From Hollywood to Vine with Vineyard {511}
Adventures in Wine, Food, Film and Travel
50th Anniversary of Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl
As a tribute to the Beatles and in honor of their first performance at the Hollywood Bowl August 23, 1964 (back when tickets for seats were $3-$7), the Hollywood Bowl put on 3 concerts of the same songs the Beatles sang that night 50 years ago. Luckily, Ed and I have season tickets to the Bowl, and I was able to see one of these new performances on August 22, 2014.
Bob Eubanks, host of the TV show "The Newlywed Game," was a popular DJ in L.A. back in 1964, at the time of the Beatles sold-out tour of the U.S., explained to the audience how he had put up his house to get $25,000 to book and produce the original performance at the Bowl. He read a telegram from Sir Paul McCartney, who was sorry not to be with them on stage. Then Dave Stewart, co-founder of the Eurythmics and his band, led the rest of the show, with songs performed by son Sam Stewart on the guitar, and son Django Stewart and daughter Kaya Stewart, who sang with their father.
Guest stars Bill Ray Cyrus performed "It's A Hard Day's Night" and "Hey Jude," while the audience waved illuminated cellphones, and Australian Vanessa Amorosi rocked "Rollover Beethoven," "Get Back," and "Let It Be."
The night ended with "All You Need Is Love," with everyone swaying, dancing and singing along.
Photo: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images
Aug 29, 2014 at 11:28 PM
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The 16th Annual V Foundation Celebration
Ed and I attended the 16th annual V Foundation Wine Celebration August 7-9. Throughout the weekend, we enjoyed ultra-premium wines, exclusive wineries, gourmet meals created by award-winning chefs, live and silent auctions, and great live entertainment, all to raise critical research funds to find a cure for cancer. And these weekend events raised a whopping 9.3 million dollars!
The V Foundation was started in 1993 by ESPN and the late legendary coach of the North Carolina State basketball team Jim Valvano ("Jimmy V"). Valvano, who before he succombed to metastatic adenocarcinoma, a form of cancer, challenged everyone to never give up in finding a cure for cancer. Since then, the Foundation has raised over $100 million.
Kicking off the weekend, we shared an intimate dinner at Vineyard 7&8 on the top of Spring Mountain, hosted by Launny and Weezie Steffens, their son Drew and his wife Missy. Then, the following night--Friday-- Ed and I poured our 2010 Diamond Mountain District Cabernet Sauvignon at the Let's Get It Started party held at Vintage Estates in Yountville. There, Napa restauranteurs and vintners (such as ourselves) provided food and wine and a custom barrel auction, while the band Grooveline provided some very lively music for dancing.
On Saturday morning, cancer researchers from leading research centers discussed the latest advances in cancer diagnosis and treatment--so enlightening.
Topping this all off on Saturday night, we attended a fabulous gala at the Nichol and Nichol winery in Oakville, hosted by Scott Hamilton, Olympic Gold Medalist, World Figure Skating Champion and US Olympic Hall of Famer. Hamilton related how he was not only a testicular cancer survivor, but is now also finally recovered from a twice-diagnosed brain tumor. What valor! After a delicious dinner, live and silent auctions, at which Ed and I scored a week in Tuscany, we were treated to incredible entertainment by the Midtown Men of the original Broadway cast of the Jersey Boys, who really got the place rockin'! The night before we had poured our wine for the lead singer Christian at the Let's Get it Started party, so we felt like he was singing just for us.
Comments (2)Touring Bien Nacido Vineyards and Winery
Ed and I were lucky enough to attend this July's annual Wine Bloggers' Conference, held in Buellton, Santa Barbara County, California, home not only to Anderson's fabled pea soup, but also to many fabled wineries. The area has four official appelations--Happy Canyon of Santa Barbara, Santa Maria Valley, Santa Ynez Valley, and the Santa Rita Hills; Buellton is in the Santa Ynez Valley.
One of the conference activities was a secret tour of and dinner at one of these wineries in Santa Barbara County. Most of the 300 attendees boarded one of the buses outside the conference hotel, not knowing to which winery they were going. Luckily (again) Ed and I boarded a bus heading to Bien Nacido Vineyards and Winery, in the Santa Maria Valley. Bien Nacido means "well born" in Spanish, harking back to the roots of the vineyard which, in 1837, was part of a Mexican land grant from the then Governor of Alta California.
On board was Nicholas Miller, youthful 5th generation owner of Bien Nacido, a branch of whose family has owned the vineyard since 1871. He explained that most of the vineyard's almost 900 acres is Burgundian and Rhone in nature--Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, with some Merlot, Syrah, and Pinot Blanc. Bien Nacido owes much of its exceptional quality to the cool climate from the Pacific Ocean's morning fog and cool afternoons, creating the longest growing season (grape hang time) in California. The result of these favorable growing conditions is that much of the Chardonnay planted in California began as a Bien Nacido Vineyard cutting, and that the Bien Nacido Syrah grape's reputation is unique and notable.
Although Bien Nacido has begun making its own wines, most of its vineyards is divided into blocks farmed according to the customers' wishes, customers (over the years), such as Au Bon Climat, Qupe Winery, Foxen, Gary Farrell and Hitching Post. Jim Clendenen of Au Bon Climat and Bob Lindquist of Qupe Winery actually make their wines at the vineyard.
Duing a tour of the vineyards overlooking the Santa Maria Valley and a delicious buffet dinner at the original adobe home of the vineyard, we tasted Qupe, Foxen and Hitching Post wines. Gray Hartley, co-owner of Ostini Hartley Hitching Post Wines, who poured a great 1997 Hitching Post Highliner Pinot Noir with dinner (photo), has gained some local notoriety from appearing in some scenes of Alexander Payne's Sideways, partially filmed at his Hitching Post Restaurant, in Buellton.
As you may remember, one of my earlier blogs was about our trip to the La Jolla Playhouse to see the play Sideways, also based on the novel of the same name written by Rex Pickett. Look forward to a future blog about the Napa Valley Film Festival's anniversary screening of the film Sideways, along with a Merlot tasting. Merlot has actually regained its popularity since the character Miles in the film criticized it by saying he was not going to drinking any of that .......Merlot.
Jul 23, 2014 at 11:32 AM
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GHOST THE MUSICAL
On June 29, Ed and I were back to Hollywood and Vine, at the beautifully-restored art deco Pantages Theater, to see the terrific Ghost The Musical. This stage version was directed by Matthew Warchus, book and lyrics by Bruce Joel Rubin and music and lyrics by Dave Stewart and Glen Ballard. Bruce Joel Rubin adapted the play from his Oscar-winning screenplay Ghost (1990).
As you may remember, the plot of the film Ghost (can you believe it's been almost 25 years since it was first released?) revolves around lovers handsome banker Sam Wheat (played by Steven Grant Douglas--the late Patrick Swayze in the film) and sweet sculptor Molly Jensen (played by Katie Postotnik--Demi Moore in the film). Sam and Molly are attacked on the way back from her art show, and he dies and becomes a spirit caught between two worlds. Sam convinces the psychic Oda Mae Brown (played by Carla R. Stewart -- Whoopie Goldberg in the film--a part for which she won an Oscar) to warn Molly that her life is still in danger from their (so-called) friend, Sam's co-worker Carl Bruner (played by Robby Haltiwanger). Carl was responsible for Sam's death, as Carl hired someone to commit the attack to steal information from Sam to further a scam Carl has initiated.
The special effects and illusions created by Paul Kieve were amazing, and we were also not disappointed in the new portrayals by the actors, who had wonderful stage presence and marvelous voices; when Sam sang "Unchained Melody" to Molly, there wasn't a dry eye in the house.
Jul 3, 2014 at 11:00 PM
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Paris Delights
At the end of June, Ed and I spent 5 nights in Paris. We stayed at the lovely Pavillon de la Reine in the trendy Marais area, near our friends, who take an apartment each June. The hotel had some very interesting sculpture in the courtyard of a sumo wrestler, whose rump we and everyone else walking past had to touch for good luck.
We ate at some fabulous restaurants but, on our last day, we had lunch at a charming Basque bistro, Chez l'Ami Jean, near Les Invalides, where chef Stephane Jego's flavorful cooking wowed us grateful diners. A graffited wall, exposed ducts, and a cured ham hanging from the ceiling provided a charming space for us to eat sardines, beef cooked for eight hours topped with airy foam, and chef's legendary riz au lait (rice pudding). All so delish!
Jul 2, 2014 at 11:51 PM
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Monet's Water Lilies
While we were in Paris this June, we took a trip to Claude Monet's house and gardens in Giverny, where he painted his lovely and iconic water lilies. We picked the perfect time of year as all of the gardens were in glorious, full bloom. After visiting the gardens and house along with a zillion adorable 5-year olds on school holiday, we had a great lunch of an artichoke salad and rose wine in the garden of nearby Ancien Hotel Baudy.
Luckily for us, after we returned to Paris, we were able to view Monet's water lilies in the round at the Musee de L'Orangerie, where Monet designed and painted a space he donated to Parisians as a refuge for peaceful meditaion in the midst of what a flowering aquarium must be like. He focused on the changing qualities of natural light in his Giverny garden. The eight panels in two rooms evoke the passing of the hours from sunrise in the east to sunset in the west. With no horizon to orient the viewer, the elements-water, air, sky, earth-seem to merge in a compostion without perspective, where the water lillies create the illusion of an endless whole, of water without horizon and without shore. Wow!
Jun 30, 2014 at 11:38 PM
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Wine Tasting in Budapest
Ed and I very recently returned from a Danube River cruise, which started out in Budapest. There, we tasted the best wines of our whole trip (which surprisingly included Paris, which we visited after the cruise).
At the Four Seasons Hotel Gresham Palace, in Budapest, we had our personal favorite-- a dry white wine called MAD-- made from a grape varietal called furmint. Furmint is a grape varietal most famously associated with Hungary's famous, sweet Tokaji wines. The Tokaji region and its wine are held in such esteem in Hungary that the Hungarian national anthem thanks God that Tokaj szőlővesszein nektárt csepegtettél (‘into the vineyards of Tokaj you dripped sweet nectar’).
We also took a wine tasting tour of the Etyek wine region, just outside of Budapest. We visited three wineries: Hernyak Estate (Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc); Zarandok Pince (Chardonnay, Pinot Gris); and Gyula Oroz (Pinot Noir and Chardonnay/Sauvignon Blanc); where we also had dinner. Our favorite from that area was a Pinot Gris called Bernadette, which we tasted in its cave. That's Bernadette and me in the photo.
After boarding our cruise, we arranged a wine tasting dinner with fellow cruisers/wine lovers, to which we contributed our very own 2010 Diamond Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon--everyone's favorite.
Jun 20, 2014 at 11:12 PM
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Auction Napa Valley 2014 Sets Records
The 34th annual Auction Napa Valley, which was just held from June 4-7, broke its record for a second year in a row by raising $18.7 million for Napa Valley community health and children's education nonprofit organizations. The auction, which is put on by the Napa Valley Vintners (NVV), a non-profit trade association, lures wine and food lovers from over the world to beautiful Napa Valley to drink the best wines in the world, eat scrumptious food prepared by world-renouned chefs and bid on the finest of wines and breathtaking experiences, donated by generous NVV members, through both live, barrel, and silent e-auctions.
On Thursday, June 5, NVV members opened their homes to attendees with casual dinners all over the valley, such as Alpha Omega's succulent pig roast.
On Friday, June 6, the Barrel Auction and the Marketplace, where Napa vintners, such as Ed and I, poured great wines and Napa restauranteurs provided delicious tastes of their food, were held at the recently-remodled Charles Krug Winery. Ed and I (with help from daughter Kelly and son-in-law Jeff) poured our 2010 Diamond Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon for attendees who loved it.
On Saturday, June 7, in advance of the live auction, a lunch was served at Meadowood prepared by Napa Valley rock-star chefs Stephen Barber, Michael Chiarello, Curtis Di Fede, Thomas Keller, Cindy Pawlcyn, Richard Reddington, Brandon Sharp and partners Hiro Sone and Lissa Douman and, once the auction bidding ended, a luscious meal was created by 3-Michelin-starred chef of Meadowood's The Restaurant, Christopher Kostow.
These wineries provided the wines and experiences that received the highest bids:
Barrel Auction: Brand Napa Valley $83,050
Live Auction: Raymond Vineyards $840,000
E-Auction: Continuum Estate $21,000
The theme of of this year's auction, was "Sweet Home Napa Valley," and the vintner's association really showcased what a sweet place it is to live and produce great wines in Napa Valley.
View more photos and videos here.
Jun 11, 2014 at 9:15 AM
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Napa Valley Vintners' Association Launches
On Wednesday morning, June 4, the Napa Vintners' Association (NVV) lauched its theme of "Sweet Home Napa Valley" for its 2014 Auction Napa Valley at a luncheon held at Meadowood, in St. Helena. Not only were a tremendous number of NVV members in attendance but, at each table was a representative from one of the many Napa Valley non-profits, which would be recipients of the proceeds of the rest of the week's Auction Napa Valley events.
We were seranaded by Dave Duncan (Silver Oak Vineyards) and Jeff Gargiulo (Gargiulo Vineyards), with a song based on "Sweet Home Alabama," who with their wives chaired the Auction this year. All in attendance sang and danced along, happy to live and work in a valley they call home, where all care about one another.
Jun 11, 2014 at 9:10 AM
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Wine Spectator's Pre-Auction Party
On the Wednesday night before Auction Napa Valley officially started, Wine Spectator held its 26th-annual exclusive Bring Your Own Magnum (BYOM) Party, at St. Helena's Tra Vigne restaurant. Delicious food prepared by Tra Vigne's talented chefs, fabulous wines donated by attendees, dancing to great pulsating music and, moreover, incredible people watching were the order of the evening. The over-1000 attendees included California winemakers, vineyard owners, UC Davis wine educators, and generous participants of Auction Napa Valley, such as Margrit Mondavi, Peter Mondavi and Mike Grgich. Ed and I were delighted to meet Wine Spectator owner Maurice Shanken, who was holding court there.
Jun 11, 2014 at 9:05 AM
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