Events From The Mendocino Wine & Mushroom Festival In Mendocino, California

Northern California's Mendocino County is known for its excellent wines, but the region's terroir is also found in its most famous natural wonder: the 500 species of edible mushrooms that poke out of the soil each fall.

For a fortnight during the Mendocino Wine & Mushroom Festival (November 6-15), local mushrooms will be served at just about every area restaurant, hotel and winery. Here, a few of our favorite ways to go shroomin':

• Get your umami fix at Yorkville Cellar's Mushrooms and Malbec event ($10), where you can sample older vintages and new releases paired with fungi-inspired appetizers (chanterelle quiche, pork-and-pumpkin-porcini casserole) made by proprietor Deborah Wallo. Nov. 7 and 8, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; yorkvillecellars.com

• Eating on-the-go isn't so bad when you're chugging through ancient Redwood groves on a vintage Skunk Train while dining on chanterelle fettuccini and drinking local wines. Mushroom expert and chef Jack Czarnecki (from Oregon's Joel Palmer House) hosts a benefit lunch on Nov. 7 ($125) and teams with mycologist Eric Schramm to teach guests how to forage for their own mushrooms. Nov. 7, 10 a.m.; 707-459-3047 or howardfoundation.com

• Follow Highway 1 down the coast for a Champagne & Mushroom Brunch (free for guests; $25 for visitors) at the Elk Cove Inn & Spa, where owner Elaine Bryant will whip up sausage-stuffed mushrooms and mushroom omelets alongside wines from the Anderson Valley's Navarro Vineyards. Nov. 7, 8, 14 and 15, 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.; elkcoveinn.com

• Glendeven Inn's John Dixon and his officious pet llama, Big Sue, really know how to host a feast at their 19th-century farmhouse in Little River. Their lavish mushroom-themed dinners ($65; $90 with wine pairings) kick off with profiteroles stuffed with smoked velvet pioppini mushrooms, followed by a morel flan and porcini manicotti wrapped in black-chanterelle pasta. Nov. 10 and 14; glendeven.com