Tickets are on sale now for the 6th Annual Russian River Valley Winegrowers Crab & Fennel Fest on Saturday, March 7, 2009 at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds Hall of Flowers in Santa Rosa, California. Held in conjunction with the first weekend of the Wine Road Barrel Tasting (March 7-8), the Crab & Fennel Fest gives you a chance to roll up your shirt sleeves, crack fresh Dungeness crab, enjoy Russian River Valley wine and experience culinary creations of fennel made by some of the area’s best local chefs.

Of course, there’s no better match for Dungeness crab than our Russian River Valley Chardonnay. With the fishing grounds of the Pacific Ocean only a short twenty miles from the heart of Russian River Valley wine country we have at our fingertips the best ingredients from the sea, the field AND the vineyard. In early March we begin to see the bright green shoots of wild fennel bordering our vineyards, streets, gardens, and backyards…an herb so pervasive that many of our grapegrowers consider it more of a pain than a culinary ingredient! The soft, slightly anise flavor of "common" fennel is a perfect match for the sweetness of our indigenous crustacean and just happens to go very well with both Russian River Valley Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris.