Written by Greg Thompson
I attended an exclusive Beverly Hills Sonoma Wine-Tasting Event at the Williams-Sonoma store inBeverly Hills. It was an evening of premium Sonoma Country wine and cuisine, compliments of Williams-Sonoma and Visa Signature. The store was open just for this private party and it featured handcrafted wines from five SonomaCountyboutique wineries, presented by the winemaker or the owner. The featured wineries for this special event were Kelley & Young Wines, Anaba Wines, Inspiration Vineyards & Winery, Trione Vineyards & Winery, and Foppiano Vineyards. I was particularly impressed by the Trione 2010 River Road Ranch Savignon Blanc that scored a 93 in December of 2011 from Wine Enthusiast magazine. It went on to state that it is a brilliant wine, bone dry, crisp with a perfect balance of citrus fruits, green apples, white flowers, dried herbs and minerals dusted with white pepper and Chinese Five Spices.
Many of the wines were simply excellent, as the Trione 2007 Block Twenty One Cabernet Savignon scored a 94 in that same contest. Chef Anthony Keene of Gordon Ramsay at The London West Hollywood was on-site for an exclusive cooking demonstration. During his demonstration, he paired some incredible scallops, risotto and quiche dishes with the various wines. For starters, they served an initial platter that had a variety of cheese, grapes, crackers and a very tasty sausage. It was a delightful event in a beautiful setting. There were plenty of William Sonoma associates on hand to answer questions and provide product information. Everyone was in a good mood and the crowd was good looking. The only downside of the evening is that the store management seemed to expect higher sales from the evenings event as evidenced by a William’sSonomaexecutive consistently reminding us that there was only 1 hour, 45 minutes, 30 minutes, 15 minutes, etc. left to shop. And while the store has demos from quite a few vendors like: All-Clad Hurom, Miele, Nespresso and Wusthof , the guests seemed to be enjoying the wine and food a bit more than the items in the store itself. All-told, this was such a nice event, that while I was supposed to attend another event with complimentary cocktails and live entertainment at the sumptuous Montage Hotel of Beverly Hills, I felt no reason to leave Williams Sonoma.
Photo courtesy of Kelley & Young Wines
