|
If you’re headed to Nantucket next
week for the annual wine festival, look forward to intimate tastings,
fabulous food and beautiful views.
The 12th annual Nantucket Wine Festival
promises to be filled with so many events, you’ll need to come up
with a strategy to get into all of the seminars, receptions and
auctions you want to attend. Held May 14 to 18, there will be more
winemakers on Nantucket during this week than in Stag’s Leap, noted
Denis Toner, president and founder of the Nantucket Wine Festival.
More than 150 of the world’s great  wineries will be sharing their
wines with guests at the Grand Tasting--the focal point of the
festival--on Saturday, May 17th, and Sunday, May 18th at the
Nantucket Yacht Club, in four two-hour sessions. “I love
restaurateurs and helping out those in this industry, so I’d like
to extend an offer to executive level staff for a discount on the
Sunday sessions of the Grand Tasting,” added Toner. Tickets for the
event are $85, but Toner will offer tickets to chefs, owners and
general managers for $60 if you call or e-mail in advance.
The festival also boasts Great Wines in
Grand Houses, and Toner described these tastings as intimate and
educational. “These small tastings at held in beautiful private
homes that feature historic architecture and dramatic panoramic
views,” he added. With no more than 20 guests at each tasting, they
meet with those that create the wine, and some tastings are
incorporated into a brunch or dinner. “People adore this
opportunity, and many friendships have been made over these
tastings.”
The Opening Reception on May 14 will
feature Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label Champagne and appetizers by the
Executive Chef of the Brant Point Grill, along with music by
Nantucket guitar virtuoso Jim Sulzer. Immediately following this
reception, Kevin Williamson, chef/proprietor of Ranch 616 in Austin,
Texas, hosts Texas Throwdown, where he’ll show off his unique
new-wave, old-boy style to Nantucket. He will present three different
interpretations of Texas game and beef, that will be paired with the
award-winning wines of Cliff Lede Vineyards in Stag’s Leap,
presented by vice president and general manager Jack Bittner.
A cooking demonstration with Jody Adams of Rialto in Cambridge promises that she’ll share her kitchen
secrets as she prepares spot prawns plucked from the icy waters of
Alaska. And master butcher Ron Savenor, of Savenor’s Market in
Boston and Cambridge, will host The Lost Art of Butchery with a
lesson in all things meat. He will discuss who’s really serving
USDA prime, why oleaginous is actually a good thing and how different
cuts of meat taste. To showcase this, he will prepare four different
cuts of lamb (leg, loin, rack, and shoulder) prepared only with oil,
salt and pepper. Newton Vineyards will provide wines for this
demonstration.
Also at the Nantucket Wine Festival,
Plum TV will premiere Coming of Age, a movie about the dramatic
changes in the Spanish food and wine trade. In the fall of 2007, Plum
TV’s intrepid camera crew of David Kuhn, Dan Honan, Mark Donato and
Denis Toner traveled to Spain to undertake a survey of great wineries
and restaurants. “We made it a point to go into restaurants in
Spain, not just into the dining room, but the kitchen as well. For
people that love restaurants, they can see how the food is made, the
ambiance in dining rooms and the pleasure on people’s faces as they
dine,” Toner explained. The movie will premiere on Friday, May 16
at the Starlight Theatre.
With 4,300 tickets to various events
and a total of 1,500 visitors, this really is a busy festival. Take
Toner’s advice and chart your plan of action. “Once you’re on
the island, you’re away. The people that take the time and money to
attend the festival feel it’s worth it,” he said. Too numerous to
list here, the festival also features countless receptions, brunches,
dinners, three wine symposium luncheons, a celebrity chef and
winemaker dinner, and a grand gala, just to name a few events. “The
scale of the festival is small, but the quality of the bar is high,”
Toner added. “You can look at this like a graduate seminar. You
have an amazing opportunity to learn about food and wine in a short
amount of time.”
For more information about the
Nantucket Wine Festival or to order discounted tickets for the Sunday
sessions of the Grand Tasting, please go to
www.nantucketwinefestival.com or call them at 508-228-1128.
|
Wine - Island Style. The 12th Annual Nantucket Wine Festival 
