Welcome to the "805 Eats" dining blog where we'll keep you up-to-date on restaurant and food happenings in the 805. To send tips and comments, email edit@805Living.com.

All a-titter about sparkling wine and Twitter

NOV. 9

Want to learn about sparkling wine from the experts, just in time for the holidays? Then follow the bouncing hashtag that is #FSWine.

During the second annual Taste & Tweet taking place on Nov. 9, a team of sommeliers and other experts from Four Seasons resorts located across the country will congregate via the online social media site Twitter to share pairing suggestions and tasting notes on several bottles of bubbly. Wine enthusiasts are invited to join in the virtual conversation by logging on to Twitter and following the #FSWine hashtag from 6:30 p.m.

But if you prefer in-person interaction to virtual reality, there’s a non-app for that. Four Seasons properties in Westlake Village, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles and beyond will be pouring the featured sparkling wines for  “live” tastings. Attendees of these events are welcome — nay, encouraged — to join in the Twitter conversation by including the #FSWine hashtag in their posts.

At the Four Seasons Hotel Westlake Village, the Taste & Tweet event from 6-9 p.m. in The Bar will include not only the featured sparklers (Domaine Chandon Brut Classic, Louis Roederer Brut Premier and Lunetta Prosecco) but also a local ringer: Saddlerock Sparkling Brut Rose from Malibu Family Wines. All are included in the $20 admission. Although not required, guests may RSVP by calling 818-575-1108 or by clicking on the hotel’s Facebook page. The hotel is at 2 Dole Drive in Westlake Village.

At the Four Seasons Resort the Biltmore in Santa Barbara, meanwhile, each Taste & Tweet attendee will be greeted with a complimentary Kumamoto oyster topped with pink grapefruit mousse to set the bubbly mood. Guests will then be able to taste the featured wines and follow along via the live tweets displayed on a flat-screen TV in Ty Lounge. Those who “check in” via Facebook or Foursquare will receive a voucher for a complimentary glass of wine, and will qualify to win special prizes throughout the event. In addition, guests who dine at Bella Vista that evening will receive a 20 percent discount. For reservations ($15 for the wine flight, or $25 for the wines and a selection of canapes), call 805-565-8232. The hotel is at 1260 Channel Drive in Santa Barbara.

Taste & Tweet events also will take place on Nov. 9 at the Beverly Wilshire,  the Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles in Beverly Hills and other locations.

Toast to (and shop for) a cure

NOV. 5
“Toast to a Cure” will benefit the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network  when it takes place from 2 to 4:30 p.m. Nov. 5 at 71 Palm restaurant in downtown Ventura.

The event will include tastings of Ventura Limoncello Originale, wines donated by Young’s Market and appetizers by Didier Poirier, co-owner and executive chef of 71 Palm.

Admission is free. Funds will be raised via a donation box and from a percentage of on-site sales of cases of wine, MidiQueen Handbags and works by local artists Gina Niebergall and Dahlia Riley.

The restaurant is at 71 N. Palm St. For information, call 805-653-7222.

Sip, sample … and stock up

NOV. 1-30

Here’s one passport you don’t have to pose for an unflattering photo to get: The Harvest Passport offered by the Ventura County Winery Association instead focuses on six wineries and/or tasting rooms that during the month of November will each offer special flights to ticketholders. Those same tickets grant a 10 percent discount on day-of-visit wine purchases – just in time to encourage stocking up for holiday gifts and festivities. (The purchase of a ticket also enters you in a drawing for prizes that range from bottles of wine to a two-night stay in an area hotel. Any re-gifting of those items is left entirely up to you.)

Participants include the county’s newest winery, and the only one like it in the city of Ventura. Owned by six Simi Valley residents, Four Brix Winery started life at a custom-crush facility in Paso Robles but in September moved to a winemaking facility and tasting room to call its own in an industrial park space on Eastman Avenue.

Also on the passport are Cantara Cellars and Bella Victorian Vineyard & Winery of Camarillo, Herzog Wine Cellars and Magnavino Cellars of Oxnard and Old Creek Ranch Winery of Oak View. Individually, members of the winery association produce fewer than 1,000 cases to more than 200,000 cases per year. Combined, they turn California-grown grapes into some 250 kinds of wine — so you’re bound to find something to your liking. (Tickets, $35 per person, are available via the association’s website and at participating wineries.)