Pigs & Pinot: The Most Powerful Father-Son Food Weekend in Sonoma

Every chef has a teacher.

Sometimes it’s a mentor in a Michelin kitchen. Sometimes it’s a chef whose cookbook sits dog-eared on the counter.

And sometimes it’s your dad.

This spring in Sonoma County, that dynamic will take center stage when Chef Charlie Palmer’s legendary Pigs & Pinot weekend returns March 20-21, bringing one of the most stacked lineups of culinary talent in the country to Healdsburg for two days dedicated to pork, Pinot Noir, and the passing of the torch from one generation of chefs to the next.

But this year, there’s a twist.

For the first time in its 19-year history, Pigs & Pinot will lean fully into the idea of culinary legacy, spotlighting some of the most influential father-son duos in modern American cooking and featuring its first-ever all-female gala winemaker lineup.

Think of it as the most delicious family reunion imaginable.

The guest list alone reads like the Mount Rushmore of American restaurants. Among the chefs cooking side-by-side this year:

• Charlie Palmer & Reed Palmer
• Wolfgang Puck & Byron Lazaroff-Puck
• Jean-Georges Vongerichten & Cédric Vongerichten
• Emeril Lagasse & E.J. Lagasse (currently the youngest chef to run a two-Michelin-star kitchen)
• Dr. Tim Ryan & Jackson Ryan

That lineup represents decades of culinary influence and the next generation now shaping the industry.

“Pigs & Pinot has always been about mentorship and legacy,” says Charlie Palmer, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Appellation and CEO/Owner of Charlie Palmer Collective. “But doing it alongside Reed makes it both special and personal. You spend your career building something—a standard, a culture, a philosophy around hospitality. Seeing him carry that forward in his own way, while still respecting the fundamentals, is probably one of the most rewarding evolutions of the event for me, second only to the work we’ve done to create scholarship and funding opportunities to accelerate the development of the next generation of hospitality professionals.”

And for his son, Reed Palmer, Chef de Cuisine at Folia Bar & Kitchen, the moment feels less like a debut and more like writing the next chapter of a long-running story.

“Pigs & Pinot has been part of my life for nearly two decades,” he says. “I’ve seen it from the sidelines, from prep kitchens, from the dining room, and now from the chef’s side of the pass. Working it alongside my dad now means stepping into that history with real responsibility. He built something that matters in this industry and this town. My role isn’t to replicate it, it’s to evolve it and to uphold the standard and continue pushing it forward.”

That generational handoff is exactly what this year’s event is designed to celebrate.

Another major shift this year, Pigs & Pinot is moving to a new home. For 2026, the event will take place at Appellation Healdsburg, a culinary-first luxury hotel that opened in September 2025 and has quickly become one of the most interesting new hospitality destinations in Sonoma.

Spread across eight-and-a-half acres where town meets vineyard, the 108-room property was designed around food from the ground up. Guests move through culinary gardens, open kitchens, rooftop bars, and hands-on workshops that blur the line between hotel stay and food experience.

At the center of it all is Folia Bar & Kitchen, the resort’s signature restaurant, where Reed Palmer now serves as Chef de Cuisine. His cooking leans heavily on Sonoma’s agricultural abundance and emphasizes seasonality, sustainability, and low-waste cooking techniques—an evolution of the ingredient-driven philosophy that defined his father’s career.

In many ways, hosting Pigs & Pinot here feels inevitable.

The event has always been about bringing the country’s most influential chefs into one room. Now it happens in a place literally built around the idea that food should drive the entire hospitality experience.

Of course, the event itself remains what made Pigs & Pinot famous in the first place. Over the course of the weekend, guests move through a series of high-energy tastings, seminars, and dinners designed to showcase the best chefs and female Pinot Noir producers in the country.

Highlights include:

• Taste of Pigs & Pinot: a kickoff tasting where dozens of wines compete in the event’s “Pinot Cup,” paired with pork creations from top chefs.
• Pinot After Dark: a late-night gathering with drinks and bites.
• Ultimate Pinot Smackdown: a March-Madness-style wine competition led by master sommeliers.
• The Gala Dinner: a multi-course, wine-paired dinner created collaboratively by the weekend’s chefs.
• The Final Flight: a celebratory closing party with chefs, winemakers, and guests.

Beyond the food and wine, the event continues to support the next generation of culinary professionals. Since its inception, Pigs & Pinot has raised more than $2 million for scholarships and education programs through the Palmer Family Education Foundation.

Which makes the father-son theme feel even more appropriate.

The culinary world has always been defined by mentorships. Chefs teaching young cooks, passing down techniques, philosophies, and a sense of craft that can’t be learned from a recipe alone. But sometimes, that changing of the guard creates tension. This year’s Pigs & Pinot celebrates the evolution of food and wine.

It’s fathers cooking alongside sons. Legends sharing with the next generation. And a reminder that great food culture isn’t just built on just ingredients or technique. But legacy and togetherness.

For one weekend in Sonoma, that legacy will be on full display. Plated, poured, and passed across the table.