Cooking for the Napa Valley Wine Auction

[Michael Chiarello Blog Feed]

The 28th Annual Napa Valley Wine Auction was upon us last week. And after raising more than $78 million dollars to date for local charities (my favorite is Clinic Ole' (http://www.clinicole.org/) , serving our hispanic and farming working families with amazing and affordable or free health care), this year we raised an additional $10.35 million! This event is the most successful wine auction in the world. Each year I find myself doing at least one dinner and supporting the auction with a significant live auction item. Last year we partnered with Staglin Family Vineyard (http://www.staglinfamily.com/) for a $1.1 million auction lot that included dinner by me, and a trip to Modena Italy to pick up a Ferrari for a wonderful trip through the old country. How do you top that? Well, this year Rich Frank (past Disney bigwig, owner of Frank Family Vineyards (http://www.frankfamilyvineyards.com/index.jsp) and a good friend) asked if I would cook a dinner for himself and a few of his media friends. Among the guests were Steve McPherson (President of ABC Entertainment) (http://www.abcmedianet.com/executive/mcpherson.shtml), and Steve brought with him a good friend from Chicago... Oprah Winfrey! (http://www2.oprah.com/index.jhtml) Taking a break with Rich Frank and Oprah I thought you would enjoy seeing what menu I created for the group, and what wines we enjoyed. I cooked this meal with Nick Ritchie and Joel Hoachuck (Chef and GM of my new restaurant in Yountville...opening this fall). The small dinner took place in the historic barrel room of Frank Family Vineyards (http://www.frankfamilyvineyards.com/index.jsp) north of St. Helena, in a candle-lit room surrounded by giant old wooden wine tanks. We cooked hard, but kept it real and clean, starting with a demonstration of fresh-made mozzarella, and including table-side carving of heirloom pork Porchetta . The entire group had been at the barrel auction all day long, and I wanted to make sure that my food put them at ease and allowed them to thoroughly relax into the evening. The wines included an incredible Frank Family Cabernet called Promise, made by Steve McPherson. We also sipped a Chiarello Vineyards Giana Zinfandel (http://chiarellovineyards.com/ourwines/index.html) , which was paired with Zinfandel pasta cooked in the same wine, and an incredible Frank Family Port. The big reds were decanted using our Amalfi Wineglass Decanter. (http://www.napastyle.com/catalog/pro...productId=3119 parentCategoryId=518 categoryId=668 subCategoryId=668)See the entire menu here (http://www.michaelchiarello.com/blog...ion_Dinner.pdf) .It was so gratifying to see such a socially generous gal such as Oprah, supporting the little Napa Valley! She is even more gracious and warm in person, and it was a true lifetime honor for me to serve her with the gifts of my craft. Hope you enjoy the menu. Salute!

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[Food Network Fan]

I should have bought the Chiarello Zinfindel at Kroger when I saw it. I didn't see it this last time, it must have sold quickly. I am going to try and go on the day the truck runs and talk to the delivery man. He spends a long time sorting the wines and I can usually catch him. He will usually be able to get anything I ask for if you catch him while he's there.
I found a box (yeah I know but it's nice when I just want a single glass in the evening because it keeps longer) of Pinot Noir today. Shiraz, Zinfindel and Pinot Noir are my personal favorites. Someone should develop a small barrel that would fit in the wine fridge and it would be better that the whole "box" stigma.

I am getting my husband to try more of a variety now. When we first started dating all he would drink is Lambrusco, and was more of a beer drinker. But he has started trying more reds and he has found several he likes. He still won't drink any white wines, I am working on him though.