Piña Napa Valley: Big Steaks & Big Cabs

Every year we donate an auction item to the Taste of Howell Mountain fundraiser.

This is what the promotional ad for the event looked like for last year:

And, as the last lines notes: All proceeds benefit the Howell Mountain Elementary School.

Prior to last year, our auction lots were typically dinners for 20 - 24, served in the cellar.

But last year, we decided to offer a more intimate experience:

The winning bid came from Lorna Wood & Bob Long. The date agreed upon was April 16^th, 2011. Their group of 7 folks arrived at the winery right on time and we transported them to a new deck I built on the hillside above Piña Vineyard Management.

The deck site was chosen because of the extraordinary views. This was the first “official” use of the deck that is not yet even completed.

In the above picture, Davie is pointing out points of interest to the group.

One point of interest is the group of trees & buildings just over the folks in the picture. That is Plumpjack Winery.

In the enlarged picture above, is the home we grew up in until 1962.

More info on that is shared in another one of my posts.

Larry grilled sausages and served Piña Cellars Chardonnay. We stayed for the better part of an hour before returning to the winery.

Once back at the winery, Davie & I explained the rules of the game & officiated while our guests played Bocce.

We had planned to eat in the cellar, but at Lorna’s request, we set up for dinner under the trees above the bocce court.

As the bocce games continued, John put the steaks & veggies on the grill.

Eventually, we sat down to dinner.

All agreed that it was a perfect evening for dining outside.

And the dinner received much praise.

Leslie Burma, Jackie Rubin & Javier Cardieo helped with all aspects of the dinner.

There were many toasts (that’s Bob & Lorna) celebrating our good fortune.

Dessert was served with our (soon to be released)

Late Harvest Chardonnay, as the sun set.

The following week, we received a very kind & gracious note from Lorna Wood:

Larry,

We all want to thank you and your brothers very much for the fabulous time we had last weekend. Sharing your "mountain" with us, the view, the history, the stories were all tremendous; but then teaching us bocce and cooking up a awesome dinner to have with your first class wines were the creme de la creme. It was an event we all will remember and will be hard to top!

I attached some pictures for your album. Thanks again - we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves!

Lorna Wood, Bob Long, Erika Vogler, Mel and Rosemary Gafner, & Bob and Jan Polichino