Wining allowed and encouraged at festival

Deirdre Newman

Food bank volunteer John Mauger got his chocolate fix Thursday

evening at South Coast Plaza’s 12th annual Food and Wine Festival,

simultaneously savoring chocolate Haagen-Dazs ice cream and Godiva

chocolates.

The festival enables South Coast Plaza to show off its culinary

offerings while helping two organizations that work to prevent hunger

-- Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County and Someone Cares Soup

Kitchen in Costa Mesa. Every dollar raised at the festival goes to

the two nonprofits.

“It’s really popular,” Anton Segerstrom said of the festival.

“People love it. It raises money for a good cause in Costa Mesa. It’s

fortunate we can support them, because [soup kitchen founder] Merle

Hatleberg does great work.”

This year’s festival featured more than 30 wineries, focusing

mainly on those from the Central Coast. One of those wineries, Cougar

Ridge in Paso Robles, was trying to keep up with the high demand.

“The response has been outstanding,” said Pete Melz, Cougar Ridge

co-owner. “We’re hoping we brought enough wine for everyone.”

This year, the ticket price increased $5, but that didn’t diminish

the crowd. More than 1,300 tickets were sold before the event. The

price increased so the charities could get more money, Segerstrom

said.

The soup kitchen started in 1986 with a single pot of soup.

Hatleberg recently honored Segerstrom for being one of its original

board members.

Last year, the soup kitchen received about $25,000 from the

festival, said Shannon Santos, Hatleberg’s granddaughter. The funds

it will receive from this year’s festival will go toward expanding

its tutoring program.

“We need to hire another tutor, and we want to get 15 more

students,” Hatleberg said. “We have them waiting in line.”

Mauger applauded the soup kitchen’s work in the community.

“It’s really pretty remarkable what they do,” Mauger said.

The festival occupies the plaza space between Crate & Barrel and

Macy’s Home Store.