Food, Glorious Food! The D23 take on California Adventure's Food and Wine Festival

[Dustysage]

D23 has posted a story about this year's Food and Wine Festival at Disney's California Adventure park. It is one of their longer, more in depth articles. I enjoyed hearing from Michael Jordan, general manager and master sommelier of the Disneyland Resort, as well as about the theme and changes to the festival.

Food and Wine Festival is one of the highlights of the year for me and I'm always eager to hear about what's going on.

In addition to reserved events including wine experiences with celebrity vintners like John Lasseter and Tommy Lasorda and "Sweet Sundays" featuring delightful desserts from renowned chefs, "we have over 600 complimentary Guest experiences available," Disneyland's Food and Beverage Marketing Manager, Gary Maggetti, tells D23. "They feature complimentary culinary demonstrations with over 100 of our resort chefs — chefs from Downtown Disney, Disneyland, the Resort Hotels and Disney's California Adventure."

I had no idea that Pixar's and Imagineering's very own John Lasseter is a wine maker!

Even if you don't attend one of Food & Wine's events, you still can sample the delectable eats on offer. "You can experience the festival by visiting any of our restaurants [in Disney's California Adventure]," Gary points out. "Our quick service restaurants have festival-inspired items that are only available during the festival." Or not, as the case may be. "Last year Award Weiners [the quick service hot dog eatery] featured a Portobello Mushroom Philly — not a hot dog. It was so popular that while we said it would only be there during the festival, we kept it. This year we're featuring a lobster salad on a brioche baguette at Award Weiners."

Lobster dog's anyone?

The full story is available on D23: D23 | Disney.com

-Dusty

[ALIASd]

They bought a winery located in the Glen Ellen area in Sonoma in April 2003.
They'll be at the event this weekend.

Lasseter Family Winery

[Malin]

Whats happened to the D23 website its picked it up a notch and is offering some good content on a more regular basis now. I have always enjoyed the site but over the last few days I've notice a lot more content being added and I hope it continues. The DCA Food and Wine Festival was a good read and I also enjoyed the recent article Celebrate a Street Party.

As for the upcoming, potentially sizzling summer months: "We have some modifications as it gets hotter and hotter to give them a bit of a break and still keep the show up for Guests." Denny notes the characters, whose costumes can become pretty warm, will receive a respite. "The characters have choreography on the float and they do a lot of rotations. So we may keep them on the float still in that position but they would wave instead of doing the choreography. They average Guest wouldn't notice that. And they still see the character." Denny adds with a laugh, "I would notice it, and I want it to get cooler so they can do the choreography again!"

D23 | Disney.com

[Dustysage]

They bought the Glen Ellen winery in Sonoma in April 2003.
They'll be at the event this weekend.

Lasseter Family Winery

I'll do my best to see him. From what I understand, he drinks wine out of a box in the Dream Suite. Let's hope he is as knowledgeable about wine in an actual bottle. Really, he could drink wine out of a paper cup and he'd still be my hero.

Seems to be a lot of folks associated with Disney who have wineries these days.

[Werner Weiss]

They bought the Glen Ellen winery in Sonoma in April 2003.

John and Nancy Lasseter bought a relatively small winery from Chalone Winery. The winery is located in Glen Ellen, which is in California's Sonoma County.

They did not buy the Glen Ellen Winery, a huge winery owned by The Wine Group, Inc. (which also owns Franzia, Corbett Canyon, Fish Eye, Mogen David, and number of other wine brands).

[ALIASd]

John and Nancy Lasseter bought a relatively small winery from Chalone Winery. The winery is located in Glen Ellen, which is in California's Sonoma County.

Left out the word area, thanks. Did not mean to imply otherwise.

[whitealexander]

wine and food.. yum.. this is my kind of festival..

[Dustysage]

wine and food.. yum.. this is my kind of festival..

LOL me too. I make a point of visiting almost every weekend of the Food and Wine event at California Adventure, and we ALWAYS make a trip to Florida in the Fall for their event as well.

[ROBONICS95]

I'll do my best to see him. From what I understand, he drinks wine out of a box in the Dream Suite. Let's hope he is as knowledgeable about wine in an actual bottle. Really, he could drink wine out of a paper cup and he'd still be my hero.

Seems to be a lot of folks associated with Disney who have wineries these days.

I think you would get a kick out of this interview Dusty:

FT.com / Columnists / Lunch with the FT - Lunch with the FT: John Lasseter

We are due to have lunch in his office – his assistants tell me he doesn’t have time to meet in a restaurant. I have also been warned that he will have already eaten something and won’t be having much because he wants to devote his time to answering questions rather than eating, which might make this encounter an unusual take on Lunch with the FT.

His office is smaller than I expected but packed with Disney and Pixar paraphernalia. There are sketches on the wall from Susie the Little Blue Coupe, an animated short film from 1952, as well as a framed drawing from Dumbo (1941), Lasseter’s favourite Disney film. There are plates laid out with sandwiches and a bottle of red wine.

The bottle lifts the spirits. US executives are usually characterised by their abstemiousness, which makes for practical but rather dull lunches. “I don’t know if you drink wine,” says Lasseter after greeting me. “But my wife and I have a winery so I thought we’d open one of our bottles.”

He is known for his loud Hawaiian shirts and does not disappoint today, although the shirt is comparatively sombre. He is wearing a wristwatch released to promote the Pixar movie Cars (2006).

As he pours the wine, a Saint Emilion blend with a label bearing the Lasseter name, he explains how he and his wife Nancy began making wine. After he was fired from Disney, they moved to northern California. Nancy worked at Apple as a computer graphics engineer and he went to work for George Lucas’s Lucasfilm group, where he joined the division that would evolve into Pixar. “I was commuting north and Nancy commuted south and we started having babies.” The couple eventually had five sons. “We had so many babies that she decided to retire.”

The Lasseters often visited friends in Sonoma County, one of northern California’s finest winemaking regions. They liked it so much they moved there. “The woman who was cleaning our house was heading off one day to pick wine. Nancy went with her and came back splattered and covered in red wine.” He mimics his wife, breathless with passion. “She said: ‘We made wine! Make love to me!’” That started a hobby, which quickly became something more: the family bought vineyards in Glen Ellen in Sonoma County and now bottles and sells its own-label wine.

Looking forward to enjoying the festival in late May. I will wear out my shoes on the Wine Tour.