Editor’s note: Long before Chris Shepherd became a James Beard Award-winning chef, he developed enough of a passion for wine to work at Brennan's of Houston as a sommelier. He maintains that interest to this day. In this week's column, he invites you to join him at an epic wine tasting and fundraiser. Take it away, Chris.

I can’t even stand it anymore. I have to tell you a secret that is two years in the making. First, I have a few questions for you. Do you like wine? Do you like a party? Do you like auctions? Do you like doing good for others? Do you like all of these things with a tax write off? I do too!

For the past two years, the team at the Southern Smoke Foundation and I have been researching and planning an event that is going to take this area by storm. Since 2015, we’ve hosted our Festival every fall, and we invite chefs from all over the country to come cook with us and raise money to help people in the food and beverage industry across the country. We provide financial assistance when crisis happens and also work to provide no-cost mental health care. The festival always happens in the fall but that really leaves out most winemakers, winery owners and most people in the wine industry because that is harvest time in most places in the Northern Hemisphere. We have worked diligently to come up with and research a new event that is fun, delicious and, in time, will be just as amazing as the Fall Festival.

The first Festival was fewer than 10 chefs and we raised $181,000. This past year (2023), we had nearly 70 chefs and raised more than $1.8 million! See how things can grow when people believe in the mission?

Here is where I would like to introduce you to our newest event — Southern Smoke Decanted. On April 20, more than 50 wineries will come together at The Eldorado Ballroom for one epic afternoon (yes, this is a daytime event!) presented by our friends at Lexus.

  

Photo by Mark Champion

You're invited to an epic wine party.

The doors will open at 1 pm for the Grand Cru guests (VIP) and 1:30 for the Premier Cru guests. We’ll take over the entire first floor with all the wineries pouring for a walk-around tasting! Let’s talk some of the wineries: Dunn, Hirsch, Miner, Heitz, Robert Sinskey, Amalie Robert, Arcadian, Cobb, Dalla Valle, Jonata, Morlet, Matthiasson, Spottswoode, Duchman, Turley — I can keep going on and on with this list. It’s insane how many amazing wineries want to be a part of this and it’s just the first year!

At 3 pm, after we have tasted these amazing wines, we will go upstairs to the ballroom for a seated auction, where we have Moriah Spicer from Hart Davis Hart in Chicago rocking the house as our auctioneer. There will be amazing lots to bid on — both silent and live — from wine to amazing trips and experiences. It’s going to be high flying fun!

Will there be food? Who do you think we are? We will be dropping snacks from Shaun King (Uchiko), Yotam Dolev (Hamsa), Anita Jaisinghani (Pondicheri), Victoria Elizondo (Cochinita & Co), and Bobby Matos (State of Grace) along with pastries from Marie Riddle (Bludorn), Van Teamer (Pudgy’s Fine Cookies), and Bādolina Bakery & Café (owned by the folks at Hamsa), which is one hell of a line up.

This is all to support the important work that Southern Smoke is doing. We have granted nearly $11.5 million to F+B works in crisis nationwide, and we have been able to provide more than 4,000 no cost counseling sessions in five states (and more to come in 2024!). We are not going to stop anytime soon. We granted over $300,000 to F+B workers that were affected by fires in Maui, and there are still almost 500 people on the waitlist. We won’t forget about them like the newest news cycle — they are humans that cannot be forgotten! We’re granting one person from Hawaii each week as part of our weekly grant cycle, and all funds raised from Decanted and anything else will help us get through that list!

We are able to help folks because of events like Decanted. It’s important because restaurants are important, farmers are important, winegrowers and vineyard workers are important, people are important. I love you and I hope to see you there. If you are coming, bring something really cool to share with your tablemates and new friends. Let’s see the cool stuff you have been sitting on in your cellar!

The details:

• Tickets on sale on February 27 at https://southernsmoke.org/southern-smoke-decanted/
  
• 1 pm early entry for Grand Cru tables and ticketholders plus priority choice on the winemaker to join your table and share their wines
• 1:30 pm entry for Premier Cru tables and ticketholders
• We encourage BYOB for the live auction!

Prices:

• Grand Cru table of 8: $8,000
• Premier Cru table of 8: $4,000
• Grand Cru individual ticket: $1,000
• Premier Cru ticket: $500