Chef Christopher Vane - "Crush Wine Bistro"
Chef Christopher Vane will be at NOAA for the Great American Seafood Cook Off and can describe his participation. Producers of the Great American Seafood Cook-Off have confirmed the judge’s panel for this year’s event, which is set to occur on Saturday, August 11, 2012 in New Orleans. This summer will mark the Cook-Off’s ninth year. Each year, a group of discriminating culinary experts is selected to critique the seafood dishes that are prepared by competing chefs from around the United States. Judges for the 2012 Great American Seafood Cook-Off include: Chef Joho of Everest and Paris Club in Chicago, Brasserie Jo in Boston and Eiffel Tower in Las Vegas; Chef Johnny Nunn of Portland, OR’s Ringside Steak House and Ringside Fish House); Liz Grossman, managing editor of Plate Magazine; Ron Ruggless Bureau Chief at Nation’s Restaurant News, Vicki Wellington, vice president and publisher of Food Network Magazine, and Sam Rauch, Assistant Administrator for Fisheries at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). “This is a terrific and truly diverse panel of judges and I look forward to welcoming them to New Orleans to assess the domestic seafood dishes that will be prepared by some of our nations best and fastest rising chefs,” said Ewell Smith, executive director of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board and the creator of the Great American Seafood Cook-Off. The Great American Seafood Cook-Off is the most prestigious seafood cooking competition in the country. The first Cook-Off took place in the summer of 2004 and the event has attracted celebrity chefs and up-and-coming culinary stars ever since. Sponsored by NOAA, the competition celebrates domestic seafood and encourages the use of product from sustainable fisheries. Gary Murphy - VP AmaWaterways
AmaWaterways just celebrated its 10th Anniversary and is currently operating 15 luxury river cruise ships throughout Europe, in Russia, on the Mekong River between Vietnam and Cambodia and on the Chobe River in Africa in conjunction with land safari tours. AmaWaterways is running European Wine River Cruises for the third year and has six scheduled to go this November; each with at least one top-notch wine expert on board to give lectures, conduct tours of local European vineyards, supervise wine tastings and mingle with the passengers. See attached PDF and note that Gary Murphy will be on the Barry Wiss Wine River CruiseTERRY HALL - COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR OF NAPA VALLEY VINTNERS
It began as most things do in Napa Valley: over a table replete with good food and good wines. Sixty-five years later, that Epicurean and social camaraderie has grown into a spirited partnership committed to advancing Napa Valley wines worldwide. Founded in 1944, the Napa Valley Vintners is a regional trade group with an active membership of more than 350 wineries, representing a tradition of dedicated vintners and grape growers who have worked and cared for this premier winegrowing region since the early 1800s.For more than 150 years, vineyards have been part of the Napa Valley landscape. George Yount planted the first Napa Valley vineyards in 1838; the town of Napa was laid out in 1848; by the mid-1850s there were about 50,000 grapevines planted in Napa Valley--by 1860 there were about 200,000. The industry continued to expand, and by the late 1860s there were 50 vintners in Napa Valley. Wines from Inglenook, Charles Krug, Beringer and others won international acclaim in the late 19th century.