Stars of Napa Valley Wine Festival

Ed and I took a short drive from our home in Redondo Beach to the luxury boutique hotel Shade in Manhattan Beach to participate in the first annual Stars of Napa Valley Wine Festival. Shade partnered with wineLA to present this super popular event. From 2- 5 pm we poured our 2010 and 2011 Vineyard {511} Diamond Mountain District Cabernet Sauvignon for members of the trade -- restauranteurs, distributors and media -- and then from 7 - 9:30 pm poured our cabs again for consumers. We were among 40 other Napa vintners, including Alpha Omega, Heitz, Frank Family and Rocca, participating in this terrific tasting event. During the evening portion, a silent auction of wines donated by the attending vintners were part of a silent auction to benefit the Manhattan Beach Middle School. Ed and I were proud to donate a vertical of our Diamond Mountain District Cabernet of all of our releases -- 2009, 2010 and 2011 -- in a nifty wooden box.