Crystal Springs Wine

Gorgeous Crystal Springs Resort is hosting the New jersey Food and Wine Festival this coming weekend and I wanted to share some information about the event in case you’ve yet to purchase you tickets.  Beyond the info below highlighting the amazing events taking place at the resort, here are details about a really cool raffle for 10 prizes valued at more than $30,000 including luxury box seats to a New Jersey Devils game for 16-20 ppl, trip to Dana Estates Winery in California, Wine Dinners, and very rare collections of wine (1 case is valued at $14,000!!) The Tickets are $35 and 100% of the proceeds will be benefiting Share Our Strength.   Anyone can buy a ticket at the Crystal Springs Clubhouse at Grand Cascades Lodge regardless of if they are attending the event and they don’t need to be present to win.

New Jersey Food & Wine Festival at Crystal Springs Resort

April 30 – May 2, 2010

Hardyston, NJ – The second annual New Jersey Food & Wine Festival at Crystal Springs Resort April 30 – May 2, 2010 is a celebration of the world’s best wines and top local chefs from New Jersey and New York.  Held at New Jersey’s only year-round resort, Crystal Springs, the weekend’s events are designed to allow connoisseurs to meet and mingle with chefs, winemakers, sommeliers and fellow wine aficionados.  The events will include a grand tasting, guest chef wine dinner in Restaurant Latour, exclusive wine cellar dinners with vertical wine pairings, seminars with winemakers and chefs, top chef golf tournament, and charity raffle for ten prizes valued at $30,000+.  A portion of festival proceeds will be donated to Share Our Strength, the leading national nonprofit organization working to end childhood hunger in the United States.

The festival begins on Friday April 30 with the Grand Dinner and Wine Auction, featuring a five course dinner served by five top chefs from New Jersey and New York (7:30pm, $125).  Courses will be created by Craig Hopson (Le Cirque), James Laird (Serenade), David Felton (Ninety Acres), Michael Weisshaupt (Restaurant Latour) and Nancy Olson (Gramercy Tavern).  In the wine cellar, an intimate dinner will be held featuring six oenotheque and library vintages of Dom Perignon champagne paired with a six-course dinner by Chef Paul Liebrandt of New York City’s acclaimed Corton.  Wines including rare vintages such as 1975 and a preview of as-yet-not-released Oenotheque Rose 1990, the first mature vintage rose released by Dom Perignon – not available in the US until May. Also poured: Dom Pérignon Oenothèque 1993, Rose 1998, 2000 and the sold-out stellar 1996 vintage (7:30pm, $350, limited to 26 guests).

On Saturday May 1, the Celebrity Chef and Winemaker Golf Tournament will take place on Crystal Springs’ award-winning Wild Turkey Golf Course.  Featuring celebrity chefs and winemakers, the tournament will be played over 18 holes from 8:30am to 1:30pm.  Breakfast will be served at 8am and then players tee off at 8:30am.  Participants will also enjoy a different local craft beer on every hole..  Awards ceremony and lunch will follow in the Rotunda ($200, inclusive of all of the above, as well as VIP admission to the Grand Tasting event same day at 6pm).

Also on Saturday, additional events such as wine tasting seminars and a chef demo will take place.  Wines of Australia (11am, $40) will be hosted by Matthew Lane of Penfolds and Lail Vineyards founder Robin Lail will lead a guided tasting of her wines (3pm, $35).  Other events include a Chocolate and Wine Pairing Seminar (2pm, $35) with Brad Addis of MUST Chocolate pairing with Newton Vineyards, Fonseca Port Tasting (4:30pm, $40), as well as the truly unique Top Bordeaux vs. Cult California Wines Sommelier Taste Off (3pm, $135, limited to 20 guests) featuring a sommelier-led blind tasting of French and California wines, some of which have scored 100 points from Wine Spectator and many of which are rare and otherwise impossible to taste.  More than $60,000 worth of wines from the Resort’s cellar will be tasted during this event. Participating sommeliers include Belinda Chang of The Modern, Josh Nadel of Locanda Verde, Brooke Sabel of Ninety Acres and Christopher Cree M.W. of 56 Degree Wine.

The festival’s largest event, The Grand Tasting ($125) on Saturday May 1 from 7pm to 10pm (6pm early VIP preview), features more than thirty wineries and top chefs from New Jersey and New York.  The tasting showcases all the wineries and champagne houses participating in the festival, including Dom Perignon, Cakebread, Chateau Cheval Blanc, Hess, Chateau Montelena, Livio Felluga, Krug, Showket Vineyards, Chateau d’Yquem, Antinori, Chateau de Sancerre, Sassicaia and Veuve Clicquot, among others.  Participating restaurants include Lorena’s, Copeland, Pluckemin Inn, Zylo, Boulevard Five 72, A Toute Heure, The Orange Squirrel, Ho-Ho-Kus Inn & Tavern, Tocqueville and Restaurant Latour.  The thirty-two piece David Aaron Orchestra will play live during the tasting and renowned author and culinary historian Arthur Schwartz will be signing copies of his new book. The winners will of the high-end charity raffle will be drawn at this event, although winners do not need to be present to win.

The same evening Saturday May 1, New York City’s Maialino Chef Nick Anderer will pair a five-course menu with rare library vintages from Sassicaia going back to 1980s. Sassicaia winemaker Sebastiano Rossa will co-host this extraordinary dinner (6pm Grand Tasting Preview, 7pm dinner, $400, limited to 26 guests).

On Sunday May 2, guests can enjoy a Champagne Brunch at the four-star Restaurant Latour (11am-2pm, $50), with top champagne houses such asDom Perignon and Moet & Chandon pouring four different kinds of bubbly.  In the afternoon, wine seminars will be held featuring the wines of Hess andChateau Montelena ($35 each, $60 for both).

More information, a full schedule of events, tickets and packages are available on the website at www.njfoodandwinefestival.com.  Resort reservations can be made by calling 973-827-5996 ext 3.

###

About Crystal Springs Resort

Crystal Springs Resort, located in Vernon and Hardyston, New Jersey, is an upscale four-season leisure and residential resort, including the newly opened Grand Cascades Lodge and sister property Minerals Hotel. Crystal Springs Resort combines luxury accommodations, natural mountain beauty, and a wide array amenities including: seven renowned golf courses; four-star Restaurant Latour; Wine Spectator Grand Award-winning wine cellar (more than 78,000 bottles to date); two full-service spas ranked in the top 30 spas in America; the state-of-the-art Minerals Sports Club; multiple indoor and outdoor pools, including the distinctive Biosphere Pool Complex with an underground aquarium, tropical foliage and free form nature pools; and a plethora of sophisticated venues for meetings, weddings and catered events. More information: www.crystalgolfresort.com.

About Share Our Strength

Share Our Strength® is the leading national organization working to end childhood hunger in America. We weave together a net of community groups, activists and food programs to catch every at-risk child and make sure no kid in America grows up hungry. Visit www.strength.org and learn more about our goal of ending childhood hunger in America by 2015.