Wood Family Vineyards Host Livermore’s First Wine & Pizza Pairing Competition With Wood Family Wines
On Labor Day this year, Wood Family Vineyards held this inaugural event with four local pizza companies pairing unique and possibly exotic pizzas with their wines. Here is the listing of the pizzas and wines being paired.
The event brought in over 300 people to taste the pizzas and wine pairings. This was held at the winery on Research Drive in Livermore.
Photos ©Michael Kelly of just some of the crowd!
Each pizza maker offered a crafted signature pizza to pair with Wood Family Vineyards wines. Each attendee tasted all 4 wine & pizza pairings and then cast their vote for People’s Choice.
Also three judges were invited to participate to give out awards in the same categories. The three judges were Jeremy Troupe (Sommelier, Chef, Consultant), Fran Cunniffe (Level 4 Diploma WSET) and me (wine writer for California Wines and Wineries https://californiawinesandwineries.com , Founder of Annual International Cabernet Franc Wine Competition).
Photo ©Michael Kelly
The event started at noon and concluded at 3 pm. Wines by the glass or bottle were available for sale. The “after party event” was live music by Jack Quigley from 3:30 -7pm.
Food and wine pairings are to provide an enhanced experience. The goal is that the sum of the parts is greater than the individual contributions of the parts. The statement mathematically is often referred to as 1 +1 equals 3! A statement I often use in doing food and wine pairings is a quote by Anderw Simon stating “Food without wine is a corpse; wine without food, is a ghost. United and well matched, they are as body and soul: living partners.”
First up was the Melo pizza that was perhaps one of the more unique and creative pizzas ever tasted. It consisted of a house made toppings with locally sourced peaches infused with Wood Family 2023 Sauvignon Blanc, fig sauce, prosciutto de parm, four cheese blend, goat cheese, fresh basil and Melo’s Calabrian chili honey. This was sweet with flavors and unbelievable textures on the slice. Paired with the 2023 Sauvignon Blanc.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
The second pizza to be enjoyed was the Extreme Pizza paired with the award winning 2022 Chardonnay. The ingredients included tomato sauce, Mozzarella, feta spinach, artichoke hearts, sun dried tomatoes, pureed garlic, oregano and fresh basil.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
The third in the line up was from Peace of Pizza called the “Drew Berrymore” and was paired with the 2022 award-winning Cabernet Franc. This pizza consisted of blackberry, rosemary, Mozzarella & goat cheese with a balsamic reduction.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
The last pizza presented for the attendees to enjoy was from Original Anthony’s Pizza Joint with ingredients of boar & bison meatballs, roasted onion, smoked Gouda cheese, shredded Mozzarella cheese and tomato sauce. Sorry no picture as I was too busy enjoying the event.
Photo by Sara Agee
Rhonda Wood was absolutely in her prime walking around talking with folks about the event, wines and making everyone feel welcome. Harrison Wood was the master of ceremonies for the event.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
Now for the various awards. The “big winner” was Melo’s winning the People’s Choice Best Pizza and Best Pizza and Wine Pairing. They also won the Judges Best Pizza.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
Winning the Judges Best Pizza and Wine Pairing award was Original Anthony’s Pizza Joint.
Photo ©Michael Kelly
Concluding the awards, Harrison vowed to make this an annual event on Labor Day and mentioned that next year’s event will be larger, with more music and additional pizza makers being involved. For the inaugural event, it was a tremendous success. Nice job Harrison and Rhonda!
Slainte,
Michael