Spring Wine, Balboa Bay Club and Thou

The California Spring Wine Festival, with more than a half-dozen events, will be inaugurated this weekend by the Balboa Bay Club.

The festival begins Friday at 5 p.m. with a “Winemaker Cruise Around the Bay” ($50 per person) aboard the Pavilion Queen and ends Sunday at the club with a “Best of the Best Sparkling Wines Brunch” from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. ($40).

Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., a panel discussion on “Wine, Food and Your Health” will precede a “Luncheon With Vintners and Chefs” (lunch and seminar, $40). The discussion features Michael Mondavi of Robert Mondavi Winery, moderator; chefs Michel Richard of Citrus in Los Angeles and Pascal Olhats of Pascal in Newport Beach; dietitian Paul Saltman of UC San Diego, and pathologist Norvelle Harris of Bethesda Laboratories.

Also Saturday, from 7 to 10 p.m., a walk-around tasting called “A California Bounty of Wine and Food” ($65) will feature more than 40 wineries, five buffets representing as many regions of California and a jazz quartet.

1221 W. Coast Highway, Newport Beach, (714) 645-5000.

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Saluting the other side of the Atlantic on Monday, Claes Seafood Etc. presents “The Best of Bordeaux,” a five-course meal featuring wines from some of that region’s top producers and from a string of excellent recent vintages.

Among highlights, lavender-smoked magret de canard (duck breast) with mango-pine nut chutney will be served with Chateau Baron de Pichon Longueville (1989) and Chateau Cheval Blanc (1990), and prime grilled Angus filet topped with sun-dried tomato fricassee on eggplant blini will complement Chateau Haut Brion (1988) and Chateau Mouton Rothschild (1989).

The cost is $55 per person including tax and gratuity, and dinner starts at 6:30 p.m.

425 S. Coast Highway, Laguna Beach, (714) 494-1151.

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You can aid Aid for AIDS, the oldest nonprofit organization providing direct financial assistance to people living with the illness, by dining out today.

When you eat at restaurants participating in Dining Out for Life--a program sponsored by Absolut Citron, Coors Light, Los Angeles Times, TimesLine and Virgin Atlantic Airways--at least 10% of your bill will benefit AIDS victims.

Participating O.C. restaurants at press time were the Cottage, Golden Peacock, 242 Cafe and Mark’s in Laguna Beach; Octopussy Sushi Bar (at Metropolis) in Irvine; Riviera and Wolfgang Puck in Costa Mesa; Mayur in Corona del Mar, and Marrakesh, Last Mango in Newport and Royal Khyber in Newport Beach.

For updated information, call TimesLine at (714) 808-8463 and press *DINE (*3463).