Alpine Theatre Project To Host Whitefish Wine Auction For The Arts, August 10-12

Alpine Theatre Project announces the Featured Wineries and Celebrity Chefs who will headline the Third Annual Whitefish Wine Auction for the Arts, in Whitefish from August 10-12.

Featured Wineries are Melville Vineyards of Santa Barbara, CA, Battuello Vineyards of the Napa Valley, CA, and Foley Food and Wine Society. Melville Vineyards, a family owned and operated estate winery founded in 1989, is operated by Ron Melville and his son Chad Melville. It is one of the most highly-regarded estates in California.

Battuello Vineyards was founded in 1909 by Matteo Battuello and his wife, Serafina, who immigrated to California from Northern Italy. For five generations, the Battuello Family has been growing vines in the renowned Napa Valley, producing excellent grapes for award-winning wines.

Today the vineyard is operated and managed by Dave and Craig Battuello.

The third Featured Winery is a collection of outstanding wineries in California, the Pacific Northwest, New Zealand, France, and Argentina under the umbrella of Foley Food and Wine Society. No stranger to the Flathead, owner William Foley has had a number of businesses in the area, including controlling ownership of Whitefish Mountain Resort and Glacier Restaurant Group, which includes MacKenzie River Pizza, Craggy Range, Latitude48, and Chao Mambo. Among the Foley wines is the highly regarded Chalk Hill label.

Featured Chefs include Andy Blanton, owner and executive chef of Café Kandahar at Whitefish Mountain Resort, Chef Earl James Reynolds, executive chef at Stone Hill Kitchens in Bigfork and Chef Christian Moreno of Swift Creek Café in Whitefish. Mr.Blanton, well known in culinary circles of the Pacific Northwest, is a four time finalist in the James Beard Foundation's best chef in the Northwest region.

Chef Earl James Reynolds is a Whitefish native who left a career as a painter to attend Seattle Central Culinary Academy. After turns in well-known restaurants in the Northwest, Mr.Reynolds was named Executive Chef of Stone Hill Kitchen and Bar in Bigfork.

Award winning Chef Christian Moreno's family has been in the food and coffee industries for over 80 years, beginning with the maternal grandmother, who founded Fina Don Bosco, a coffee estate on the Talamanca Range between Panama and Costa Rica. Mr. Moreno earned his degree from the top French pastry program, "Ecole Nationale Superieure de Patisserie" in France.

The Whitefish Wine Auction for the Arts includes three events: UnWINEd, a wine tasting event at Grouse Mountain Lodge on August 10 where the Featured Wineries pair their wines with passed hors oeuvres and guide tastings; Vintner Dinners in private homes in Kalispell and Whitefish on August 11, prepared by Celebrity Chefs and paired with wines selected by the Featured Wineries; and the Gala and Auction, August 12, at The Lodge at Whitefish Lake.

Tickets are available online at atpwhitefish.org/wineauction.

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