Orange County Register

Here’s one of the better wine-tasting bargains I’ve come across in a while.

I went to an event a couple of weeks back at the Orange County Wine & Food Center. Some of you might remember its previous incarnation as a high-end promotional facility for Robert Mondavi Winery – a spectacularly beautiful building in the South Coast Metro area where the California vintner could promote his wines and other high-end products to the deep-pockets types in O.C. (I once ate my way through a “World of Cheese” event there, an experience that almost killed me with calories. I would have died a happy man.)

After Mondavi pulled out, the elegant place fell on hard times for a while before being resurrected in its present form as a special-events venue.

Most weeks the Orange County Wine & Food Center hosts Wednesday Wine Stars, where a number of wines – usually five – are poured for a mere $15. That price includes gourmet-quality nibbles provided by the Center’s resident chef, Paul Squicciarini (a friendly New Jersey native, he was formerly at Laguna’s Sorrento Grille among other places).

Last Wednesday they were pouring Cabernets from Markham, Robert Mondavi, Franciscan, Penfolds and Morey Cellars. On Dec. 9 there’ll be a special single-winery tasting sponsored by B Cellars, a California vintner that specializes in blends  (that one will be $25).

“We’ve had anywhere from 5 to 200 people at these things,” said Adam Medart, the Center’s director of events. “Word of mouth has gotten out like wildfire. It’s a hidden gem — that’s what everyone calls it.”

The pouring starts Wednesdays around 5 p.m. and everything wraps up around 8.

Orange County Wine & Food Center, 1570 Scenic Ave., Costa Mesa. 714-641-9922 or ocwfc.com

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