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| Volume 3, Number 2 |
July 10, 2012 |
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Dear Culinary Friends,
Bastille Day approaches, and what better way to celebrate than by cooking and consorting with wine? Scroll down to find out how you can do this next week in Asheville, NC!
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| Asheville~Cooking with Wine |
Our stellar week in Asheville this year will involve, as always, the top chefs of Western North Carolina, coupled with renowned wine experts, and a surrounding that is pastoral, flanked by blue mountains, and reeling with music and dance as a backdrop.
Our Cooking with Wine theme (July 15-21) will revolve particularly around the wines of North Carolina, as we pay homage to the 100-plus wineries which now grace this ever-evolving state. Each recipe will be constructed around a different wine, or created to complement a specific wine.
You don't have to have a wine background or necessarily be a wine-drinker to appreciate the nuances which enhance the dishes at hand, but if you are an aficionado, you will certainly be in your element!
The choice of chefs at whose elbows you can roll up your sleeves, hoping to capture a bit of their magic is enough to make any Ashevillian swoon. Denny Trantham of the Grove Park Inn, Adam Hayes of the Grand Bohemian, Bill Klein, of Bistro at Biltmore, Anthony Cerrato of Strada, Nate Allen of Knife & Fork, Stewart Lyon of Bocca, Jason Roy of LAB, Peter Fassbender of Season’s, Mark Rosenstein of Green Opportunities, Michael Moore of The Admiral and Blind Pig Supper Club, Debby Maugans of Small Batch Baking, Diana Schmitt McCall of Black Mountain Community Gardens, Cynthia Pierce of Sweet Life Bakery, Sandra Harvey of Sandra Harvey Chef Designs, Susi Gott Seguret, France’s Cordon Bleu, and more…
North Carolina vignerons (Shelton Vineyards, Stonefield Cellars, French Broad Vignerons) along with West Virginia's Watts Roost Vineyard will be contributing some of their best emerging vintages, along with several of Asheville’s best wine purveyors, including the Asheville Wine Market, the Weinhaus, the Wine Studio, and P. Comms Wines, among others.
The week kicks off on Sunday, July 15th with an overview of wine throughout the ages down to present-day production in North Carolina, by the force behind the French Broad Vignerons, Chuck Blethen. Early morning hunting and gathering walks whet appetites, led by noted wild food experts Ian Robertson, Mark Brenner, Alan Muskat, Michael Gentry, Marc Williams.
Culinary aficionados may sign up for the week-long culinary immersion course, or, if you have time or budget restraints, you may sign up simply for the day (or half day) whose theme interests you the most. Each day centers around a 3-hour class with master chefs, a gourmet lunch, and a wine tasting afternoon/evening session. See here for the detailed schedule. The music in the background will be the drone of bagpipes and the lilt of flute and fiddle, as the Swannanoa Gathering's Celtic Week enhances the colors on our plates. Culinary students are welcome to join in evening festivities which last often until dawn breaks over the hill.
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The Finger Lakes region of New York is swiftly becoming one of THE places to be if food and wine and farming is your passion. With more than 90 wineries flanking the shores of glacially-carved lakes, and the delightfully quaint college town of Ithaca which has more restaurants per capita than New York City, if you haven't yet discovered this pocket of the country, it's time you joined us. And if you have, and just want more of a good thing in the company of other enthusiasts during the height of fall coloring (October 3-6), you're on the right track as well!
Visit our website for an idea of places we will explore.
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Ah, Sonoma! The rolling hills which range from reminiscent of the Scottish Highlands to redolent of the South of France...only footsteps away from San Francisco, through a corridor of redwoods, there are wines, cheeses, oysters, and olives a-plenty, all cultivated in the space of one of the most diverse counties on the globe.
Wine lovers who have already discovered Napa or who seek a more personal introduction to California's wines must visit the richness of Sonoma's terroirs before their time is up. From December 5-8 we'll explore vineyards, creameries, markets, and oyster farms, and we'll enter wine-makers' domains, indulge in hands-on sessions with local chefs, savor pinot until we can tell the difference between grapes grown on the coast and those grown further inland, and marvel at all this country has to offer if only we are ready to taste!
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(Chef's Coat by Sandra Harvey Designs, photo by Robert Faut)
Paris at any time of year is magic. In June, the poppies are in full splendor, silhouetted against fields of golden wheat from which the baguettes whose fragrance reels you in at every street corner are fashioned.
Come join us for 4 days of discovery (June 26-29, 2013), with market strolls, wine tastings, hands-on culinary sessions, bistro jaunts, and exploration of one of the most beautiful cities on the planet, with a token expedition into the countryside as well. To find out more, visit our website.
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As a special Bastille Day treat, anyone who registers online for a week-long session before the 14th will receive a $100 refund or a 5-piece professional Mercer knife set with SSCA logo upon check-in. Jump quickly before the places fill!
Looking forward to celebrating with you in just a few days...
Cheers,
Susi
828-301-2792
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