Panel Discussion #1: Monterey County Agriculture
	Description: Guest speaker panel to introduce and discuss current challenges facing the Monterey County Ag Industry including food safety, labor issues, food quality and foreign competition. Panelists: TBD
Panel Discussion #2: Monterey County Wine Industry
	Description: Guest speaker panel to introduce and discuss current challenges facing the Monterey County Wine industry. Topic: Monterey Peninsula’s Wine Industry Panelists: Paula Getzelman - Owner of Tre Gatti Vineyards, President of Monterey County Vineyard & Growers Association
Panel Discussion #3: Monterey Bay Fisheries
	Description: Guest speaker panel to introduce and discuss current challenges facing the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary and the local fishing industry. Topic: Monterey Bay Fisheries Panelists: Mike Sutton, VP/Director of The Center for the Future of the Ocean Monterey Bay Aquarium

All tours will leave directly after the panels have concluded at approximately 10:00 am

This full-day wine tasting tour of the Salinas Valley for the AIWF includes visits to Pessagno Winery, Smith & Hook/Hahn Estates Winery and Paraiso Vineyards to taste their delicious premium wines. Our gourmet picnic lunch will be at Hahn Estates overlooking the vineyard. Along the way, we will observe the world famous Salinas Valley, “Salad Bowl of the World” and learn all about the local agricultural industry which supplies many of the fresh vegetables consumed throughout the United States.

Please wear comfortable shoes and dress in layers for cool and warm weather. Wines can be purchased at each winery and shipping is available to many states.

Please provide player names. Offer expires June 13th so make you reservations early.

All dinners are either 7:00pm or 7:30pm. Transportation is not provided unless otherwise indicated. Several restaurants are within walking distance of the hotel and taxi service is available. Each chef will prepare an exclusive prix-fix menu for a table of eight AIWF members, inclusive of tax and gratuity. All liquor is extra, however there will be a free wine tasting before most dinners at an adjacent or near-by winery tasting room. See specific details under each restaurant. Seats at each location are first come, first served.

For more information about the restaurants, website addresses are provided. The price per person depends upon the restaurant.

In the heart of Carmel Valley sits the Bernardus Lodge surrounded by a 220-acre winery devoted to the production of Bordeaux-style varieties. The Lodge resembles an Old World wine country estate and is graced by beautiful gardens, majestic pines and California Oaks. The shining star of the Lodge is Chef Cal Stamenov’s restaurant, Marinus which has won the Wine Spectator’s Grand Award and Zagat’s Top Restaurants in the Bay Area. Chef Stamenov is a 2008 nominee for a James Beard Foundation culinary award as Best Chef in the Pacific region.

His philosophy and style of cooking is built on three central pillars: the relationship between food and terroir, the superiority of handcrafted, artisanal products over mass-produced, and the common sense of glorifying food when its flavor is at its peak. He has his own organic herb and vegetable gardens.

For this evening he will prepare a special five course menu using local fresh ingredients.

Cantinetta Luca offers casual, informal dining, featuring delicious pizza baked in an authentic, Italian, no gas, wood-burning pizza oven. Other specialties include antipasti, a dozen different salumis and handmade pasta, as well as whole fish and roasted meats served family style. All presentations are simple and rustic; food is prepared with fresh seasonal ingredients to bring out the bold flavors. The interior décor of Cantinetta Luca is antique/modern, inspired by the old refurbished buildings of Italy. The design is a blend of stone, brick and glass, chiseled wood and bright Italian colors. The décor features a barrel vaulted ceiling, brick and chiseled beams contrasted by superb contemporary furnishings and modern lighting all offset by rich colors and textures. The restaurant and bar are designed around an open kitchen with the stove centered as an island, accessible to chefs from all four sides. Cantinetta Luca also has a glassedin aging room where its house made salumis are dried and cured.

The four course menu includes an assortment of three antipasti; a salad; two pizzas served family style for the table of eight and two pastas served on each plate; with a choice of dessert: Tiramisu, Vanilla Panna Cotta with Citrus Granite, or Pear Crostata with Caramel Gelato.

“Fun Food and Killer Cocktails” In downtown Carmel-by-the Sea enjoy fresh, creative and seasonal cuisine. In a small courtyard on Lincoln Avenue award-winning chef Christopher Caul has a modern, warm and friendly restaurant serving seasonal ingredients from our local region. Locals know this place as “great food, great wine and great prices.”

Chef Caul will prepare a four course menu based upon the freshest ingredients available on July 12, 2008.

“Cuisine of the Sun!” Fandango’s restaurant is in a converted, charming, old house. Owners Pierre and Marietta Bain have kept the homey European atmosphere to showcase Mediterranean and European style cuisine. Chef Pedro De La Cruz is famous for his hearty pastas, paella, lamb shank, osso bucco, and bouillabaisse. His fresh seafood, black angus steaks and rack of lamb are cooked on his wood burning grill. The restaurant has received the Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence as well as the Dirona Award and was selected for the Nation’s Restaurant News Hall of Fame in 2002.

Graze on creative, coastal-inspired, slow-cooked California Cuisine at Kurt Grasing’s little cottage hidden on a back, quiet street of Carmel. Chef Grasing has developed a menu that reflects stylist simplicity by using ultra fresh ingredients gleaned from California’s Carmel coast and Central Valley. He has worked in some of the finest restaurants in the world. After an apprenticeship at the Clift Hotel in San Francisco, he refined his craft at “Narsai’s in Berkeley. Later he was at the three star “La Gavroche” in London and the “Four Seasons” in Boston. In 1986 he opened “231 Ellsworth” in San Mateo which was soon considered one of the top restaurants in California. In 1998 he created “Grasing’s Coastal Cuisine” which was quickly voted “Best New Restaurant” and “Best Chef” by Adventures in Dining Magazine.

He has been featured in Bon Appetit Magazine’s Best of the Year issue and was awarded Carmel Business Association’s “Business of the Year” award. In addition he has received Wine Spectator’s“Best of Award of Excellence”.

For almost forty years The Sardine Factory in historic Cannery Row, has been making celebrities feel at home and every other guest feel like a celebrity. The signature Abalone Bisque was served by request at President Ronald Reagan’s inaugural dinners. The award-winning chefs prepare delectable creations of fresh, sustainable seafood and USDA Prime Beef. In 2006 the restaurant was the winner of Restaurant Hospitality Magazine’s Best Wine List in America award.

Menu:
Lobster & Truffle Soup en Croûte Salad of Arugula, Hearts of Palm & Endive
  with candied walnuts & strawberry vinaigrette
-Choice of Entrée-
Pan Seared Wild Caught Salmon Oscar
  with crabmeat, shrimp risotto, sautéed asparagus & béarnaise sauce
USDA Prime Center-Cut Petite Filet Mignon
  with wild mushroom ragout, garlic mashed potatoes, sautéed asparagus & baby carrots
-Dessert-
Chocolate Marquis
  chocolate cake with chocolate truffle cream, vanilla sauce& fresh berries

Overlooking the Pacific Ocean with a spectacular view of the California Coast, the award winning Sierra Mar Restaurant serves world-class cuisine in an awe-inspiring setting. As part of the Post Ranch Inn, a small luxury hotel nestled on the cliffs of Big Sur and surrounded by the Ventana Mountains, Sierra Mar features an innovative four course menu which changes daily and utilizes organic, seasonal fare.

For Executive Chef Craig von Foerster, cooking is a personal philosophy, passion and way of life. His first job in Monterey was as chef of the Perry House before moving to Hawaii to serve as Sous Chef in the Bay Club at Kapalua Bay Hotel where he studied Pacific Rim cuisine. He joined the Sierra Mar staff in 1994 as Sous Chef and was named Executive Chef in 1998. Chef von Foerster believes the difference between good and average food is sometimes a minute detail. He feels the energy and care for really great food must come from within. He focuses on seasonal and regional offerings, fusing California fare with French and Mediterranean influences. Sierra Mar has received the 2008 Mobile Travel Four Star Award. Check the website for additional accolades, too numerous to mention here.

Chef von Foerster will prepare a special four course menu for eight AIWF members based upon the freshest ingredients available on Saturday, July 12th. Wines are additional and will be billed separately.