’s premier wine, food and social event,” according to their press material, though the organizers of the Napa Valley Auction might take exception. Still, with tickets running $500 per person (only $450 with Visa Signature card), this is clearly a “premier” event no matter how you slice it.

This year there’s a “vintage homecoming” theme with cheerleaders, athletes, marching band members and homecoming queens (more than one?), and a tailgate party with vintage and classic winery trucks.

Among the auction lots announced so far are a stay at New York’s Plaza Hotel including the gala dinner at the James Beard Foundation; an XOJET flight to a  golf weekend in Scottsdale, Ariz. with pinot noir legends Dan Kosta and Michael Browne; a weekend for four in San Francisco including a gift certificate from Tiffany & Co. toward a piece of diamond jewelry, dinner at Jardinière and an evening at the San Francisco Ballet; and – potential bank-buster alert – a Giants game including dinner with manager Bruce Bochy.

An online auction of additional lots, including many of Sonoma County’s finest large format wine bottles, is open for bidding through Sept. 9, at http://www.winecountryweekend.biddingforgood.com.

Proceeds from Sonoma Wine Country Weekend benefit local communities and charities serving students, children, farm workers and people in need. To date, more than $10 million has been raised jointly by the Sonoma Valley Vintners & Growers Foundation and Sonoma County Vintners.

More details on the Sonoma County Wine Country Weekend are available on their website at www.SonomaWineCountryWeekend.com.