Eve’s Personal Comments
My new best friends were the owners of these private cellars: Steve Elzer, Roger Gertz, Priscilla and Warren Faubel and Les Hershberger. And my old best friends weren’t out done: Chris and Jeannie Carpenter, Roman Weiser, Robert Schwartz, Jeff and Joan Jacobson.
Old friends that I found: Nick Morello, formerly of Valencia Wine Company and Leona Valley Vineyards, now is just about to start at the new Terravan Wine Company in Buellton. John Kelley, formerly pouring for Raven Oaks, I introduced to Steve Lemley and Nate Hasper of Santa Clarita’s own Pulchella winery. Cathy Craig and Kristy Nuttal poured for Silkwood, Phillippe Halleux was at Transit Trade table, Chris Connolly along with Jenny and Tomas Lukas managed the Santa Clarita Valley Vintners and Growers offerings while owner of Wine 661, Tanya Green, hugged me across hers.
New friends serving wine: Michael Cobb, owner of Sort This Out Cellars, Victor Abascal, proprietor and winemaker for Vines on the Marycrest, Craig Butler winemaker for B & P Winery, the ladies of Midlife Crisis Winery and John Whitman of Old Creek Ranch Winery.
Friends having fun drinking wine: Steve C. dragged me from one table to another to try something…that I’d already had – while the same thing happened to my husband, Yelp friend Laura was far too pretty in person to immortalize with a photo in this column, Margie C. had her husband take photos of us that I’d like to see, Jeff J. cruised the room in sweet satisfaction, Dave B. introducing me the generous Les Hershberger, Rose W. enjoyed being mistaken for her sister and Diane G. kept us moving.
Wine and Food
The wines were Antelope Valley Winery, Antinori Wines, Baileyana Winery, Beringer Vineyards, The Brander Vineyard, Bridelwood Estate Winery, Candoni True Italian Wines, Chalk Hill Winery, Charles Krug Winery, Chateau St. Jean Winery, Chateau St. Michelle, Christian Lazo Wines, Clos Du Bois Winery, Consilience Winery, Demetria Estate, Estancia Winery, 4 M Estrella Creek Winery, Francis Ford Coppola Presents, Franciscan Winery, Gloria Ferrer Winery, Greg Norman Estates, Herzog Wine Cellars
J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines, Kenneth Volk Wines, Kim Crawford Wines, Laraneta Vineyards, Lava Cap, Leona Valley, MacMurray Ranch Winery, Martinelli Winery
Mezzacorona, Michael-David Winery, The Midlife Crisis Winery, Mionetto Wines
Murietta’s Well Winery, Old Creek Ranch Winery, Pedroncelli Vineyards, Pulchella (formerly Dragonfly) Winery, Quady Winery, Quintessa Winery, Renwood Winery, Robert Mondavi Winery, Rosenthal Malibu Estate, Rotari Winery, Sanford Winery, Simi Winery, Silkwood Wines, Sort This Out Cellars, Summerland Winery, Talley Vineyards, Tangent Winery, Vines on the Marycrest, Vintners Cellar Custom Winery and Wente Family Estates.
Merchants and distributors included All Corked Up, Bristol Farms Market, Constellation Wines U.S., Frank-Lin Beverage Co., Grape Crusader, Henry Wine Group, International Wines and Liquor, Prestige Wine Imports, Southern Wine and Spirits of Southern California, Strange Wines, Sunrise Spirits and Food Co., TGIC Wine Importers, Transat Trade, Valencia Wine Co., Vino 100, Wine 661, Whole Foods Market and Wine Warehouse.
Of special note are John Burton of Southern Wine & Spirits of Southern CA, and Kevin Byrne of Wine Warehouse, each of whom recruited 8 to 10 wineries whose wines their companies represent, to attend the Wine Classic and pour their outstanding libations.
The food was provided by Baskin Robbins, Bella Cucina, Bristol Farms, Castaic Lake Water Agency, Chocolate a la Carte, COC Culinary Arts students, Frankies NY Italian Restaurant, The Frosted Tier, Jasmine Thai Bar-be-que, Lima Limon Peruvian Cuisine, Mojitos, Peet’s Coffee & Tea, Persia Restaurant, Romano’s Macaroni Grill, RSVP Catering, Salt Creek Grille, Sam’s Flaming Grill, Stonefire Grill, Tea Zazz, Thelma’s Morning Cafe, Whole Foods Market and Wolf Creek Restaurant and Bar.
Chairs and Volunteers
Chairs of the event this year were Sue Bozman and Sally Angel, Wine chair, Jeff Jacobson, was supported by Joe Artusio, John Owens, Steve Cravitz and Skip Newhall.
Other volunteers who gave generously of their time: Janet Linahan who chaired the Restaurant Committee with help from Arlene Saretsky and Denise Maggio, Elena Chao and her husband Kirk Wong who organized and hosted the Vintners Dinner, Diana Ramirez who supervised the set up of the event, Linda Krantz and Erin Weideman who very successfully ran the Silent Auction.
Volunteers, under Volunteer chair Sue Stanger, also included many parents of students, the students themselves and numerous friends and family members who managed to get themselves press-ganged into helping throughout the day. The invaluable support of these individuals is critical to the event’s success.
Other areas of Recognition
Responsible for the perfect design and smooth maintenance of the Wine Classic’s web and online presence was John Green and Nick Pavik from College of the Canyons – their creative work is always superb! John McElwain provided his database expertise to ensure that we reached everyone who might possibly want to sample a few wines. Rounding out the marketing team, Jasmine Foster worked on outreach to the community obtaining sponsorships, auction items, advertising and other marketing support.
Music at the Vintners Dinner and while patrons are lining up to enter was provided by Chamber Groups from the Student Orchestras.
The Drew Jorgensen Trio featuring Drew Jorgensen, Matt Mayhall and Colin Burgess provided the live music for the event itself.
Tom Bwarie had a long line at his table all night, where he tirelessly engraved everyone’s wine glass. He drove up from his gift shop in Carlsbad, The Bwarie Gift Basket Company, having donated a beautiful gift basket, including Silver Oak and Twomey wines, engraved for the occasion.
One long-term participant at the Silent Auction is Andrew Weiss Gallery of Beverly Hills. They have supported the event for five years, each year donating a piece of fine art to the cause.
The SCV Youth Orchestra is a three-tiered instrumental education program that was founded at CalArts in 1969 and moved to College of the Canyons in 1989. The Wine Classic is a key fundraiser for this organization, which provides a positive and creative outlet for hundreds of young musicians throughout the Santa Clarita Valley.
http://www.scvwineclassic.org/wineries.html
SCV Wine Calendar this week:
Friday June 5: ANNUAL MEN’S NIGHT OUT BBQ, wine, beer and quality cigars, $100 per man, fundraiser for the Domestic Violence 661-259-8175, held at the private home of councilman Bob Keller 6-9pm, The Helen Laprairie Band at Valencia Wine Company (VWC) 8:30pm, Live Music with The Blue Baron Band All Corked Up (ACU) 7:30-10:30, Happy Hour at Wine 661 from 4-7pm and — Live Music 8-11pm, Courtyard by Marriott Santa Clarita (CM) $1.00 Drink Specials 5-7pm every night but Sunday, The Social Happy Hour 4-6pm.
Saturday June 6: LA Wine Fest Saturday and Sunday at the historic Raleigh Studios lawinefest.com 2-6pm, Cheyenne Tribe of YMCA Wine Tasting $25 per person: [email protected] 6-10pm, Jazz Duo Gerry and Lynn 8pm VWC, Live Music with Bedford Park ACU 7:30-10:30, $1.00 Drink Specials every night but Sunday CM 5-7pm.
Sunday June 7: LA Wine Fest Saturday and Sunday at the historic Raleigh Studios lawinefest.com 2-6pm, buy one glass of wine and receive the next for half price all day VWC, Lee’s Stimulus Package: buy one glass of wine and get the second for 5 cents Lee’s Wine Bistro Sundays and Mondays only, $10 Mimosas Wine 661 from 12-5pm and unlimited Champagne at Salt Creek Grille Sunday Jazz Brunch.
Monday June 8: Lee’s Stimulus Package: buy one glass of wine and get the second for 5 cents Lee’s Wine Bistro Sundays and Mondays only, Half Price bottle night on any wine under $100 at Salt Creek Grille, buy one glass of wine and receive the next for half price all day VWC, $3.50 flights at Vino 100, $1.00 Drink Specials every night but Sunday CM 5-7pm, Ladies Night at Wine 661 from 2-11pm and Happy Hour at 4-7pm.
Tuesday, June 9: Complimentary meat and cheese appetizer with the purchase of a glass of wine VWC 5-8pm, Happy Hour The Social 4-6pm, Girl’s Night Out/Men Welcome with Martinis $2 off, discounted appetizers, raffle every half hour for free movie tickets Salt Creek Grille 5-9pm, 40% off all bottles of wine at Wolf Creek, $1 tasting flight when you purchase a bottle at Vino 100 4-7pm, School Fundraiser Night 6-10pm ACU, $1.00 Drink Specials every night but Sunday CM 5-7pm, Happy Hour 1/2 price appetizers with two glasses of wine Vintner’s Cellar (VC) 4:30-6:30pm and Happy Hour at Wine 661 from 4-7pm.
Wednesday, June 10: Wine Tasting: The Wines of Washington and Oregon ACU 6-8pm, Wine experts pouring & Piano Bar every Wednesday at Bella Cucina Venetian on the Old Road 7-9pm, Bike Night with Drink & bar-b-que specials, live band and raffle at Route 66 Classic Grill, Wine-down Wednesday at Salt Creek Grille where wines are discounted by the glass, $1.00 Drink Specials every night but Sunday CM 5-7pm, Happy Hour 1/2 price appetizers with two glasses of wine VC 4:30-6:30pm and Happy Hour at Wine 661 from 4-7pm.
Thursday June 11: Bristol Farm’s new weekly wine and food tasting 6-8pm, free cigar w/wine VWC, Cavi Cucino no corkage, Teacher & School Staff Appreciation ACU 4-6pm and Wine & Dine 5-9pm, The Social Happy Hour 4-6pm, $1.00 Drink Specials every night but Sunday CM 5-7pm a Happy Hour, 1/2 price appetizers with two glasses of wine VC 4:30-6:30pm and Happy Hour at Wine 661 from 4-7pm.
Further details of these events and more can be found on my blog: http://evewine101.blogspot.com. In addition, if you have a wine-related event not listed just shoot me an e-mail: [email protected]
Eve Bushman- commentary
Eve Bushman is a local writer that specializes in writing about wine. You can find great articles by Eve on her blog at http://www.evewine101.blogspot.com or email her at [email protected]. Her commentaries represent her own opinions and not necessarily the views of any organization she may be affiliated with or those of the West Ranch Beacon. She is also now on Facebook!
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