Paso Harvest, Sweet & Savory Spectacular and Argentina Wine Tasting on the way

There’s never a dull moment on the SoCal food and wine scene. Here are three events coming up this week.

We’ve been celebrating the harvest since August. The bounty continues with the Central Coast’s annual Paso Harvest Wine Weekend this weekend. The event ropes in more than 140 wineries for tastings, winemaker dinners and visits spread out over the three days.

The event is unusual in that it doesn’t require a ticket; just click on the winery activities onine to see what’s happening on any given day. Some winery events may require an RSVP or a fee so it’s best to plan ahead. But you can also be spontaneous. The one thing that you probably have to nail down ahead of time is lodging. And that you can find on the PasoWineApp for iPhone.

On Saturday’s schedule, for example, Broken Earth Winery will put on a grape-stomping competition to live music ($25). On Friday, Cass Winery is planning a pig roast buffet with live music ($55) and on Sunday, their own grape-stomping event with all you can eat tacos ($25). Midnight Cellars offers a barbecue and blues feast on Saturday ($85). Or you could stop by Whalebone Vineyard on Saturday or Sunday for tri-tip sliders.

There list of events is long. Just know that most area wineries will be offering tastings and maybe barrel samples or wines from older vintages. And that the weekend offers a chance to chat with winemakers and winery owners from your favorite labels.

Closer to home, Sunday is the Los Angeles Sweet & Savory Spectacular, featuring food from more than 40 local restaurants. That means delicious bites from Connie & Ted’s, Pétrossian and the Church Key in West Hollywood, Chinois on Main in Santa Monica, Angelini Osteria in Fairfax and more.

The event, held at the Art Institute of Los Angeles in Santa Monica, raises funds for the C-CAP Los Angeles Scholarship Program for At-Risk Youth. (The Careers though Culinary Arts Program, or C-CAP, is a national nonprofit that prepares at-risk high school students for college and careers in the restaurant and hospitality industry.)

Co-chairs for the event are pastry chef Sherry Yard (soon to open her own Helms Bakery) and chef Suzanne Goin (Lucques, A.O.C., Tavern). The Sweet & Savory Spectacular includes cooking demonstrations, classes, tastings — and a “Chopped” style cooking competition with C-CAP graduates competing to show off their skills and creativity. Last year, C-CAP Los Angeles awarded nearly $600,000 in scholarships. Program director Mitzie Cutler hopes to do even better this year.

General admission is $100 online ($125 at the door) and includes access to all tastings, classes, demonstrations, etc. VIP ticket bearers ($150) get early admission and a gift bag. Tickets and information are available online or by calling Gloria Barke at (818) 756-1260.

On Oct. 22, Wines of Argentina and Learn About Wine invite the public to a tasting at the Peninsula Beverly Hills where three dozen wineries from Argentina will be pouring their Malbecs, Torrontes and more. A silent auction of collectable and large-format wines will benefits the music industry’s T.J. Martell Foundation which funds medical research focused on leukemia, cancer and AIDS. Tickets for Tasting Argentina are $65, $120 for two, and $150 for three at Learn About Wine.

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