It was truly an amazing day at the Manhattan Beach Shade Hotel. Sunny, blue sky and warm, in fact, if you didn’t know better, you would swear that it was summer. That day, the Shade Hotel played host to the first annual STARS of Napa Valley Wine Festival provided by WineLA.
42 different Napa Valley wineries were on hand to participate in the festival. Among the impressive list of wineries showcasing their most popular pours were Alpha Omega, Quintessa, Heitz Cellars, Trefethen, Frank Family Vineyards, Barnett Vineyards, Bougetz Cellars, Black Stallion, Signorello Estate;, Kenzo Estate, ZD Wines, Entre Nous Wines, Lail Vineyards and Inglenook Vineyard.
The event was nicely spread out through the hotel. Guests entered the event through their restaurant and bar, Zinc, flow continued nicely to their outside courtyard where they had a number of additional vendors present. On the second floor next to the elevator was another set of vendors. What I liked about this space was that it was a bit quieter and easier to converse.
I’ve been to a number of wine festivals where no food was served and it’s easy to get ‘wined out’ quickly. I appreciated that this festival had an nice assortment of hors d’oeuvres available. Fortunately, food was available on both floors which allowed you effective use of time on each floor.
Taste in food and wine varies widely and what you may like may not be what I would enjoy. That out of the way, here are a few of my personal tasting notes:
2012 Merryvale Pinot Noir
I steered towards the Merryvale table as I’ve enjoyed earlier releases of their Pinot Noir before. This was a medium bodied Pinot Noir with hints of black cherry.
2013 Buoncristiani Chardonnay
I’m partial to red wine, but I’ll have to say that this wine was one of my favorites of the evening. This wine presented a nose full of fruit and the acidity level was nicely balanced.
2014 Kenzo Estate Yui Rosé
Rosé is not on the top of my list of wines to try or purchase. Out of politeness, I tried their Yui Rosé and was pleasantly surprised. Yes, this was a rosé, but if was a ‘full-bodied’ rosé with more character than a normal rosé.
2012 Krupp Brothers – The Doctor
This is owner/winemaker’s namesake wine. Dr. Jan Krupp created a unique blend of tempranillo and cabernet franc with hints of cabernet sauvignon, petit verdot and malbec. This wine was absolutely delicious.
A silent auction also took place with all proceeds to go to the Manhattan Beach Middle School.
A few of the items included:
The LA Kings donated a Dustin Brown jersey and a signed poster from their 2012 season.
The Ayres Hotel provided a hotel and dinner at their Matisse Restaurant and a premium bottle of wine.
The Beach House Hotel donated a package valued at $1,500.00
Due to the generousity of the donors and of the bidding attendees, the silent auction ended up raising close to $22,000 for Manhattan Beach Middle School!
- STARS of Napa Valley Wine Festival
- Shade Hotel, 1221 N Valley Drive. Manhattan Beach, Ca
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