THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 20, 1995 TAG: 9508160049
SECTION: FLAVOR PAGE: F7 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: HUMBLE STEWARD
SOURCE: JIM RAPER
LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines
IT SEEMS AS though the Chesapeake Bay Wine Classic has been around forever.
The weekend extravaganza unfolds each fall in Virginia Beach and Norfolk as though it were a mature affair honed by decades of trial and error.
But the Classic in October is only the fifth. This can be taken as a tribute to the organizing committee of wine businesspeople and connoisseurs who got the affair off to a sterling start in 1991 and have made it bigger and better each year.
This fall's edition will include the traditional preview reception and auction Saturday, Oct. 14, and tasting session and seminar Sunday, Oct. 15.
There also will be two new events.
On Thursday, Oct. 12, Patrick Duffeler and his Williamsburg Winery will host an upscale wine dinner for 60 guests. The meal will be planned and executed by Duffeler, his staff, and chefs from Johnson & Wales University in Norfolk.
Neither the dishes nor the wines to be served have been announced, but when the folks behind the Classic promise a ``spectacular'' table, I can expect no less than the dining experience of the year in Southeastern Virginia.
Tickets for the kickoff dinner, which are $200 apiece, can be purchased only by individuals or businesses that are Auction Sponsors or Friends of the Classic. (These designations require donations.)
Prior to the tasting and seminar Sunday, a brunch with wine importer Robert Kacher will be at the Town Point Club in Norfolk.
Kacher was cajoled into coming to the Classic by local restaurateur Joe Hoggard and wine merchant Peter Coe, both of whom have traveled with the importer in France during the past 12 months. Kacher has made an international name by ``discovering'' good-value wines from small French producers, and he will pour some of these wines at the brunch.
The brunch, from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m, will be presented by the Town Point Wine Club, in conjunction with the executive committee of the Classic. Tickets are $60.
To get tickets for most events, call WHRO at 489-9476 (proceeds from the Classic go to public broadcasting in Hampton Roads). For kickoff dinner tickets, call Robert Stanton, chairman of the Classic, at 627-1961, or Liz Rountree, the promoter, at 422-8778.
But, Saturday's preview reception and auction - the signature bash of the Classic - is sold out. Organizers agreed to increase the number of tickets from 480 last year to 560 and, still, all are sold.
Those who have tickets can expect the return of exhuberant auctioneer Ursula Hermacinski, the head of Christie's United States wine departments in San Francisco.
The event will be under tents on the lawn of the Stanton home at Bayville Farms in Virginia Beach.
The reception, which begins at 1 p.m., will be catered by Taste Unlimited. New this year will be offerings from regional guest chefs.
There will be a silent auction as well as a live auction. The lots will include dinners, vacations and gift baskets of food, in addition to fine wines. Among the wine lots already secured are cases of Chateau Mouton-Rothschild 1982, Chateau Margaux 1989 and Caymus 1990 Cabernet Sauvignon Special Selection Napa Valley.
Tickets are available, for $20 in advance and $25 at the door, for the Sunday tasting and seminar from 1 to 5 p.m. at the Norfolk Marriott.
Kevin Zraly, one of the nation's premier wine educators, will reprise his role as the guest seminar speaker at the first Classic. Zraly's appearance will be sponsored by the Bordeaux Wine Bureau. Those at that first seminar will remember how enjoyable his tasting challenges can be.
Of course, there will be hundreds of wines to be tasted at the booths set up by wine distributors and producers in the hotel's ballroom. The selection of wines is always incredible, too many to taste, and the personnel staffing the booths can be depended upon to be both eager and able to discuss the wines they pour. All of this makes the Classic's afternoon of tasting the most educational of wine events in the area.
As a final note, if you would like to support the Classic by donating wine for the auction, call Stanton or Rountree. Private donations of rare and interesting wines have done much to make the auction the great attraction it is. MEMO: The Humble Steward is a biweekly feature of Sunday Flavor. Send
questions or comments to: The Humble Steward, Sunday Flavor, The
Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star, 150 W. Brambleton Ave., Norfolk,
Va. 23510. If possible, give complete label information when naming
wines, and list the vintage year. Please include your name and phone
number. by CNB