Vineyard 511

University of Notre Dame Symposium in Washington D.C.

Ed and I recently were in Washington D.C. to attend a symposium put on every other year for the President's Circle of Notre Dame University, Ed's alma mater. This year the symposium was titled Insight & Outlook on National and Global Affairs--and that it certainly was. Our keynote speakers were none other than Vice President Joe Biden and, in alphabetical order, Adel A. Al-Jubeir, Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the United States; General Martin E. Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Ron Dermer, Israeli Ambassador to the United States; Ebrahim Moosa, Professor of Islamic Studies, Notre Dame University; Admiral Michael S. Rogers, USN Commander, U.S. Cyber Command, Director, National Security Agency, Chief, Central Security Service; and Gerald F. Seib, Washington Bureau Chief, Wall Street Journal. Journalist Panel Participants were Mark Shields, Political Analyst, PBS Newshour and Syndicated Columist; Robert Costa, National Political Writer, The Washington Post; Carolyn Ryan, Washingon Bureau Chief, The New York Times.

Ed and I were lucky to sit next to Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer (picture) at the dinner held at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, a glorious restored 78,810 square foot former Masonic Temple, which recognizes and shares the contributions made by women of all eras and places. Ambassador Dermer was born and raised in Miami Beach, Florida, and was educated mostly in the United States and Oxford University. Before being named Ambassador to the U.S., he served as Senior Advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Dermer also thinks the proposed treaty with Iran to limit its nuclear weapons is a bad deal for Israel and for the world. He is now an Israeli citizen.

Another highlight of the conference was the kick off activity of a cruise along the Potomac to George Washington's Mount Vernon, where we had dinner. We also had lunch at the Newseum, an extremely interesting museum dedicated to the news.

Ed and I arrived in Washington a day early in time for the Cherry Blossom festival. This was the only time the conference was held at the same time as the festival, and we spent a glorious afternoon strolling along the Potomac surrounded by the beautiful blossoms. We finished this day with a happy hour toast at the Williard Hotel across from the White House, where many other toasts were made by prior President Grant.

Also staying at our hotel (the Ritz Carlton) was the new Prime Minister of Iraq, Haider al-Abadi, who was in town for his inaugural meetings at the White House. Talk about security; we almost ran out of time retrieving our luggage to check out.

Apr 22, 2015 at 9:56 AM Permalink

NVFF Screens "Woman in Gold"

Ed and I recently attended a Napa Valley Film Festival (NVFF) sneak preview of a terrific film: Woman in Gold, at the Cameo theater--the oldest single-screen theater in the US--in St. Helena, California. The film starred the immensely talented Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds and was directed by Simon Curtis (My Life with Marilyn). Mirren stars as the Jewish exile Maria Altmann, who escaped from Austria and likely death in the camps; she sought the restitution of the luminous Gustav Klimt painting--in shimmering gold and oil on canvas--of her aunt Adele Bloch-Bauer, the subject of the painting, and four other Klimt paintings, all looted by the Nazi's in World War II Austria from her family.

At the time of the 8-year effort to regain the paintings, the one named "Portrait of Adele Block-Bauer 1" (1907) was considered by many to be Austria's Mona Lisa. Reynolds played her only-32-year-old attorney, E. Randol (Randy) Schoenberg, grandson of Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg, who himself fled Austria in 1933, and son of Altmann's close friend. Together Altmann and Schoenberg took the claim against the Austrian government all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which found in favor of Altmann. The Austrian federal art museum, the Belvedere, where the paintings had been exhibited, returned the paintings to their rightful owner--Altmann.

Following the screening, David Glasser, President and COO of The Weinstein Company, which generously provided the film, participated in a Q&A with Festival founder Marc Lhormer. (See photo.)

The film was especially poignant for Ed and me as we had attended a showing of the painting "Portrait of Adele Block-Bauer 1" at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) shortly after it was returned to Maria Altmann in 2006. We met both Altmann and Schoenberg there. Although LACMA had so much wanted to acquire the painting, it was purchased by Jewish philanthropist and cosmetics heir Ron Lauder (son of Estee Lauder), for $135 million and hangs in his Neue Galerie in New York City. The other four Klimt paintings were sold at auction for $192.7 million. The combined proceeds for the five paintings were bequethed to her heirs. Altmann passed away in 2011 just after her 95th birthday. What a woman!

Prior to the screening, we were treated to some great Freemark Abbey Chardonnay, and afterwards we walked over to Caldwell Snyder for a VIP after-party catered by Meadowood Estate Events. In addition to the 2010 Diamond Mountain District Cabernet Sauvignon we donated, patrons were treated to Alpha Omega, Sullivan, and Paratus wines. An after-after party at Raymond Vineyards was enjoyed by many of the late night revelers.

The wonderful evening was a fundraiser to support the NVFF's year-round film education and outreach programs and exemplified what the Festival offers as part of its Patron Circle and year-round programming programs.

Apr 10, 2015 at 11:47 PM Permalink

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.

Apr 4, 2015 at 10:31 PM Permalink

Tastemade Party at Santa Monica Studio

Tastemade, a food and travel video network for the mobile generation, had a party at its Santa Monica studios to celebrate its deal with Apple TV. Tastemade provides a digital network for every screen from smart phones to connected TV. Its programming is done in its studios, at which Ed and I attended this fun and lively party. As of this writing, it has an amazing 42,326,050 social followers, a good number of whom were at this party. Adding delicious (and experimental) elements to the mix were food and drink stations, which included a chefs creating yummy appetizers with blow torches (see photo).  Mmmmmmmmmmmmm good!

Apr 4, 2015 at 10:28 PM Permalink

Family Winemakers of California Tasting

On March 15 (also known as the Ides of March--oops the day Caesar was killed), Ed and I drove from our home in Redondo Beach to Pomona to participate in the Family Winemakers of California first Southern California Tasting at Fairplex. Almost 100 small, family-owned wineries, from across California, poured some 500 terrific wines. We saw friends from wineries in Napa Valley there- tennis buddy Mike Beatty, from Howell Mountain Vineyards-- and made some new friends, too: pouring next to us was Jon Phillips, from Inspiration Wines, in Santa Rosa. It was a great turnout of about 750 members of the trade--retailers and distributors.

Our thanks to the many volunteers who helped make the event the success it was.
 

Mar 20, 2015 at 11:51 PM Permalink

The Film Independent Spirit Awards

On the afternoon before the Academy Award show, Ed and I were lucky to be invited to the Film Independent Spirit Award luncheon ceremony in a tent, at Santa Monica Beach. It was a beautiful, Southern California afternoon at the water's edge, where we enjoyed cocktails and hors d'oeuvres before the luncheon with movie stars like Adrian Brody and J.K. Simmons.

We then joined our table hosted by Amplify Digital Distribution Company, on whose board of directors Ed sits and of which he is a major investor. At our table was Kevin Iwashina, also of Amplify and agent of Preferred Content; Rinco Kikuchi, nominated for Best Female Lead for her role in Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter  (an Amplify film); and Sara Colangelo, nominated for Best First Screenplay for Little Accidents (another Amplify film).

Over the last 30 years, the Spirit Awards has been the premiere event honoring the achievements of independent filmmakers. Many of the films, directors, and actors that were nominated for Spirit Awards were the same ones that were nominated for Oscars the next evening, such as Patricia Arquette and Julianne Moore, Spirit Award winners for Best Female Lead and Supporting Female.

It was a lively ceremony, hosted by Fred Armisen (Portlandia and Saturday Night Live) and Kristen Bell (House of Lies and Veronica Bell). And the food was yummy too. Congratulations to the winners! Here are some of them:

BEST FEATURE: Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), Producers: Alejandro G. Inarritu, John Lester, Arnon Milchan, James W. Skotchdopole

BEST DIRECTOR: Richard Linklater, Boyhood

BEST SCREENPLAY: Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY: Justin Simiern, Dear White People

BEST FEMALE LEAD: Julianne Moore, Alice

BEST MALE LEAD: Michael Keaton, Birdman or (The unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood

BEST SUPPORTING MALE: J.K. Simmons, Whiplash

BEST DOCUMENTARY: CITIZENFOUR, Director/Producer: Laura Poitras, Producers: Mathilde Bonnefoy, Dirk Wilutzky

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM: Ida (Poland), Director: Pawel Pawlikowski

Mar 1, 2015 at 11:28 PM Permalink

San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition

What's a more romantic way to spend Valentine's Day than to pour our Vineyard {511} 2010 Diamond Mountain District Cabernet Sauvignon at the San Francisco Chronicle's Fort Mason? Ha Ha. The event is the largest competition of Amerian wines in the world and is an annual fundraiser for wine studies, viticulture and enology higher educational programs in California.

Just prior this public tasting, the SF Chronicle held its annual wine competition, which received 6417 entries from more than 28 states. Fifty-nine wine professionals from around the country judged the wines. Of this enormous number of entries, we are so proud to say that Vineyard {511} 2010 Diamond Mountain District Cabernet Sauvignon placed in the top 100 and won a silver medal. Yeah! Many of the winning wineries were among the 800 wineries pouring. Five thousand people attended the sold out event.

Mar 1, 2015 at 11:05 PM Permalink

Sundance 2015

Ed and I attended the Sundance Film Festival again this year, which ran from January 22 to February 1. We attended many films, and the favorite for both of us was the documentary The Best of Enemies about the explosive series of 10 televised debates between liberal Gore Vidal and conservative William Buckley. Both of these men were brilliant and witty, and delivered a no-holds-barred dialog about poliltics, religion and sex. Apart from this film and of the films that we saw at Sundance, we concluded that the Napa Valley Film Festival screened more uplifting and entertaining films.

An extremely interesting panel I attended called Power of Story: Serious Ladies at 2015 Sundance Film Festival, consisted of Lena Dunham (Girls), Mindy Kaling (The Mindy Project, The Office), Jenji Kohan (Orange is the New Black, Weeds), Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids, Saturday Night Live) and New Yorker critic Emily Nussbaum. It was quite hilarious to hear them explore the stereotypes of women in film and television. Kristin Wiig (picture) was especially funny. I had actually sat in back of her during the screening of Diary of a Teenage Girl, in which she played the immature mother of the teenage girl, earlier that same day at Sundance.

Feb 11, 2015 at 1:12 PM Permalink

Wine Tasting in Mendoza, Argentina

Ed and I celebrated part of the year-end holidays in Mendoza, in the heart of Argentina's wine-producing region, doing some serious wine tasting when we weren't hiking in the Andes. We stayed at the beautiful Cavas Wine Lodge, overlooknig 35 acres of vines at the foot of the magnificent, snow-capped Andes. At Cavas we had a wonderful Christmas eve dinner with the gracious owners of Cavas, Cecilia Diaz Chuit and Martin Rigal.

Our favorite wineries we visited were Vino Cabos, of which Sonoma winemaker Paul Hobbs is part owner, and Catena Zapata, which is housed in an amazing replica of a Mayan pyramid (picture). Our favorite wine at Catena was the 2012 Catena Alta Chardonnay.

Hiking the Andes was surely an experience with our guide Francisco. We had a picnic lunch in the middle of a clearing with horses looking on.

Jan 24, 2015 at 11:03 PM Permalink

Pouring Vineyard {511} Cab at Flavor Napa Valley and at SF Vintners' Market

Ed and I spent an entire weekend pouring our 2010 Vineyard {511} Diamond Mountain District Cabernet Sauvignon, at two wine events--Friday night at Flavor! Napa Valley, at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone, formerly the historic Christian Brothers Winery, in St. Helena; and Saturday and Sunday afternoons, at the San Francisco Vintners' Market, at Fort Mason, on the shore of San Francisco Bay, with incredible views of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge.

Flavor! Napa Valley's Grand Tasting event, also known as the Appellation Trail, drew over 100 Napa wineries and rock star chefs, such as Michael Chiarello and Thomas Keller. Wineries were grouped by appellation; we were paired with other Diamond Mountain District wineries- Wallis Family Estate (Edward Wallis pouring) and with Schramsburg-- and paired with delectible bites from Chefs Joe Panarello of City Winery, Stephen Barber of Farmstead and with Don Giavanni restaurant. Yum!

Early Saturday morning, we were off on a longer drive to San Francisco, to set up for the Vintners' Market, a wine tasting and buying event that drew over 200 wineries from Napa Valley, Sonoma County, Paso Robles, Santa Barbara and Russian River Valley. We chose to pour in the event's Cult Lounge, where only premiere wineries were pouring their wines, such as Chappellet, Lail, Plumbjack, Spring Mountain Vineyards, Twenty-Four by Charles Woodson Wines, and Miner Family. Luckily, daughter Kelly and son-in-law Jeff helped us pour at this two-day, very busy event.

Dec 7, 2014 at 11:54 AM Permalink