Getting Charitable at the Bel Air Wine Festival

I rarely need a good reason to have a glass of wine. I’ve been known to enjoy a glass  bottle for no better reason other than it’s a Monday and Mondays are much better with wine than without, so let’s celebrate that fact with a nice rosé !  See, there’s always a reason to enjoy wine. Now whether that’s a good reason or not is based entirely on who you ask.

So imagine my delight in having been invited to the Bel Air Wine festival -the  fund raising arm of SoCal Gives Inc. where all money raised at this event and others throughout the year is used to create grants to support local Southern California charities.

So we’ve got wine(CHECK), a great cause(CHECK) and a sense of pride that you get to cover an event that contributes to  education, children and families in need, as well as medical research?( CHECK, CHECK, CHECK)

Come with me as I take you on a look inside the Bel Air Wine Festival and see how you can attend the event next year!

Held at Herb Alpert’s Vibrato Jazz Club, the event included 2 different gala times to choose from. There was an afternoon and evening event, and if you were really up for it you could go to both. I attended the evening event, and upon check in we were able to sign up for and view some of the items on the auction list.  Items ranged from Kobe Bryant’s basketball shoes to wine tasting trips complete with the use of a private jet. There was also one of kind art and jewelry on hand from world-renowned artists.

I have to admit that during the auction I was afraid to wave down any waiters for fear of accidentally bidding :/ this stuff wasn’t cheap!

 

 

 

 From there we were seated and the wine tasting began.

Six master certified Sommeliers were on hand for a  wine tasting and personalized discussion about the wines being poured at the event. If you’re not familiar with the Sommelier program it’s a pretty labor intensive course where one would go to learn and be certified in the art of wine and wine making.  There are only 220 Master Sommeliers worldwide; 140 in North America of which 119 are men and 20 are women. One of the many skills a Sommelier has is being able to identify the details of a wine simply by smell! That was more than enough to impress my 2 Buck Chucks loving palette.

After our tasting, dinner was served. I have to say the menu options went perfectly with the wine selection. I ordered the steak and my girlfriends had the salmon so that we could have a taste of every selection(we don’t play when it comes to getting an optimal dining experience 😉 Each dish was perfectly prepared, the steak was evenly cooked and the salmon had a honey mustard glaze that didn’t overpower but totally complimented the freshness of the fish.

My Gorgeous Dates for the Evening

 

 

Entertainment was the other theme of the night and as we dined and sipped we enjoyed the soulful sounds of Amy Keys and the classic sounds of Lynda Kay! Lynda was giving me total “Mad Men” flair and I loved her vintage style. Classical crossover singer Branden James  a finalist on Season 8 of America’s Got Talent was also on the program as well as Maria Elena Infantino whose version of “La Vie En Rose” almost had me in tears!

 I have to admit when I heard the event would be in Bel Air besides thinking of the Fresh Prince of Bel Air theme song I also thought the event would be a little snooty. I couldn’t have been more wrong! Everyone was so gracious and even more important they were FUN! My girls and I had the best time mixing and mingling with everyone and I enjoyed learning about what brought different people to the event. More than anything I could see that everyone in attendance was passionate about more than just wine and it was refreshing to see how these types of  charities are creatively raising money for great causes. I’ve been told that next years event will expand to 4 days to accommodate more people, which is the true sign of an events success 🙂

Here are some more pictures from the evening…

 

 For more information about how you can attend next years event Go to BelAirWineFest.com

So Weekender’s are you guys lovers of wine? Could you see yourself attending an event like this?