The Nashville Wine Auction’s Pairings: Nashville’s Ultimate Wine And Food Weekend
Unites the Wine Community to Fund Fight Against Cancer
Pairings: Nashville’s Ultimate Wine and Food Weekend will feature celebrated chefs from Charleston and Nashville this year. Pairings with Charleston will take place Feb. 21-23, 2019.
This highly anticipated three-day celebration of exceptional wine and food partners Nashville’s chefs with chefs from different “foodie cities” each year – and this year’s pairing with Charleston chefs promises to be memorable and, of course, delicious.
“Every year, the wine and food gets better at Pairings,” said Holly Whaley, President/CEO of the Nashville Wine Auction. “We have wanted to present a Charleston/Nashville pairing for years, and we are so excited to finally be doing that this February. The chefs from Charleston are excited to wow event participants during three nights of unparalleled wine events to help fund the fight against cancer.”
The Nashville Wine Auction is the country’s longest-running charity wine auction and has raised tens of millions of dollars over the years for local cancer-fighting nonprofit organizations.
While the Nashville Wine Auction’s summertime signature event – l’Eté du Vin – is targeted toward experienced wine collectors, Pairings is a more accessible series of wine events targeted to explorers and enthusiasts. However, with the addition of the Collectors’ Showcase, serious wine collectors will be able to find wines for their cellars, allowing Pairings with Charleston to have something for everyone this year.
Donnie Counts from City Winery will serve as host chef for Pairings. Joining him from Nashville are Trey Cioccia and Chad Kelly from The Farm House and Black Rabbit as well as Jeffrey Rhodes of Butchertown Hall and the soon-to-open Liberty Common. The Charleston chef representatives include John Zucker of Cru Café, Jim Stein from McCrady’s, and Kevin Johnson of The Grocery.
Chef Matt Bollus from 404 Kitchen will serve as emcee for Pairings with Charleston.
Friday and Saturday events will take place at the City Winery located at 609 Lafayette Street in Nashville.
Pairings with Charleston events at a glance:
· Day 1 – Feb. 21, 2019 – Private Vintner Dinners
These popular events consist of 10 intimate dinners hosted by featured vintners in private homes and restaurants throughout Nashville. Attendees meet and socialize with winemakers while enjoying outstanding multi-course meals from Nashville chefs. This year’s Private Vintner Dinners are chaired by Melanie Cansler, Virginia Kweller and Jodi Pfaff Gillman. Private Vintner Dinners range from $225 to $300 per person. Dinners begin at 6:30 pm
(details will be available online Monday, January 7, 2019)
· Day 2 – Feb. 22, 2019 – Wined Up!
Wined Up! is held the second night of Pairings weekend and is a fun, accessible, wine-tasting party. New this year is the special “Collectors’ Showcase” floor which will feature rare and collectible wines. Wined Up! brings together 26 vintners for Nashville’s best wine-tasting party and will feature specialty small plates prepared by Charleston chefs as well as a silent auction with 125 lots of fine wines and luxury items. Wined Up! is $125 per person; Collectors’ Showcase is $250 per person. Wine Tasting and Silent Auction starts at 6 PM.
· Day 3 – Feb. 23, 2019 – Pairings
This is the highlight of the weekend where participants will indulge in a five-course wine dinner with featured chefs from Nashville and Charleston while raising paddles in the spirited Live Auction. Nashville chefs will team up with chefs from Charleston to create perfectly paired dishes with wines from featured vintners. The live auction, once again hosted by auctioneer Charles Antin from Zachys, will include fine wines, unique dinners and tastings, one-of-a-kind trips and luxury items. Pairings $275 per person. 6:00 pm Wine Tasting; 6:45 pm Gourmet Dinner featuring 5 chefs and vintners with Live Auction.
The Nashville Wine Auction plans to raise more than $400k this year at the Pairings with Charleston events, which will be the highest amount for Pairings Weekend raised to date.
For more details and to make reservations, please visit http://www.nashvillewineauction.com/pairings or call 615-329-1760.
Sponsors for Pairings with Charleston:
The presenting sponsor for this event is ServisFirst Bank. Additional sponsors include City Winery, John Navin & Associates, Tennessee Oncology, Chazin & Company, Charles Schwab, Scripps Howard Foundation and more to be announced soon.
Participating chefs:
Donnie Counts from City Winery will serve as host chef for Pairings. Joining him from Nashville are Trey Cioccia and Chad Kelly from The Farm House and Black Rabbit as well as Jeffrey Rhodes of Butchertown Hall and the soon-to-open Liberty Common. The Charleston representation includes John Zucker of Cru Café, Jim Stein from McCrady’s and Kevin Johnson from The Grocery.
Event chairs:
Pairings is chaired by Dr. Jack Erter, Noelle Daugherty, Will Donnellan and Alexa Cox.
Paricipating wineries:
Wineries – All are featured at Wined Up!
+ = Wineries featured at Private Vintner Dinners
* = Wineries featured Saturday Night
· Arrington Vineyards
· Bonaccorsi Wine Company +*
· Byron Winery
· Clif Family Winery
· Coursey Graves + *
· D.R. Stephens Estate +
· Dunn Vineyards +
· Fantesca Vineyards +
· Frias Family Vineyard +
· Harumph Wines
· Italics Winegrowers +
· Kanzler Family Vineyards +
· Kelly Fleming Wines
· Kistler Vineyards + *
· Lombardi Wines +
· PATEL Napa Valley + *
· Peay Vineyards + *
· Penner-Ash Wine Cellars +
· Phifer Pavitt Winery +*
· Relic Wine Cellars
· Roy Estate
· Schramsberg Vineyards
· The Spire Collection + *
· William Cole Vineyards + *
· Williams Selyem + *
· ZD Wines + *
Vintners participating in their first Pairings Weekend include Brett deLeuze from ZD Wines, Lynn and Ron Penner-Ash of Penner-Ash Wine Cellars, Breauna and Alex Kanzler of Kanzler Family Vineyards, Jenne Lee Bonaccorsi of Bonaccorsi Wine Company, Tony Lombardi of Lombardi Wines, Fernando Frias of Frias Family Vineyards, Kelly Fleming of Kelly Fleming Wines, Cabell Coursey of Coursey Wines, and Shirley Roy of Roy Wines.
Nashville Wine Auction Beneficiaries:
American Cancer Society’s Hope Lodge, Gilda’s Club Middle Tennessee, Leukemia Lymphoma Society, Make-A-Wish Foundation® of Middle Tennessee, PearlPoint Cancer Support, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Saint Thomas Cancer Network and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
ABOUT NASHVILLE WINE AUCTION:
Nashville Wine Auction’s mission is to unite the wine community to fund the fight against cancer. Throughout the year, Nashville Wine Auction hosts four major events – Pairings: The Ultimate Wine and Food Weekend, l’Eté du Vin: The Country’s Longest Running Charity Wine Auction, Champagne & Chardonnay: A Sparkling Evening Just for Ladies and The Men's Event: Honoring the Life and Spirit of Billy Ray Hearn. Established in 1980, the Nashville Wine Auction has raised more than $24.5 million for organizations whose purpose is directly related to treatment, patient care and eradication of cancer here in Middle Tennessee.