There’s a point when you know your culinary event has gotten big: when you have to deploy a dude just to manage the butter.

“We’re bringing in 1,000 pounds of [European-style] Plugra butter,” says David Bernahl, one of the event’s primary organizers. “All of it has got to get re-segmented for 53 chefs for their different events across five different locations. Imagine being in charge of butter – it’s one guy’s only job.”

Of course, there are other means of gauging just how stratospheric this first-time event will be as it takes the void created by the departed Masters of Food and Wine and swallows it whole. A full 240 award-winning wineries will participate. Sixty sommeliers and 10 master sommeliers will devote their undivided attention to ensuring all 17,000 glasses are polished and that wine is appropriately aflow. A main-event “tent” with flooring worth six figures will cover a full acre of Pebble Beach property.

Then there’s this: the celebrated Jorge Ordoñez will tour sippers through Spain, tasting some of the country’s most sought-after wines; the Mondavi family will host a tasting of their Cabernet Sauvignon, Opus One, Ornellaia and the first public sips of Continuum; five of Oregon’s best Pinot purveyors will showcase their signature vineyards; the legendary Jacques Pépin will hold court on his latest gains; and Sir Peter Michael will explore his prolific Chardonnays. And that’s all happening in Friday’s first 90 minutes of seminars.

Meanwhile, the lineup of chefs – Tom Colicchio, Michel Richard and Susan Spicer being three of the 50-plus superstars – has food critics blubbering industrywide. As the Weekly’s own food-and-wine sage Ray Napolitano wrote, “You’d have to be Helen Keller not to see the magnitude of the talent about to be assembled on one small parcel of paradise for one long weekend of pure pleasure.”

Bernahl agrees: “We need an acre-big kitchen to fit this talent.”

The cumulative effect seems enough to validate the hyperbole found on pebblebeachfoodandwine.com, where virtually every package has sold out but some individual event tickets remain available. “The culinary event of a lifetime,” the site hypes, predicting “the most memorable experience in culinary history.”

But according to Bernahl, the chef roster and the butter bonanza are not the only indicators that the high-wattage hype actually is legitimate. He appears most pleased by the support of the lead sponsors, American Express Publishers, which owns the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen and is presenting sponsor for South Beach Food & Wine, the two champions of the food-and-wine world.

“They’re one of most respected trade publications for food and wine,” Bernahl says. “When they really believe in something they really get behind it. We couldn’t hope for a better sponsor.”

Bernahl is just as amped about the secondary sponsor, Lexus, which will stock the event with 30 new hybrid vehicles to shuttle various members of the thousands-strong throng of event goers. He says the Lexus Grand Tastings (slated for noon to 3pm Saturday and Sunday at the Grand Tasting Pavilion), which he calls “probably the top events of the weekend,” simply “wouldn’t be possible without them.”

On the eve of the event, the critical goal Bernahl and fellow event pointmen Rob Weakley and Gary Obligacion outlined for the Weekly in January – the pimping of the county’s culinary bounty – is materializing. Local produce from spots like Tanimura and Antle and Driscoll’s will be featured prominently. On a raised platform in the massive one-acre pavilion, Sierra Mar Post Ranch maharishi of munchies Craig von Foerster will prep dishes using only local ingredients.

Another local benefit appears inevitable. With many events topping out at 300 diners – the grand tastings, which will accommodate 2,000 people swarming all over Spanish Bay and beyond, being notable exceptions – local restaurants will do some brisk business.

Bernahl, whose participation in Pebble Beach Food & Wine is only steepening his already upward star trajectory, envisions a greater local impact.

“If this grows – we’re all keeping our fingers crossed,” he says. “This could turn into a [Pebble Beach National] Pro-Am or [Pebble Beach] Concours [d’ Elegance] event that dramatically impacts the local charity community – to me that is awesome.”

Bernahl says he’ll evaluate whether the event was a success once it’s over March 31, then plans to retreat to Post Ranch and Big Sur Bakery to celebrate with some of the chefs.

“We’ve got five pounds of caviar,” he says, not indicating whether the boss of the butter will join them.

FOR INDIVIDUAL EVENT TICKETS, visit pebblebeachfoodandwine.com and click on “tickets and rooms” or call 622-7770.