By Samantha Schoech, Sunset senior editor

Superstar chef Thomas Keller was in the kitchen.  His French Laundry staff glided among the Picassos and Mirós like ballerinas serving course after dazzling course.  The wine—including the first ever tasting of the new Continuum from the Mondavi family—flowed.  Next to me, the venerable Robert Mondavi, father of the Napa Valley wine culture, presided silently from his wheelchair.  Down a wide staircase, an indoor swimming pool glowed turquoise.

Just another Monday night dinner at the Mondavi home on Wappo Hill?  Not exactly (although I suspect such evenings are less rare for them than they are for me). 

This was the kick-off press dinner for the first annual Pebble Beach Food & Wine event coming this March.  And if the dinner—intimate, flawless, and buzzing with warmth and hospitality—was any indication, it’s going to be a doozy of a food festival.

It would be hard to go wrong.  They’ve invited the best chefs in the country—Thomas Keller, Gary Danko, Charlie Trotter, Charles Phan, Jacques Pepin, Alain Passard and about 30 others-—to one of the West's most beautiful stretches of coast.  They’ve added 200 of the world’s best wineries, a dozen or so sommeliers, and a generous helping of that passion for all things gastronomical and enological that seems to flow in the veins of many Californians. It's four days of demonstrations, sit-down meals, tastings, pairings, wine debuts, and parties. Think of it as a fantasy camp for foodies.

But this kind of thing doesn’t come cheap.  Tickets for individual events start at $165.  If you want the ultimate experience, with VIP access to all events, lodging at Pebble Beach Resorts and invites to after-hours parties where you can hob-knob with the rock stars of foie gras and Fume Blanc, it will cost you 12,400 clams.   A pretty penny for a taste of the good life.