decanted details
Celeb chef dinners and epic wine trips available at Southern Smoke auction
Our Wine Guy is teaming up with Gail Simmons for a very special dinner.
What’s happening, team! The biggest weekend of the year is here! Southern Smoke Decanted happens this Saturday.
This weekend, more than 50 winemakers descend on our city to help raise funds for folks in the food and beverage industry in crisis — both through access to mental health services or emergency relief funding. This industry has been there to take care of us when we are celebrating, hosting business dinners, and simply helping us out when we are having a bad day need to post up at the bar. These are the folks that donate to your kids’ baseball team, when your charity needs a dinner, or are the first people to jump in and help their community out when tragedy strikes.
We need to make sure that we are taking care of them just as we are asking them to take care of us. You never really know what’s going on with your favorite bartender, cook, busser, or server when you don’t see them for a while. We love them, so let’s take care of them because they matter.
So how can you get involved, you ask? Well, I’m going to tell you right about now! The event itself is sold out, but the auction is BADASS. Do you like wine? Do you like trips? Do you like hanging out with me???
If you want to place a proxy bid for the live auction, it’s easy! Please register at this link (there is a button that says "Log In" in the upper right corner, that will register you!) and email victoria@southernsmoke.org the lot number of the live auction item and your maximum bid amount. All proxy bids must be placed by 12 pm on Friday, April 19. You will be notified if you are the winner after the event on April 20!
Once you’re registered, you can bid on anything in the silent auction as well! The silent auction is live now and will end on Tuesday, April 22, so you have plenty of time for those items.
Here is one live auction item that is a home run, maybe even a grand slam.
Lot #309: A Starkly Different Wine Trip
- Three night stay for six people at the Mark Gunn House in downtown Yountville
- Chef's tasting menu for six at The French Laundry
- Lunch for six hosted by Stark Advantage at Brasswood
- Private reserve tasting and lunch at the Frias estate
- Super exclusive dinner for six in a wine cave, cooked by Chris Shepherd! Yep, that’s me!!
- Private tours and tastings at the following wineries (all of which will also be donating a magnum or equivalent!): Pahlmeyer, Harumph, Blackbird, Tobias, Dakota Shy, Amlés, and Adversity with Russell Bevan
- Driving service for three days from Perry's Wine Tours in a Mercedes Sprinter van
I mean that is outstanding! How about another one? Check this one out, because it’s at our house and will be one hell of an experience.
Lot #310: Two Celebrity Chefs, Two Rock Star Winemakers, One Dinner
- Dinner Party for eight people in Chris Shepherd and Lindsey Brown's Home
- Wines provided by Jasmine Hirsch of Hirsch Vineyards and Michael Cruse of Cruse Wine Co.
- Food prepared by Gail Simmons and Chris Shepherd (yep that me)
And for one more! We are gonna kick it root down. This one is special.
Lot #314: So how we gonna kick it? Gonna kick it root down...
- Three night stay for four people at Paradigm Winery’s guest accommodations near their Oakville Estate
- Tour and tasting at Matthiasson
- Tour and tasting at Spottswoode Winery
- Tour, picnic, and tasting at Robert Sinskey Vineyards’ new Wilding Farm
- Tour and tasting at Dalla Valle
- Tour and tasting at Paradigm
- Dinner for four at Slanted Door
This is just a handful of the live auction items, and there is an absolutely fantastic silent auction that you can bid on at any time between now and next Tuesday. So much wine and even a stay at the fantastic Blackberry Farm! You are going to be in a bidding war with me on that!
If you are in the need for a fantastic wine experience before this weekend, you should check this out. Heitz and Stony Hill Winery are in town for Decanted, so they are doing a dinner at Rosie Cannonball on Thursday night! Here are the details because you need to show up!!!
It’s a dinner featuring the rare and fine wines of two iconic Napa Estates served by Heitz Cellars winemaker Brittney Sherwood, estate director and master sommelier Erik Elliot, and Stony Hill Winery estate director Michaela Kelly. All three of them will be pouring the wines and giving special attention to each table and 'somming' for you. It's a pretty cool opportunity to enjoy an amazing dinner and also get good one-on-one time with each of the wine folks!
Champagne Welcome: Legras & Haas Grand Cru Brut Blanc de Blancs
1st Course: Fruit & Jamon Doppio Ravioli with Caviar
2020 Stony Hill Chardonnay
2nd Course: Maitake Mushrooms with Toasted Coriander Yogurt Chilled Octopus with Gordal Olives & Leeks
2019 Stony Hill Syrah
3rd Course: Grilled Lamb T-Bones with Moutarde, Plums & Kale Pizzetta with Figs & Scamorza
2018 Heitz Cellars Trailside Vineyard
2018 Heitz Cellars Martha's Vineyard
4th Course: Strip Steak with Juniper & Smashed Fingerlings Grilled Rapini with Pine Nuts & Orange Zest
2018 Stony Hill Linda Falls Vineyard
2021 Heitz Cellars Linda Falls Vineyard
Dessert by pastry hef Samantha Mendoza paired with Heitz Cellars Ink Grade Port
$200 per person. Purchase via Resy.
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Chris Shepherd won a James Beard Award for Best Chef: Southwest in 2014. The Southern Smoke Foundation, a nonprofit he co-founded with his wife Lindsey Brown, has distributed more than $11 million to hospitality workers in crisis through its Emergency Relief Fund. Catch his TV show, Eat Like a Local, every Saturday at 10 am on KPRC Channel 2.
