One of my favorite places to visit while in Napa is the The Culinary Institute of America. On March 13, 2010, the CIA (at Greystone) will honor their 2010 Vintners Hall of Fame inductees, during a day-long Celebration of California Wine & Food. This will culminate with the Vintners Hall of Fame induction ceremony. The ceremony will be preceded by a 6:00 p.m. reception, featuring the wines represented by the 2007, 2008, and 2009 inductees.
The 2010 class to be inducted includes the following illustrious crew:
- Leon Adams, a founder of the Wine Institute
- Andy Beckstoffer, longtime Napa Valley grower
- Al Brounstein, founder of Diamond Creek Vineyard
- Randall Grahm, founder of Bonny Doon Vineyard
- Zelma Long, veteran winemaker
The evening celebration continues with a walk-around dinner in the school’s Teaching Kitchen, with celebrity chefs and wine makers including the following:
- Michael Chiarello
- Todd Humphries
- Christopher Kostow
- Anne Gingrass-Paik
- Sarah Scott
Guests will be able to dance the night away to the sounds of Jeffrey Campbell & Megan Slankard, while enjoying desserts created by renowned pastry chefs, including Emily Luchetti of Farallon.
If you would like to join this year’s Celebration, you’ll have the opportunity to attend a morning Wine & Food Salon at the CIA. This will then be followed by a wine-country lunch, tour, and tasting at a prestigious Napa Valley winery.
There are a limited number of seats available for Creating Flavor: The Art of Food & Wine Pairing featuring wine expert and Chair of the CIA’s Rudd Center for Professional Wine Studies, Karen MacNeil, and CIA Chef Bill Briwa. Wine writer and chair of the VHF Electoral College, Blake Gray, will join David Breitstein for the morning’s other Wine & Food Salon, Big, Bold, and Beautiful: Tasting Historic Magnums from the California Collection of David and Judy Breitstein. Link
Proceeds from the Vintners Celebration of California Wine & Food will provide scholarships for the Rudd Center for Professional Wine Studies at the CIA at Greystone.
The cost of the evening reception, induction ceremony and walk-around dinner is $250 ($150 tax-deductible). Each $250 ticket includes the opportunity to purchase a Wine & Food Salon seat and a tour, tasting and lunch at a Napa Valley winery for an additional $150 ($75 tax-deductible).
For more information on the 2010 Vintners Hall of Fame Induction celebration, please contact Reuben Katz, 707-967-2305 or r_katz@culinary.edu.
For more information on the Vintners Hall of Fame and to view the list of 2007, 2008 & 2009 inductees with their photos and biographies, please visit www.ciavintnershalloffame.com.
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Jo,
Thanks for your dedication to promote great wine events. It must be nice to live in a region where there is such a rich wine heritage and events like these.
Josh @nectarwine
Josh, I can’t even begin to tell you how great it is, but I try to with this blog. It’s because of all these great things going on out here that I wanted a blog… So I could personally share these experiences and others, who could live them vicariously. I’ve spent most of the morning organizing my own event… Imagine being able to create your own event (43 wineries, 33 restaurants – with the best of the best)… It’s truly an amazing thing, Josh, and you’ve picked up on it.
I feel blessed to have all of my connections and relationships. And I enjoy the ride, including the bumps. It all adds to the experience.
If you’re ever out here, let me know. We’ll take you around in one of our “car” days. We’ll go visit someone amazing… like we did with Sean Thackrey, Steve Heimoff, and Hardy Wallace. Jose and I also took Sonadora and her husband out for a day (Napa – Stags’ Leap, Quixote, and Judd’s Hill). They returned to a Judd’s Hill B-B-Q the next day as their guests.
It helps that I’m intimately connected with so many through my PSILY group… access at the top, which makes these days really magical. It appears to me that you’d be a perfect fit for one of these days.
Let me know. It was the invite to Sonadora and Hardy Wallace that set it all into motion. You next?
Thanks for this post on this year’s Inductees. I wish I could attend.
P.S. Your generosity with fellow wine bloggers visiting California is impressive, Jo.
Alexandra,
Thank you for your kind words. I wish I could attend this one, too. I comfort myself with having just had a delightful lunch there a couple of weeks ago, with my Oak Knoll friends (and client), Greg Lint (president) and Jeff Herinckx (winemaker). (http://www.oakknollwinery.com)
It was another limo adventure with Scharffenberger Cellars and Castello Di Amorosa as our appointments… Two upcoming and wonderful stories to tell.
Since you’ve been so kind and observant to notice, and because you’re as passionate as I am – your About us is very intriguing (http://winewatcher.wordpress.com/about/) – I’d like to extend the invitation to you, too. I know we’d have a wonderful day in wine country together, reliving Auntie Mame’s dream. (What shall I wear?!)