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APPC's North California Chapter Personal Chefs Tour Napa Wineries
Arpil 20, 2004
Contact:
Kristell Mazzuco
(408) 316-1275
E-mail: kristell@mconcepts.com
SANTA CLARA, CA — The Northern California Chapter of the American Personal & Private Chef Association recently was invited to Napa to participate in private winery tours. The two-day event included tours of George Hendry Winery, xxx Winery, xxx Winery, xxx Winery, and Dean & DeLuca, a gourmet food and wine store.
The personal chefs toured the sprawling vineyards of Hendry Wineries, learning from owner George Hendry about how the vines are planted, varieties of grapes, life cycles, harvesting, testing, bottling and shipping. The hands-on tour allowed the chefs to appreciate the labor-intensive winemaking process of getting from the vine to the table. Special wine pairings were held after the tour with extensive discussions of types of wines to serve with various menu selections.
Norcal Personal & Private Chef Association President Dane Mechlin said, "To meet the needs of our clients, we are always looking for complementary wine pairings to suggest to serve with our dinners. Having personal tours and tasting allowed us to gather information to share with our clients. Each client is different and keeping our mandate of "personal dinners", we were able to have one-on-one discussions with the winemakers to increase our repertoire of wine parings that meet those individual needs."
Doug Wilder, a Wine Specialist for Dean & Deluca in Napa Valley, arranged for the chef's private wine tasting at a variety of Napa wineries. Wilder said, "I have fourteen years of experience in recommending exclusively California wines. I taste over 3500 wines annually. To help the personal chefs acquaint themselves with the wines I recommended we had a number or private wine tasting to sample the offerings of Napa Valley. As part of my services, I offer wine-pairing suggestions for the personal chefs to present to their clients. I can arrange to have the wines shipped directly to the client or offer local distributors to purchase the wines.
The Norcal chapter was a wonderful group to meet with and exchange cooking and wine suggestions."
The personal chef industry is one of the 12 Fastest Growing Businesses in the Country according to Entrepreneur Magazine. As more and more couples work, there is a serious time crunch when it comes to planning and preparing dinner. A personal chef cooks customized meals, prepared in your home, for cooking or re-heating at your convenience, saving you time and money.
The American Personal & Private Chef Association, based in San Diego, is a national organization representing over 6000 personal chefs and business owners across the country.
To find a person chef in your area, call 1-800-644-8389 or visit http://www.personalchef.com/appca_north_california_chapter.php