From Hollywood to Vine with Vineyard {511}
Adventures in Wine, Food, Film and Travel
Napa Valley Film Festival Tribute Night
On Friday night, Access Hollywood's Billy Bush hosted the Napa Valley Celebrity Tributes to recognize the outstanding achievements of established actors and filmmakers, as well as rising stars. The BVisionary award was presented to screen-icon Kevin Costner (who was introduced by his buddy Bill Paxton), and the Domaine Chandon Rising Star award honored Jeremy Jordon. An additional tribute was presented to Michele Monagan. Before each star came on stage, film clips from many of the actors' films were shown. The number of fabulous films that Kevin produced, directed and always acted in was incredible!
We had actually seen his most recent wonderful film, Black or White, which he both produced and in which he starred, the night before. He played a successful attorney, who has to fight for custody of his African-American granddaughter after his wife is killed in a car crash. He and his late wife had taken care of the little girl since birth after their daughter dies in childbirth.
After the Celebrity Tributes, Ed and I headed over to the etoile restaurant at the winery Domaine Chandon, in Yountville, where patrons of the Festival toasted the honorees at a private dinner. Ed and I were so lucky to be seated next to Kevin Costner and his beautiful wife Christine Baumgartner. Kevin was charming and extremely articulate about subjects diverse as hunting, vegetarianism, drugs, football, family, and film.
The dinner of Maine Lobster Bisque, paired with etoile Rose; Braised Short Rib, paired with Domaine Chandon Cabernet Sauvigon, Mt. Veeder 2010; and Honey Olive Cake, paired with Chandon Delice; was terrific too.
Truly a night to remember!
Nov 22, 2014 at 9:09 PM
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Pouring Vineyard {511} at Breeders' Cup Taste of the World
We recently poured our Vineyard {511} 2010 Diamond Mountain District Cabernet Sauvignon at the Breeders' Cup "Taste of the World," a food and wine/beer/cocktail extravaganza held in a hugh tent at the Huntington Library, in tony San Marino. The event followed the first day of the Breeders' Cup, horse racing's glamourous international event. Two days of championship races and over $26 million in prize money attract the best horses from the U.S. and around the world including Europe, South America, and Asia.
The Huntington Library includes legendary gardens, which are populated with everything from massive succulents to lovingly-pruned roses, and Japanese and Chinese pavillions. Inside the Library, we were able to enjoy a massive art collection. The current exhibition includes thirty rarely-seen masterworks from its vast collection of American drawings and watercolors.
Each winery was paired with one of Los Angeles's best restaurants. We were lucky to be next to Austrian BierBeisl (formerly of Berverly Hills and soon to re-open on the Westside and Downtown L.A.), where talented young chef Bernhard Mairinger served up the best meatballs I've ever tasted.
Nov 8, 2014 at 8:16 PM
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Dinner at Harvest
Ed and I recently returned from Boston, Massachusettes, where we not only visited the extremely interesting and beautiful JFK library and walked the Freedom Trail, but also ate at Harvest Restaurant in Cambridge. The food there was worthy of its name, as we were served the freshest of farm-to-table ingrediants. Our favorite dish was an amazing and moist venison paired with the best wine we drank in Boston-- a 2009 Peter Michael Ma Danseuse Pinot Noir. It was so fitting to eat at the terrific Harvest, while back home in Napa Valley, we had just completed our own terrific harvest of our 2014 Diamond Mountain District Cabernet Sauvignon.
We ate at other restaurants too, but couldn't resist the lobster roll (of course, not the only lobster we ate in Boston) at the restaurant called Mooo, in our hotel XV Beacon -- a great, award-winning boutique hotel, right across the street from the Boston Commons.
Oct 30, 2014 at 9:40 PM
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Vineyard 511 Harvest Party
Vineyard {511} celebrated its harvest of 2014 Diamond Mountain District Cabernet Sauvignon with a harvest party for its esteemed customers. Napa Valley Crust rolled up in a vintage 1946 truck in mint condition repleat with the hottest of hot pizza oven, from which NV Crust owners Betty and Aldo Nunez made and served delicious salads, caprese skewer appetizers, and pizza topped with the freshest produce and specialty meats from Fatted Calf and others, fresh mozzarella, ricotta, tomatoes, fresh basil and spinach, baby arugula, roasted corn and veggies and on and on. Chef Irene added to the menu with her specialty appetizers: crinkle potato chips topped with nova scotia lox and creme fraiche, and deviled eggs; and for dessert Itsit ice cream bars, strawberries and cream and cookies. And all afternoon we poured our 2010 Vineyard {511} Cabernet Sauvignon and our winemaker Rob Lloyd's 2012 Chardonnay. Yum!
A highlight of the afternoon was a drawing for a 3-bottle vertical of Vineyard {511} Diamond Mountain District Cabernet Sauvignon in a wooden box. Newlywed Rita Burris was the lucky winner!
Check out these harvest party pictures courtesy of Jeff Nicola and Joe Schmitt: Vineyard {511} 2014 Harvest Party
Oct 24, 2014 at 8:45 PM
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Jiro Dreams of Sushi
David Gelb, the director of the super successful documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi (for which Ed was an Executive Producer), just sold a docu-series about other famous chefs to Netflix. Jiro, about an 85-year-old sushi chef, whose three-Michelin-starred restaurant in a Tokyo subway, was 30-year-old Gelb's first feature. The terrific film was about Jiro's striving for perfection and about his 50-year-old sushi chef son wondering when his father would retire so he could take over the restaurant. (The younger son, knowing he would never take over, opens his own sushi restaurant in another part of Tokyo.) It was also the restaurant to which Prime Minister Abe of Japan took President Obama right off of Airforce One upon Obama's arrival in Japan.
Ed and I are looking forward to seeing Gelb's other documentaries about talented chefs and their stories creating mouth-watering food in exotic locations. Bon appetit!
Sep 25, 2014 at 11:52 PM
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2014 Harvest by Moonlight
Thursday night (Sept 18), we watched as vineyard workers harvested our grapes at 9:00 pm. That was the first time since our first harvest in 2008 that the harvest was done at night. Although the moon and stars were out, it was the flood lights reflecting off of the workers (who also had night lights on their heads), that made this harvest a ghostly experience.
Of course, it wouldn't have been the successful harvest that it was, had it not been for our 21-month old grandson, Ian, checking to see if the grapes were ready for harvest. He had the magic touch.
Sep 25, 2014 at 11:51 PM
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San Francisco Wine & Food Society Dinner
On Monday, September 8, Ed and I were invited by our good San Francisco friends Peter Rossler and Belinda Irons, to a lovely black-tie dinner sponsored by the San Francisco Wine & Food Society, at Jardiniere restaurant, in the Civic Center area of San Francisco. Ed certainly looked splendid in his tux! The San Francisco Wine and Food Society is a charter member of the the International Wine & Food Society and hold a dozen or so such dinners throughout the year including, I'm told, a less than black-tie event to watch the '49ers on TV.
The Society has built a nice-sized cellar (6000 plus bottles) from which the wines poured and paired with the various courses at dinner are sources. Among others poured that night was a 2007 Radio Coteau Pinot Noir "La Neblina," from the Sonoma Coast, which paired nicely with the bigeye tuna and chanterelles and butterbeans. For dessert we had a 2009 Arrowood, Late Harvest Riesling "Saralee's Vineyard," from Sonoma's Russian River Valley.
Sep 25, 2014 at 11:38 PM
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Lunch in the Grove at Lynmar Winery
On a lovely Saturday afternoon, Ed and I attended a tour, tasting and luncheon at Lynmar Winery, in Sebastopol, California, guests of owners Lynn and Anissa Fritz, along with other members of the Family, of which Ed and Lynn are also members. Lynn led us on a tour of Lynmar's extensive vineyard and its fantastic, colorful vegetable garden (see photo), of which we were all so envious. We sampled Lynmar's 16-year-old balsamic vinegar right out of its barrels; the balsamic was made at Lynmar over all of the 16 years and tasted like candy.
A delicious lunch consisted of salads, chicken and cookies from many ingredients grown at Lynmar. Lynmar Chardonnay and Pinot Noir served with lunch were fabulous too.
Sep 25, 2014 at 11:35 PM
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Napa Valley Film Festival Parties in a Silicon Valley Mansion
On November 11, the Napa Valley Film Festival gave Silicon Valley a first look at what the Festival has in store November 12-16, 2014. This preview party was held at the Morgan Estate, in Los Altos Hills, CA, an incredible mansion, that looked like it belonged to an English duke. Festival Founders Brenda and Marc Lhormer presented a preview of the 2014 Festival program and a taste of the Patron Circle experience with rare library wines from Napa and Bordeaux by Benchmark Wine Group, hand-crafted cocktails by Scott Beattie of Meadowood Napa Valley, and mouth-watering cuisine from Estate Events by Meadowood.
As a special bonus, filmaker Kelly Cox presented an excerpt from her new film Big Dream, which explores the lives of young women who've been inspired to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math. Big Dream will have its world premiere at this year's Festival in November and show in Napa Valley high schools.
News Flash: the Festival's Celebrity Tribute honoree will be none other than Kevin Costner, who brings his provocative new film Black and White to screen on Thursday, November 13, and will participate in the post-screening Q&A with director Mike Binder. On Friday, Billy Bush (who MC'd the evening's program), will host a wide-ranging conversation with Kevin avout his career as actor, director, producer. Following the Celebrity Tributes, Patrons will continue the celebration at Jean-Charles Boisset's Raymond Vineyards. Mike Myers is also attending the Festival with Shep Gordon, super talent agent and subject of Mike's hilarious and touching documentary Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon. Also screening at the Festival is The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her & Him, starring Jessica Chastain and James McAvoy, and Imitation Game, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley, which just won the Toronto Film Festival Audience Award.
Hope to see you at this year's marvelous festival!
(Billy Bush Photo: Courtesy of Napa Valley Film Festival)
Sep 25, 2014 at 11:15 PM
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Dinner for 700 in Calistoga
Can you imagine a dinner for 700 people stretching a quarter of a mile down the main drag of Calistoga? Well, wonder no more. On Sunday evening, September 7th, Ed and I were invited by our generous nextdoor neighbors, Suzie and Norm Kiken, of the wonderful Reverie Winery (first two on left in photo), to the Calistoga Harvest Table. The event was sponsored by the Calistoga Chamber of Commerce, and the table stretched all the way down Lincoln Boulevard, which was closed to vehicle traffic.
Fifteen fine restaurants along Lincoln Boulevard sold tickets to a fixed-price dinner, at the table situated in front of that restaurant. We dined at Brannan's, where executive chef Rob Lam (also the executive chef at Butterfly, on the Embarcadero, in San Francisco), provided an over-the-top delicious meal with four starters (my favorite being Tory Farms peach salad), four platters of main dishes (my favorite being seafood paella topped with soft-shell crab), and a decadent dessert of warm chocolate pot de creme, consisting of Vietnamese coffee and five spice chantilly. We were drinking Rombauer 2013 Chardonnay and the Flowers 2012 Pinot Noir, both of which went well with the delicious meal.
We hope this classy outdoor happening becomes an annual event!
(Photo: Calistoga Tribune)
Sep 25, 2014 at 11:14 PM
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