OC Meets Napa and Baja

If I were to pick an event to spend $ 100-​$ 125, OC Meets Napa and Baja would be it for the year. Grab the VIP ticket if you want an extra hour to nosh on more samples, but if the 3-​hour window is enough for you, grab the regular ticket. Either way, you can’t lose!
–great outdoor venue @ Mission San Juan Capistrano
–tons of vendors
–short lines
–plenty of food, drinks
–live music
All of these factors equal into an amazing event. I was very impressed with the amount of vendors and the quality of each dish and each pour that I sampled. The passion of each wine vendors was a pure joy.
I picked up two bottles of wines with a donation of $ 20 each thanks to Aaron L. We spun the wine wheel and it landed on Tier 1 twice (Tier 1=$ 80 value, Tier 3=lowest), wohoo! All proceed went to AltaMed and we got to take home the bottles of wine, win-​win!
Thanks Aaron for taking me as your +1; can’t wait till next year!

AltaMed couldn’t have picked a more beautiful outdoor setting (Mission San Juan Capistrano) to host the inaugural OC Meets Napa and Baja event. Everything went off without a hitch, and even Mother Nature cooperated. The heavy rain stopped not much more than an hour before the event started!
Admission to this awesome event included unlimited tastings of wines, tequilas, and food from the three aforementioned featured regions and beyond. The list of vendors was long; I couldn’t possibly try everything. But I sure tried! The event had a good turnout, but it wasn’t too crowded to enjoy all the samplings. Perfect!
To raise some extra money for charity, there was a wine wheel to spin (with a $ 20 buy in) to win a bottle to take home. I couldn’t resist a few rounds of that gamble!
Overall, this was a well planned, exciting event that I look forward to seeing more of!

On Saturday, my boyfriend and I had the opportunity to go to the OC Meets Napa and Baja event in SJC. (Thank you Unilocal for the tickets!) We almost didn’t go because it was down pouring the whole day. But we showed up and it actually was beautiful out (a bit humid but not horrible). After check in, we got ushered in the VIP area and began to taste some phenomenal wines from Napa. The food was great as well! (Cactus salad, fresh veggies, ceviche, and different types of quesadillas)
Once the VIP thing was done, we got to go to the main tasting area. I have to say they are so lucky it didn’t rain because the event wouldn’t have been as good! Ha! Who wants to taste wine in a down pour?! The main area was huge and there were tons of vendors. It was a little overwhelming! But the food was incredible and the variety was fantastic. Also, the wines were great. Of course there are always a few you aren’t crazy about, but most of them were great. My boyfriend loved the Pochteca Liqueur booth. He and I couldn’t remember the name to save our life so I did some research and found it. The drinks they made were insane!
We also did the wine wheel which was cool. The first time I spun and got the third tier (later looked the bottle up and it was only valued at $ 14! Advertising said they were all valued at least $ 40 and up!) Second spin was luckier with a 2^nd tier bottle valued at $ 50. The money went to a good cause so it was even better.
Overall, it was a great experience. Hopefully next year it will be cooler and not so humid and rainy for them! A tip, having the main booths on grass was NO BUENO for women with heels. Especially for many who paid $ 125 a ticket… gotta be honest! :-) I’m stoked I was able to win the tickets because they were pricey. It was a great opportunity and I’m grateful we were able to go!

A month or so ago, wifey and I did the Balboa Wine Walk expecting to get hammered on fermented grape juice in the presence of pretty surroundings. That was an epic fail of an event – they ran out of wine and food within an hour of starting.
This event, however, was so off the chain the universe went all the way back to the beginning of time and decided there’d be no carbon so that the chain could never exist. I mean technically nothing would exist but that’s not the point.
AltaMed really outdid themselves. Lots of staff, lots of booths for food and drink, cleaning crews, seating, water servers, lighting, entertainment… this is how you run an event.
All the wineries were wonderful and the food was excellent. Wifey didn’t drink much. As for me, I was full of food and drink. So full of wine you coulda mistaken me for an ancient Roman wine skin. HAIL CAESAR!
It was amazing. If you missed out, best hope they do it again next year so you can join me for great time and a great cause.

I have done some consulting for AltaMed so I know the kind of work that they do. I felt especially fortunate to have won passes for this fundraiser.
Mission SJC was a great spot for the event. We got free valet service and entry to the VIP section which included a Mexican buffet, passed apps, and select wines from both Napa and from Valle de Guadalupe.
The main event had more than a dozen restaurants from OC and Baja and about twenty-​five Napa and Baja wineries offering samples. My experience with Baja wines was very limited, but I was happy to find that they definitely held their own with the Napa wines. Some culinary standouts were
— 930 Sushi
— Ricardo’s Place
— Taco Maria
— Deckmans En El Mogor
— Eqeko Peruvian Tapas
Kudos to the restaurants that brought vegetarian items. Both my wife and I were very satisfied!
I was pleasantly surprised to see Tributo Tequila, which was sampling both their reposado and their añejo, along with reposado margaritas. I also got to try Radical Botanicals’ Sol Eterna, a refreshing blend of honeydew, yuzu, sweet pepper, saffron, sweet basil, and black pepper essential oil. Hard Frescos was serving what could best be described as «alcoholic Jarritos». I enjoyed their Tangy Tamarindo and their Citrico.
We bought a ticket for the wheel o’ wine which benefited Women in Action and we scored a vintage zinfandel. Win-​win!
I now have a number of OC and Baja restaurants to bookmark and I added Tributo Reposado to my Hi-​Time shopping list. Also, a Valle de Guadalupe wine tasting tour is in the works.
Our friends and I had a blast at OC Meets Napa and Baja. Keep an eye out for next year’s event. It will be epic for sure!

First of all, a big thanks to Unilocal for hooking me up with a pair of tickets to this fantastic event! It was such a great culinary experience for me and my friend!
Although it was rainy the entire day, the rain god went easy on us and it dried up by the time the event started.
The moment we got there and checked in, we immediately received our free OC Fair tickets, a plate, and glass of wine. Then, the feasting began!
I don’t know much about wine but everything I tried was pretty good quality stuff! I came mostly for the food. and boy, was there a lot of food! Some of my favorites were a seafood salad, steak w/​mashed potatoes, and a yellowtail ceviche.
The venue was beautiful! I’ve never been to Mission SJC and I definitely want to go back to explore it more. I loved the layout, food and wine on all 4 corners with entertainment and lots of seating area in the middle where the fountain and koi pond was.
I was a bit disappointed that one of the workers made us turn in our wine glasses and said we couldn’t keep it but when we were leaving, I saw a bunch of people taking home the wine glasses as a souvenir. Sad ending to a great fundraising event…

I was a lucky winner of VIP tickets ($ 125 pp) to OC Meets Napa and Baja sponsored by AltaMed. I was worried about rain but it cleared up right before the event started which led to the vendors scrambling to set up their tents. It was warm and muggy but there was plenty of food and drink for all the guests to enjoy.
There were plenty of Napa and Baja wine vendors pouring wine throughout the event along with restaurants from LA, OC, and Baja. Some of my favorite food vendors were Anepalco’s Café, Taco Maria, Gabbi’s Mexican Kitchen, and Deckman’s en el Mogor. Wine was definitely plentiful as was the food. There was a wine wheel that you could spin for $ 20, which went to the Women in Action charity and in turn you won a wine bottle valued anywhere from $ 40 to $ 80. I won an $ 80 bottle of wine. It was pretty awesome. There were tables for all the guests to lounge and mingle at.
The event was held at Mission San Juan Capistrano which I had never visited before. We were allowed to walk around the exhibits while the Mission was closed to the public. Pretty cool. Thanks to Unilocal OC for the tickets. My +1 and I had a great time.

«One’s options in this world are as vast as the horizon, which is technically a circle and thus infinitely broad. Yet we must choose each step we take with utmost caution, for the footprints we leave behind are as important as the path we will follow. They’re part of the same journey — our story.»
― Lori R. Lopez, Dance Of The Chupacabras
What an amazing event this was! OC Meets Napa and Baja, presented by Community Health Center AltaMed, brought primarily Latino-​centric restaurants and chefs in Orange County and Latino-​owned wineries in Napa and Baja together in a celebration of culture. Proceeds from all the ticket sales went toward supporting the Orange County health services and programs that AltaMed spearheads in underserved communities. When I was Housing Manager for the City of Huntington Beach, I funded Alta Med through the City’s CDBG program and am very knowledgable about the great services they provide especially in a country that still has an imperfect and expensive healthcare system.
What was cool about this event was actually seeing, meeting and talking to the chefs/​winemakers. These are the people who chose their path, who chose their own story. The passion from chefs such as Beto Ygei from 930 Sushi (excellent spicy yellowtail), Carlos Selgado of Taco Maria (wonderful scallop here), Gabbi Patrick (I think they did a scallop dish too), Rogelio Martinez of Casa Oaxaca (so excited was he about his sorbets and ice cream), and winemakers such as Alex, Oscar and Lola Llamas (best wines at event and great people too who invited us to hang out afterwards). This is the type of event that I love to attend and is only second to the San Jose Jazz Festival as favorite Unilocal events of this kind that I was lucky enough to get tickets from Unilocal.
Was disappointed in the Baja wines as there was little balance or flavor with those wines, and a lot of rustic smells and astrigent finishes. However given that when traveling the local wines always taste better when you are visiting their area (Cinque Terre was an example of this where the wines are fabulous only when you are outdoors on a patio with a great view eating a sublime pesto dish in Italy), I will visit Baja soon and visit the better wineries on their home turf ;-)
Thanks again Unilocal for this event!
Sidney

Wonderful event. Thank you Unilocal for the tickets! Mission San Juan Capistrano is a nice venue. It was raining earlier in the day so there were puddles of water on the ground.
Some of the food items were like pieces of art. So beautiful! Hubby and I enjoyed the event very much. Finally tried Ceja wine. Very solid. Will visit them at Napa soon.
I had some of my best tacos tonight. Some food are on the delicate side. Scallop, uni, and fresh made sushi. Some lines for food items were long though.