This is a long video but I show up in the last third. Sabor Del Valle is an event we’ve done since it started and our favorite pouring event every year. I was happy to do the TV show. It aired last Sunday on NBC 11 in the Bay Area.
Dinner at Our Place
Every year we make a donation to the Washington Open School in Santa Clara. Usually we do a case of wine or a couple of magnums. Last year they asked if we could do something bigger so we offered a wine dinner at our home. The package was a four course dinner paired with our wines and we were told it brought in a huge bid. We had the winners over on Friday night and Stefania prepped the house and dinning room. We’re still trying to figure out what art to put in the living room so for right now the chalk boards to track football scores are in the space along with the banner for the Roller Girls.
We started in the living room and bar with some fresh fruit and a selection of cheese. I opened our unreleased 2010 Chardonnay and the just bottled 2012 Chardonnay. We wound through the what would be five courses and a dessert on the patio about 11PM. I started with a Caesar salad with grilled shrimp. Then Stefania had a soup and I followed that with lamb chops over cabbage and mushrooms in red wine. I added a few slices of home made sausage to the plate. We finished with Filet Mignon and summer squash.
We put a dent in the wines working through some unreleased wines and some from our library. I though the 2011 Nueva Casa de los Padres was the highlight. The 2006 Uvas Creek Cabernet Sauvignon was also really good and I was surprised that the 2012 Chardonnay wasn’t showing any bottle shock.
We really enjoy putting together dinners. Charity events are a rarity but for friends coming into town it’s something we try and pull together. It might not always be as many courses but it will always be something good!
Sabor Del Valle Recap
Friday night we poured wine at Sabor Del Valle for the second year in a row. We enjoyed this charity event last year and we were looking forward to doing it again this year. The event is at the San Jose History Park in Kelley Park and it was a beautiful evening. It just takes us 5 minutes or so to set up so Stefania got to go visit some of the other wineries:
There is really great food at this event and lots of seating which is very nice for a wine event. I really liked the fish empanadas.
There was also some really nice local art .
One of the highlights was this band that strolled through the park for the first hour of the event. Then there was more live music and dancing until well after sunset.
We had a great time again and look forward to doing this event again next year.
Sabor Del Valle
As most of you know we don’t do many events each year. We’ve completely stopped doing any commercial events except for Rock and Roll Wine in Las Vegas (more on that later this month). We do a few charity events. Our criteria is first that it’s a charity we believe in and want to support and second that it’s an event we’ll enjoy. Most that we do are to support the charities that are near and dear to personal friends.
Sabor Del Valle hits on all those counts. It is also a really great time. The food and music are fantastic and there are a number of small tequila makers there, which I really enjoyed sampling. It is also the largest gathering of Latino winemakers that I know of. Last year Mi Sueno and Ceja were too of the highlights for me to try.
This years event is Friday July 22nd at Kelly Park in San Jose. Start time is 6PM I believe.
Tickets and more information can be found at:
http://www.sabordelvalle.org/index.html
or on Facebook at:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100001304017240&v=info