Pigs & Pinot

Chef Charlie Palmer's cult two-day blowout has a new home, Appellation Healdsburg, his just-opened flagship resort. The format holds: Friday's Taste of Pigs & Pinot turns sixty hand-picked Pinots loose in the blind-judged Pinot Cup, with pork in every conceivable form from Palmer and a bench of Sonoma kitchens including The Matheson and Diavola. This year's twists: an all-father-and-son chef lineup and the event's first all-female Gala winemaker roster, with Sonoma names like Blue Farm and Merry Edwards pouring. Proceeds fund the Palmer Family Education Foundation; tickets are gold dust.

Saturday is the dress-up half of the weekend. Days run to intimate winemaker seminars and comparative Pinot tastings before the black-tie Gala Dinner, a multi-course collaboration among Palmer and a rotating cast of guest chefs (recent editions have leaned into father-and-son kitchen duos and showcased all-women winemaker lineups), each course poured against a coveted bottle. A silent and live auction runs alongside, turning trophy lots and once-off culinary experiences into scholarship dollars. It is a serious wine crowd in a small town, which is part of the charm: world-class Pinot, a whole hog's worth of pork, and everyone within arm's reach of the chef whose name is on the door.