Central Coast pinot noir producers honor the guy who got them started

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There was certainly some great Paella to be found at the Pinot and Paella festival on Sunday. And of course some great pinot noir. There were 20 local pinot noir producers pouring and 20 local chefs all raising money for the local youth arts foundation.

But one of the most touching moments came late in the afternoon when Winemaker of the Year Marc Goldberg of Windward Vineyard presented Dr. Stanley Hoffman with a couple of awards for his pioneering of the varietal in this region.

Dr. Hoffman planed some of the first Pinor Noir grapes along the central coast (and some of the first Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay) and is largely credited with producing the first vineard of Pinot Noir in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties. His Hoffman Mountain Ranch Winery was the first large-scale facility in the Adelaida area and a portion of that original vineyard is part of the Adelaida estate today.

This was the 9th annual Pinot and Paella festival. Marc Goldberg and Maggie D'Ambrosia started it to raise money for the art and to celebrate the fact good pinot noir could and was being grown locally. Final numbers of money raised at the event aren't in yet, but it was a sell-out.