The Boston Wine Festival, founded by Chef Daniel Bruce in 1989 is held annually at the Boston Harbor Hotel, is one of the nation's longest-running wine and food pairing series. [1] [2] [3] Spanning three and a half months and including multiple events each week, the Boston Wine Festival celebrated its twentieth anniversary in January 2009. Through the festival’s 20 plus year history more than 75,000 bottles of wine have been opened and Chef Bruce has never repeated a menu, totaling 3,000 different dishes at 750 dinners served. [2]
For each Boston Wine Festival event, Chef Bruce invites wine makers to bring their most exclusive wines. He prepares a unique multi-course meal designed to complement the wines being served. He has served as executive chef of the Boston Harbor Hotel since 1989. [2] [4] [5] Before he assumed leadership of the hotel, Chef Bruce served as executive chef of 21 Club in New York City. He was the youngest executive chef in the restaurant's history. [3] [6] Some of the wineries that participated in the 2009 milestone year included Caymus, Shafer, Silver Oak and Chateau Palmer. [7] Chef Bruce expanded the festival to the Maison Dupuy in New Orleans, resulting in the French Quarter Wine Festival. [7] [8] In 2010, he launched the Capital Wine Festival at The Fairfax at Embassy Row in Washington, D.C., [2] [7] and the Berkeley Wine Festival at the Claremont Hotel Club and Spa in Berkeley, California.
Marcus Samuelsson is an Ethiopian-born Swedish-American celebrity chef, restaurateur and television personality. He is the head chef of Red Rooster in Harlem, New York.
The garagistes refers to a group of winemakers in the Bordeaux region, producing "vins de garage", "garage wine". A group emerged in the mid-1990s in reaction to the traditional style of red Bordeaux wine, which is highly tannic and requires long ageing in the bottle to become drinkable. The garagistes developed a style more consistent with perceived international wine tastes.
Daniel Boulud is a French chef and restaurateur with restaurants in New York City, Palm Beach, Miami, Toronto, Montréal, Singapore, the Bahamas, the Berkshires and Dubai. He is best known for his eponymous restaurant Daniel, in New York City, which currently holds two Michelin stars.
Jean-Georges Vongerichten is a French chef. Vongerichten owns restaurants in Miami Beach, Las Vegas, London, Paris, Shanghai, and Tokyo, as well as New York's Jean-Georges restaurant and Tangará Jean Georges in São Paulo's luxurious Palácio Tangará, by Oetker Collection. He is also the head chef of Eden Rock, St Barths. Vongerichten is the author of five cookbooks, two with Mark Bittman.
Marcus Wareing is an English celebrity chef who is currently Chef-Owner of the one-Michelin-starred restaurant Marcus in Knightsbridge. Since 2014, Wareing has been a judge on MasterChef: The Professionals.
Mark Stanford Oldman is an American entrepreneur, wine expert, and author of several books on wine. Founder of the wine school Bevinars.com, he has been described as "one of the wine world's great populizers" and "one of the wine world's great showmen." He is regularly named the "audience favorite" at major food and wine festivals and does private events for corporations and institutions. He also designed and teaches a course on entrepreneurship for Stanford University.
J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines is a winemaking company headquartered in San Jose, California, with over 4,000 acres of estate vineyards in the Paso Robles AVA in San Luis Obispo County, Arroyo Seco and Santa Lucia Highlands AVAs in Monterey County, and the St. Helena AVA in Napa Valley, California. The family-owned and operated company was founded by Jerry Lohr in 1974. The company operates wineries in San Jose, Paso Robles, and Greenfield, California. In 2013, Steve Lohr was appointed CEO of the company. J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines’ product portfolio includes eight tiers of wine: J. Lohr Signature, J. Lohr Cuvée Series, J. Lohr Vineyard Series, J. Lohr Gesture, J. Lohr Pure Paso Proprietary Red Wine, J. Lohr Monterey Roots, J. Lohr Estates and ARIEL Vineyards. The portfolio also includes specialty brands Cypress Vineyards and Painter Bridge. J. Lohr ranks among the top 25 wine producers in the United States, with annual US sales exceeding 1.8 million cases.
Paso Robles Wine Country is an American Viticultural Area located in San Luis Obispo County, California. It has approximately 33,000 vineyard acres planted with wine grapes, and is well known for its heritage varietal Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Rhône-style wines.
Gavin Kaysen is executive chef and owner of Spoon and Stable, Bellecour Bakery, Demi, Socca, and Mara all in Minneapolis. He received the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Midwest in 2018. Previous to his move to Minneapolis, he served as Executive Chef and Director of Culinary Operations for Daniel Boulud in New York City, over seeing Café Boulud in Palm Beach, Toronto and New York City.
Joel Cox is an American film editor. He is best known for collaborating with Clint Eastwood in over 30 films.
Joachim Splichal is a celebrity chef based in Los Angeles, California. In 1991, he was declared "Best California Chef" by the James Beard Foundation. Four years later in 1995, he was inducted into their "Who's Who of Food & Beverage in America". Splichal is best known for his fine dining restaurant Patina located in the Walt Disney Concert Hall, his chain of Pinot restaurants, and the Patina Restaurant Group.
Jacky Robert is an American chef who helped to create fusion cuisine in the 1980s. He is the cofounder, with Martha Castano, of the non-profit OnBoardForKids.Org
Kevin Dundon is an Irish celebrity chef, television personality and author, known for featuring on television series such as Guerrilla Gourmet and Heat. He is the author of the book, Full on Irish: Contemporary Creative Cooking and his recipes have been featured in publications such as the Sunday Tribune and Weekend magazine in the Irish Independent. He has also cooked for The Queen and both an Irish and a US president.
Annual wine festivals celebrate viticulture and usually occur after the harvest of the grapes which, in the northern hemisphere, generally falls at the end of September and runs until well into October or later. They are common in most wine regions around the world and are to be considered in the tradition of other harvest festivals.
Paso Robles, officially El Paso de Robles, is a city in San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. Located on the Salinas River about 30 mi (48 km) north of San Luis Obispo, the city is known for its hot springs, abundance of wineries, production of olive oil, almond orchards, and playing host to the California Mid-State Fair.
Geoffrey Zakarian is an American chef, restaurateur, television personality and author. He is the executive chef of several restaurants in New York City, Atlantic City and Miami. He is featured on several television programs on the Food Network, including Chopped and The Next Iron Chef on which, in 2011, he won the right to join Iron Chef America.
RIA was an American restaurant in Chicago, Illinois. Located in the Waldorf Astoria Chicago, it originally opened in 2009, serving upscale French cuisine. RIA was popular with critics, earning many awards, including two Michelin stars. After losing executive chef Jason McLeod in 2011, RIA closed on July 27, 2012, after replacement Danny Grant left his restaurant position.
Pétrus is a restaurant in London, which serves modern French cuisine. It is located in Kinnerton Street, Belgravia and is part of Gordon Ramsay restaurants owned by celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay's Gordon Ramsay Restaurants Ltd. It has held one Michelin star since 2011, and 3 AA Rosettes.
Matthew Kenney is an American celebrity chef, entrepreneur, author, and educator specializing in plant-based cuisine. He is the author of 12 cookbooks, founder of dozens of vegan restaurants, and founder of the companies Matthew Kenney Cuisine and Matthew Kenney Culinary, a plant-based diet education business.
Nina Compton is a James Beard award winning Saint Lucian chef currently living in New Orleans, Louisiana.