When Dreams Become Reality
Hosts: Sherie Marek with Jacki & Max Guinn
Honored Vintner: Véronique Boss-Drouhin of Maison Joseph Drouhin in Beaune, France and Domaine Drouhin Oregon in Dayton, OR
Vintner: Suzanne Deal Booth of Bella Oaks in Napa, CA
Chef: Rogan Lechthaler of The Downtown Grocery in Ludlow, VT
NWWF’s honored vintner, Véronique Boss-Drouhin of Maison Joseph Drouhin, unites with vintner Suzanne Deal Booth of Bella Oaks to present wine pairings evocative of a globe-trotting trip to leading wine regions. The dinner takes you to Burgundy, Oregon, Napa and beyond. And, Boss-Drouhin will showcase the extravagance of her wines. “Just as Chanel No. 5 is always Chanel No. 5, we maintain that consistency and sophistication in each pour,” she says.
Deal Booth shores up the offerings with elegant expressions of her landmark cabernet, a minimal-intervention wine that reflects her organic and biodynamic care for the land at Bella Oaks. The wines pair with decadent small plates by Vermont chef Rogan Lechthaler, who is a master at finessing house-butchered meats and sustainably sourced seafood into memorable bites. His restaurant, The Downtown Grocery, treats every dinner service as an elaborate, intimate dinner party (only 10 to 16 guests per night) so he knows a thing or two about creating highly personalized, decadent suppers.
Balinese Orchid Garden
Hosts: Usha & Monte Ahuja
Vintners: Elisabetta Gnudi of Borgo Scopeto e Caparzo in Siena, Italy, and Marielle Cazaux of Château La Conseillante in Pomerol, France
Chef de Cuisine: Paul Bartolotta of The Bartolotta Restaurants in Milwaukee, WI
The 21st-story, Gulf-facing Seagate penthouse is pretty close to heaven as a venue for this vintner dinner. For the event, hosts Usha and Monte Ahuja evoke the feeling of being in a Balinese orchid garden at their stunning Naples property. Here, the two-time James Beard Foundation award-winner and NWWF Chef de Cuisine, Paul Bartolotta, showcases his signature culinary fashion, deftly melding traditional Italian with fresh Mediterranean seafood dishes.
Bartolotta, who cooked his way across Italy—from Sicily to the Alps—and has shared kitchens with international culinary greats, brings a decisive flair to the table with a symphony of flavors that highlights the best in the wines of two landmark European producers: Château La Conseillante and Borgo Scopeto e Caparzo.
The vintner is Marielle Cazaux of Château La Conseillante, a 29-acre property located in the Pomerol region outside Bordeaux. The winery is known for vinifying each of its 16 vineyard plots separately, resulting in wines full of finesse and suppleness with a rich bouquet of soft violets and earthy truffle.
Borgo Scopeto Wine & Country Relais—a dreamy estate dating back to the 11th century and the setting for the film Letters to Juliet—is home to Elisabetta Gnudi’s food-friendly Chianti Classico, a paragon of the Chianti style with bright fruit and mouth-cleansing acidity. (Gnudi also produces an excellent extra virgin olive oil that Bartolotta frequently employs.) The two houses, known for their traditions and innovations, are the ideal pairings for Bartolotta’s heritage-driven dishes, which pull from his deep expertise in 14 of Italy’s 20 regions. Bravo!
Fiori di Firenze
Hosts: Shelly & Ralph Stayer
Vintners: Christine & Salvatore Ferragamo of Il Borro Srl. in Tuscany, Italy
Chef: Tom Colicchio of Craft in New York, NY
NWWF 2024 chairs, Shelly and Ralph Stayer, go all out for their vintner dinner. Just look at who’s cheffing—culinary hero Tom Colicchio, head judge on Top Chef, owner of Craft in New York, and a touted forefather of New American and farm-to-table dining. Colicchio runs his restaurant group, fights against food insecurity (watch his and his wife’s A Place at the Table documentary) and makes specialty food products, in addition to contributing to other food friends. He’s more than prolific.
Vintners of the evening, Christine and Salvatore Ferragamo of Il Borro—a medieval Relais & Châteaux-turned-resort and winery in Tuscany—add to the cachet. After all, we are talking about the Ferragamo fashion family. Artisanship runs through their 30-year wine label, which blends technology and tradition (think optic grape sorters and horse-drawn plowing) to turn out structured, creative wines with an undeniable sense of place.
Fueled by the love of the land his father bought in 1993, Salvatore leads the creation of 12 organic labels, including the Petruna Anfora, made with indigenous Sangiovese grapes, aged in clay pots. The Ferragamo’s appreciation for craft and artistry is an apt fit for the Stayer’s 5-acre home, with its colorful gardens and stunning collection of contemporary art.
Tulips for Tomorrow
Hosts: Kelley & Jim Bailey with Sandi & Tom Moran
Vintners: Kelley & Jim Bailey of Knights Bridge Winery in Sonoma, CA
Chef: Philip Tessier of PRESS in St. Helena, CA
Part-time Naples residents Kelley and Jim Bailey play double-duty at the Tulips for Tomorrow dinner, co-hosting the event and pouring wines from their Knights Bridge Winery. Tony Award-winning Broadway producer Sandi Moran and her husband, Tom, amp up the fun, as co-hosts.
NWWF is near and dear to the Baileys’ hearts—the couple was introduced at the festival by NCEF trustees Valerie Boyd and Jeff Gargiulo eight years ago. The love comes through in each of their three labels, produced on the Baileys’ 100-acre, organically farmed estate, with an architectural masterpiece of a winery. The couple’s razor-sharp winemaking focus belies their personal dinner party style—laid-back and merry. Kelley promises an “awe-inspiring” evening with a menu by Philip Tessier, whose Michelin-starred PRESS Restaurant is 30 minutes from the Baileys’ winery in Sonoma.
Tessier—the first American to scale the podium at the world’s most prestigious culinary competition, Bocuse d’Or—plans to serve creative dishes like ricotta squash blossom gnudi with Parmesan consumé. “It is a pleasure to bring our cuisine and our sense of refined simplicity to Jim and Kelley’s home,” he says.
Planting Happiness for the Kids
Hosts: Nena & Bill Beynon at the ‘Man Cave’
Vintners: Ariel & Christopher Jackson of Vérité Estate in Healdsburg, CA
Chef: John Tesar of Knife & Spoon in Orlando, FL
The Beynons delight guests from the ‘Man Cave’ of NCEF lifetime trustees Laura and Jim Dixon. Here, you’ll enter a lair of life-sized animals (rest easy, creature lovers, the statues are all faux); supercars (you may spot their 50th anniversary Lamborghini Aventador Roadster, one of only 100 in the world); and one of the most extensive private wine cellars in Naples (they spent more than six months designing the wine room alone.)
Vintners Ariel and Christopher Jackson join in to pour Bordeaux-inspired red blends from their recently opened Vérité Estate—an extension of the family’s 1998-founded project, created to make a world-class Sonoma merlot. Drawing from four Sonoma appellations, the estate blends more than 50 micro-crus, harvested and fermented separately before aging in French oak barrels, resulting in three marvelous wines—La Muse, La Joie and La Désir.
Chef John Tesar, whose maverick- meets-fine dining style helped his restaurant Knife & Spoon earn a Michelin star—returns for his seventh year to NWWF. “I know the magnitude of this event and the hospitality and kindness of the people who attend, so when we come to Naples, we bring the best of what we have to offer,” he says. Menu highlights may include dry-aged beef (Tesar is one of the country’s foremost authorities on aged steaks) caviar, and, of course, plenty of surprises.
Secret Garden
Hosts: Jamie & John Brown with Julia Van Domelen at the home of Susan & Jim Pinkin
Vintners: Blakesley & Cyril Chappellet of Chappellet Vineyard in St. Helena, CA
Chef: Joey Edwards of Three Sisters at Blackberry Mountain in Walland, TN
The Brown and Van Domelen dinner ventures into an otherworldly atmosphere, evoking the mountains of Tennessee and the hills of Napa Valley. Culinary delights by Blackberry Mountain’s chef Joey Edwards are paired with library wines from Cyril and Blakesley Chappellet’s iconic Pritchard Hill estate. “Guests are in for a real treat,” Cyril says. “We’re popping the corks on wines from our library, dating back to 2006.”
The duo works exquisitely together. Chappellet is known for coercing power and complexity from grapes grown high on the Napa hills. Edwards demonstrates his carefully honed style, which showcases foraged ingredients from the Smoky Mountains through techniques that incorporate the rustic traditions of Eastern Tennessee into his fine dining repertoire—and plenty of wood-fired cooking. “We find fun ways to incorporate some smoky flavors into this dinner,” he says.
How Does Your Garden Grow?
Hosts: Shirlene Elkins with Susie McCurry at the home of Christine Stahl Lublin & Richard Lublin
Vintners: Nicolas Glumineau of Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande in Pauillac, France and Grace Evenstad of Domaine Serene in Dayton, OR and Château de la Crée in Burgundy, France
Chef: Ben Norton of Husk Nashville in Nashville, TN
Naples grand dames Shirlene Elkins and Susie McCurry unite three all-stars for their dinner. To start, the ladies partner with Grace Evenstad, an NCEF lifetime trustee and strong supporter of local nonprofits like Naples Botanical Garden. Evenstad’s Domaine Serene has led the charge on Oregon pinot noir since she founded the winery with her husband in the late ’80s. Following their love for pinot and Burgundian wines, the Evenstads acquired Château de la Crée in 2015, cementing the Evenstads’ position as top global pinot noir makers.
Just as Domaine Serene represents a pinnacle of winemaking in the U.S., Husk represents the culinary apex of the New South, with its unapologetic focus on ingredients from below the Mason-Dixon line, composed and plated with finesse. Chef Ben Norton—former executive chef at Charleston, South Carolina’s storied McCrady’s restaurant—exalts Southern flavors, weaving in exotic ingredients like Carolina conch peas and leaning into traditional practices (think heirloom husbandry and in-house pickling).
Dovetailing Norton’s heritage-driven cuisine, vintner Nicolas Glumineau of Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande pours wine with roots almost as deep as the winery’s history—the estate’s first vines were planted in the mid-1600s. The three labels’ aromatic expression reveals hints of peony and violet, blueberry and raspberry, and cedar, tobacco and licorice. “The wines of Pichon Comtesse have always expressed refinement, delicacy and suavity, in balance with the strength, the sharpness and the raciness due to Pauillac terroir,” Glumineau says.
In Bloom
Hosts: Debbi & Bill Cary with Kristine & Chris Williams
Vintner: Andy Erickson of Favia in Napa, CA
Chef: Nancy Oakes of Boulevard in San Francisco, CA
Love of wine and longtime friendships enter full bloom at the Carys’ and Williams’ dinner. James Beard Foundation award-winning San Francisco chef Nancy Oakes, who has attended NWWF since 2004 and was the 2022 Chef de Cuisine, prepares her sixth vintner dinner for friends Debbi and Bill Cary. “I want to surprise them,” Oakes says. That won’t be hard for the leader in modern American cooking.
After 30 years, her Boulevard restaurant remains a darling of San Francisco’s food scene, with plenty of Michelin and James Beard nods. While her dishes lean innovative and elegant, there’s a familiarity to her cooking, rooted in fresh, honest ingredients. “I don’t do tweezer food, and that could be in and of itself comforting,” she says.
You won’t see this chef toying with molecular gastronomy. Instead, expect a zestful homage to the wines from boutique label Favia Erickson Winegrowers. One of Napa’s most acclaimed wine couples, winemaker Andy Erickson and his wife, viticulturist Annie Favia, fell in love over grapes when they made their first wine together in 1995.
After cutting their teeth at heavy-hitter wineries, they started Favia in 1993 and built a reputation on their intense and fresh reds that bank on Coombsville’s bowled-in temps. Though it’s Napa’s newest appellation, designated in 2011, Coombsville is recognized by in-the-know critics to be among the most sophisticated and distinct.
In Bloom guests find plenty to love at this Port Royal dinner, which is nestled among tropical gardens and the mangrove-lined waterways of the surrounding community.
A Tropical Evening in Bloom
Hosts: Susan & Gary Garrabrant
Vintner: Pierre Lurton of Château Cheval Blanc in Saint-Émilion, France and Château d’Yquem in Sauternes, France
Chef: John Fraser of Lilac in Tampa, FL
Naples wine collectors Susan and Gary Garrabrant host an evening of art and ambiance among a Shangri La-esque subtropical paradise. You’ll return to the past in the wine- and art-loving couple’s charming Old Naples home, tucked away in the heart of the Historic District.
The home provides a sweet backdrop for sipping wines from a storied vintner. Established in the 19th century, Château Cheval Blanc is one of the most lauded wine producers in Bordeaux’s Saint-Émilion. Their wines have the highest possible Premier Grand Cru Classé (A) status. The estate also produces top-notch wine from Château d’Yquem in Sauternes, on a small hill that benefits from an exceptional micro-climate and terroir marked by warm, dry topsoil and clay subsoil with generous water reserves.
On the culinary front, chef John Fraser, of the Michelin-starred Lilac in Tampa, pairs plates that combine touches of comfort and approachability with fine dining decadence. The California native changed the American dining landscape by redefining the role of vegetables on the table. His style—like an expertly crafted wine—showcases the beauty that simple touches can elicit from nature’s bounty.
Watering the Vines of Hope
Hosts: Ashley & Adam Gerry
Vintner: Carlton McCoy of Lawrence Wine Estates in St. Helena, CA
Chef: Danny Grant of Maple & Ash in Chicago, IL
New NCEF trustees Ashley and Adam Gerry champion next-gen visionary talent with their feast. Steak master Danny Grant was the youngest chef to lead a restaurant to win a Michelin star when Chicago’s RIA took home the accolade in 2011 and again in 2012. When conceiving the innovative dishes for his many restaurants, Grant considers the wine pairings—an ideal match for vintner Carlton McCoy, who trained as a chef at The Culinary Institute of America before becoming one of the youngest Master Sommeliers at age 26 in 2013.
One of the four Black Master Sommeliers in the world, McCoy is also CEO of Lawrence Wine Estates, which carries a prestigious portfolio of Napa wineries, including Heitz Cellar, Burgess, Stony Hill, Brendel and Ink Grade. This spring, he added TV to his repertoire as host of CNN’s Nomad with Carlton McCoy, where he ventures to burgeoning enclaves for art, food, fashion and off-the-beaten-path culture.
Birds of Paradise
Hosts: Julia & Rob Heidt, Jr. with Barbie & Paul Hills
Vintner: Christopher Lynch of Opus One Winery in Oakville, CA
Chef: Markus Glocker of Koloman in New York, NY
Some of the best hosts in the city—the Heidts and the Hills—co-host this Copacabana Club-themed dinner at the Heidt’s Champney Bay-facing home. The wine room is the focal point in the dining area, where Christopher Lynch of Napa’s Opus One Winery can feel right at home pouring his cultish bottles. The winery, founded by powerhouses Baron Philippe de Rothschild and Robert Mondavi in 1978, produces a single Bordeaux-style blend based on cabernet sauvignon (Napa’s hero grape).
You’ll get another Euro-American one-two punch. Expect Austrian-born Markus Glocker, a Michelin-lauded chef who’s rubbed elbows with the likes of Gordon Ramsay, to meld Parisian creativity and Viennese tradition in his New York City restaurant, Koloman, which serves as an ode to Old World European cafe culture and New York vibrancy. You’ll be wowed by Glocker’s pitch-perfect French technique, imbued with wisps of nostalgia from his native Austria.
Everything’s Coming Up Roses
Hosts: Lin & Herb Henkel with Carol & Harry Rose
Vintners: Alycia Mondavi and Angelina Mondavi of Mondavi Sisters’ Collection in St. Helena, CA
Chef: Clay Conley of būccan in Palm Beach, FL
Hosts Lin and Herb Henkel, alongside Carol and Harry Rose, pair chef Clay Conley of Palm Beach’s būccan restaurant with California winemaking royalty, the four Mondavi sisters behind the Mondavi Sisters’ Collection of St. Helena, California.
Conley grew up on 30 acres in rural Maine, tending the land and eating what his family produced. This intimate evening is fitting for the bucolic bounty he brings to the table. The four-time James Beard Foundation award nominee unites rustic American classics, global flavors, progressive techniques and the highest-quality ingredients available. “I love big, bold flavors cooked over an open fire,” he adds. Conley complements the Modavi’s bottles with smoky flavors, with an emphasis on ingredients from South Florida producers.
The wines bring their own history as the sisters carry on the family legacy started by their great-grandparents, who purchased the Charles Krug winery at the end of Prohibition and set in motion the beginning of the great California wine production era. The sisters spent summers working the vineyards and learning about the revolutionary processes (cold fermentation, aging in French oak barrels) their grandfather introduced to the California scene. Today, the women craft limited-production wines in a modern style that builds on tradition.
Honeysuckle Hope for Tomorrow
Hosts: Valerie Boyd & Jeff Gargiulo with Nancy & Joe Masterson at the home of Mary & Bill Stone
Vintners: Alfred Tesseron of Château Pontet-Canet in Pauillac, France and Pym-Rae in Napa, CA and Valerie Boyd & Jeff Gargiulo of Gargiulo Vineyards in Oakville, CA
Chef: Tony Mantuano of Yolan in Nashville, TN
Libations headline this dinner at the seaside Gulf Shore Boulevard home of Mary & Bill Stone. NCEF trustees, seasoned vintners and Vintner Dinner co-hosts Valerie Boyd and Jeff Gargiulo uncork bottles from their Gargiulo Vineyards in Oakville, California at their dinner. Patience defines the couple’s winemaking approach, with minimal intervention, hand harvests and careful sorting yielding primarily cabernet sauvignons that are at once lush and refined.
Meanwhile, Alfred Tesseron—of Château Pontet-Canet in Pauillac, France and Pym-Rae in Napa—wows guests with the family’s cabernet and cognac, each as enthralling in story as flavor. “People get to experience the different vintages and witness the evolution of the properties,” Alfred’s son, Noé, says. “Napa is the best place to grow cabernet, which is what we love to work with.”
To complement, Tony Mantuano plates robust flavors from Italy. The chef made Spiaggia one of Chicago’s most award-winning restaurants and recently took his talents to Nashville with the opening of the Italian-centric Yolan. This dinner promises bites representative of his deft style that coaxes the soul of Italy from local ingredients onto plates that sing with seasonality and sense of place. Don’t be surprised if a Grammy-honored musician makes an appearance, too. The Gargiulos always deliver a highly musical experience.
Among the Wildflowers
Hosts: Jerri & David Hoffmann with Shirley & Peter Welsh at the NGALA Wildlife Preserve
Vintners: Blandine de Brier Manoncourt and Frédéric Faye of Château-Figeac in Saint-Émilion, France and Carissa Mondavi and Chiara Mondavi of Continuum Estate in St. Helena, CA
Chef: Brad Kilgore of MaryGold’s Brasserie in Miami, FL
Trustees Shirley and Peter Welsh and Jerri and David Hoffmann collaborate for an unforgettable evening. The wine list includes selections from Château-Figeac. The wine estate, in the Saint-Émilion appellation of Bordeaux, is one of two châteaux to carry the highest rank in the official classification of Saint-Émilion wine. Château-Figeac is among the largest estates in Saint-Émilion, comprising 133 acres in one block. The unique ecosystem, with a canopy of massive oak trees, gives refuge to various sparrows, blackbirds and rare bats. It’s a serene land with a gravel terroir that produces a wine so great that literary humorist Pierre Desproges once wrote that “just looking at it makes you believe in God.”
The evening also features wines from California’s Continuum Estate, an ongoing evolution of the Mondavi family’s 100-year journey in wine with a single bottle—a blend of cabernet varietals that grow on Pritchard Hill in the Vaca Mountains. For dinner, celebrated chef Brad Kilgore—a James Beard Foundation award finalist who heralds from Kansas City and now runs the lauded MaryGold’s Brasserie in Miami—prepares progressive American riffs with the same panache as an artist approaching a canvas. Every bite of his food is reminiscent of a classic but expressed through a wealth of ingredients that demonstrates how Kilgore reinvents dishes. You’ll engage all the senses in this elegant bounty.
Through the Grapevine
Hosts: Anne Welsh McNulty with Beth & Jeff Wessel
Vintners: Amanda Harlan of Harlan Estate in Oakville, CA and Maud Rabin of Rare Champagne in Champagne, France
Chef: David Nayfeld of Che Fico in San Francisco, CA
To set the scene at Anne Welsh McNulty and Beth and Jeff Wessel’s dinner, vintner Maud Rabin uncorks her Rare Champagne masterpiece. The winery traces its history to Florens-Louis Heidsieck, who set out to make a Champagne fit for a queen and presented his first cuvée to Marie Antoinette in a diamond- and lapis-studded golden bottle in 1785. The cachet hasn’t faltered since. Birthed as the prestige label of Piper-Heidsieck in 1976, the B Corp-certified winery only produces during years with exceptional harvests. At Through the Grapevine, Rabin shares the Rare Rosé Millésime 2014—the 14th vintage released in the house’s 40-year history.
Meanwhile, longtime NWWF attendee Harlan Estate brings next-gen vintner Amanda Harlan to pour the family-run winery’s cult bottles, with plenty of perfect-100 Robert Parker scores. The California first-growth estate set the bar for Napa cabernet sauvignon that’s intense and rich, with dark fruit notes and a lush, supple finish.
The flavors pair well with the dinner’s Michelin-pedigreed chef’s fresh take on Italian cuisine. David Nayfeld, who is also a certified sommelier, shares Rabin and Harlan’s oenophile language. The recently recognized James Beard Foundation Outstanding Chef is known for his “Italian food through a California lens,” translating to bright versions of comfort foods, like green lasagna with duck ragù and 24-month-aged Parmesan. The name of his restaurant, Che Fico, roughly translates to ‘that’s cool.’ Yes, it is.
Dandelion Dreams…Every Dream Begins with a Wish!
Hosts: Stephanie & Fred Pezeshkan with Adria & Jerry Starkey
Vintner: Alessia Antinori of Marchesi Antinori Srl. in Tuscany, Italy
Chef: Matteo Lorenzini of Osteria di Passignano in Florence, Italy
As longtime Neapolitans, the Pezeshkans and Starkeys sowed the seeds for the future through their ventures (the couples are behind the progressive Metropolitan Naples development). Now, the friends unite for this dinner to spread good wishes like dandelion puffs.
First, there’s chef Matteo Lorenzini, who helped Le Tre Lune earn a Michelin star a decade ago—before the chef was 30. Lorenzini orbited within the Alain Ducasse galaxy for years in France before returning to his native Italian soil to helm the kitchen at the Antinori-owned Osteria di Passignano in 2021. His dishes—which rely on ingredients that honor Tuscan tradition (from land to sea) in a thoughtful, next-generation way—are as beautiful as they are delicious.
Creations like his black-as-night squid with risotto pair elegantly with Marchesi Antinori, the kings of Tuscan wine. The winery traces its history to 1385, with vineyards throughout the Tuscan region (and in Napa with Antica Napa Valley). Next-gen heir Alessia Antinori opens her premium portfolio for this special dinner. Pay particular mind to Antinori’s Super Tuscans, which fueled the revolution for the style in the 1970s. We would expect no less for the hosting couples.
Kissed by a Rose
Hosts: Amy & John Quinn with Dena Rae Hancock & P. Robert Caito
Vintners: Kary & David Duncan of OVID Napa Valley in St. Helena, CA
Chef: Dustin Valette of Valette in Healdsburg, CA
Few Port Royal estates provide a better site for entertaining than the former home of Naples doyenne Lucille Drackett. The European-inspired home, now owned by philanthropic powerhouses Amy and John Quinn, charms with its stone walls, elegant arches and expansive grounds overlooking the bay. Fellow highflyers Dena Rae Hancock and P. Robert Caito elevate the evening as co-hosts.
Dustin Valette, who mastered his culinary chops under the lauded likes of James Beard Foundation award winners Charlie Palmer, Thomas Keller and Michael Mina, prepares the feast. The chef draws from his California roots (his great-grandfather settled in Sonoma in the 1820s) and knack for wine (his Valette Wines focus is on small-production vintners).
He’ll be in good company with Kary and David Duncan of OVID Napa Valley. The Duncans form part of the dream team—including Favia’s Andy Erickson, David Abreu (who worked everywhere from Harlan to Screaming Eagle) and famed wine consultant Michael Rolland—that shaped OVID over the years. The label’s name pays tribute to the Roman poet of Metamorphoses and speaks to the spirit of excellence and innovation powering the outfit.
Flower Power, Love, Hope and Generosity
Hosts: Betsy Ryan & Patrick Zenner with Karen & Dale Medford
Vintners: Shari & Garen Staglin of Staglin Family Vineyard in Rutherford, CA
Chef: Michael Schwartz of Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink in Miami, FL
The hosts have more than a few treats in store—including some of the most sought-after vintners to attend the festival. As one of the longest-standing NWWF partners, the Staglin Family Vineyard of Rutherford, California, generates massive proceeds with their wine lots (last year, a lot with a vertical of their wines went for a whopping $1 million). The Staglin Family Vineyard has raised approximately $1.2 billion for philanthropic efforts since purchasing the vineyards in 1985, including $7 million for NCEF.
Chef Michael Schwartz is no stranger to deliciously moving communities forward, either. The Philadelphia-born chef was raised on TV dinners and microwaveable food, but a high school job as a busboy in one of Philly’s upscale restaurants set him on a path toward becoming a James Beard Foundation award-winning chef, restaurateur and cookbook author. Now, the Miami resident and owner of The Genuine Hospitality Group opens projects—often in neighborhoods way before their time—that anchor revitalization efforts (such as Michael’s Genuine in 2007 in what is now the Miami Design District). His menus focus on his interpretation of modern comfort food, built on fresh seasonal ingredients and warm hospitality. For this dinner, the chef offers his take on inspiration and hope through an orchestration of dishes to pair with the Staglin wines. Truly, what’s not to love?
