Forks & Corks: Sips, snacks & a little stumble

It was Sunday afternoon, and I felt pretty slick arriving at the Forks & Corks Food & Wine Festival’s Grand Tasting event (which acts as the finale to the Sarasota-Manatee Originals’ three-day food and wine fest) in Sarasota. I checked my dorky Ford Focus with the valet and slipped past hundreds of guests lined up a mile around the Ringling Museum of Art’s entrance through the media check-in.

I thought I was mighty big stuff, indeed, about to get first dibs on all the tasty samples from 50-plus area restaurants and more than 100 international wineries.
It was like having a FastPass at Disney World, except, you know, more mature. That’s what I told myself, anyway, as I just barely refrained from running in heels to the nearest vendor.

But wait. Where was my tasting glass?

No one seemed to know. And to my overly dramatic horror, all those hundreds of guests I'd seen outside had started coming in with their wine glasses. I’m only half-joking when I say I seriously considered stealing one from an unsuspecting taster with two in hand.

After suggesting to the wine purveyors, “Just pour it straight into my mouth… Come on!” without success, I returned to the front and retrieved a glass at last. Then the fun began.

My first sample of the day, and my favorite, was an easy find. Don’t you know Cajuns can sniff out a good oyster from anywhere?

Anna Maria Oyster Bar’s chipotle oysters, accented with Parmesan and baked to buttery perfection on the half shell, were as homey and humble as pecan pie. To me, they were the hidden pearls of Forks & Corks, a tucked-away discovery that lit up my eyes, and taste buds, on first bite. Oyster Bar manager Shawn Barbee and I were surely on the same Cajun wavelength. He gave me two to try.

As for the wine, I experienced a long internal debate over many, many (believe me, many) different choices, including Jaffurs Wine Cellar’s not-too-sweet syrah from California; Altesino’s popular Italian Brunello di Montalcino; Presqu’ile Winery’s Best of Show (as determined by the fest’s wine judges) Cali chardonnay, and Silverado Vineyards’ crisp Sauvignon Blanc Estate, also from California.

Alongside Blackbird Vineyards’ Arise (a fruity, sultry and charming blend of merlot, cabernet franc and cabernet sauvignon from California), I enjoyed the South Africa-based Babylonstoren’s fabulous chenin blanc — or “Patio Pounder,” a term coined by one of the booth’s pourers that perfectly captures the wine’s smooth and refreshing nature.

The Pirata Pils I tasted from Darwin Brewing Co. also deserves a shout-out. It’s a slightly sweet and perfectly smooth pilsner that even my beer-snob boyfriend would approve of. The brewery’s Summadayze IPA seemed to be filling many glasses, too.

Later, when talking with a guest about “sneaking” into the event through the press entrance, he took me seriously, and told me, with strange specificity, he thought I was 19. Perhaps he'd caught an earlier glimpse of me mid-selfie and jotted down a mental note of my “millennial” behavior (but, really, everyone takes selfies).

That being said, I totally devoured Bridge Street Bistro’s liquid nitrogen Froot Loop ice cream. Yes, I said Froot Loops. And yes, it’s just as delicious as your inner child is drooling over.

Plus, I may have, sort of, kind of, fallen down the stairs like a clumsy younger Jennifer Lawrence. But also like J. Law, I laughed, got up and, channeling her spirit, demanded to know, “Where’s the pizza?”

This article appears in Jan 22-28, 2015.