Wednesday, May 21, 2008

What a week! -- LocalHarvest's Veggie Ball

Whew, it's been a busy week for the folks here at A to Z! We've been out and about all over the state for winemaker dinners, guest pouring events, and even a charity ball! A Veggie Ball, to be more precise...

Rachel, {whose several-acre garden/orchard out in the coast range is a thing of rare beauty}, anchored our participation in LocalHarvest's Veggie Ball this past weekend, and sent me the following missive....



On May 17th, I headed into the NW Industrial area to pour for the second annual Veggie Ball, a benefit for Growing Gardens. Despite the 90+ degree weather and the fact that the event was in an old train depot with no cooling system and lots of skylights (*gasp, drip, sigh*), everyone was in good spirits and lots of great folks turned out to raise money for this worthy cause.

Growing Gardens creates community garden space from industrial wasteland, organizes fruit and vegetable gardens for inner-city kids who have never so much as eaten (much less grown) a fresh radish before, and builds raised gardens for low income disabled individuals and families. I brought the A to Z Night and Day big red blend and the Rex Hill Chardonnay to share with the crowd. The Night and Day was a hit as always, and the Chardonnay was the wine of the night. A nice cool glass of delicious un-oaked Dijon clone Chardonnay was just the right thing on such a sultry evening. Despite the heat, the quince blossoms from my yard held up beautifully and highlighted my fresh sunburn quite nicely for the event. I'm sure people were whispering to one another: "Head towards the pink glow for the best wine here".

NPR senior correspondent Ketzel Levine emceed the event all the way through the veggie costume contest (let me tell you, people take that competition SERIOUSLY), the live auction, and the award ceremony. Add to that the great wine and delicious bites from some of Portland's top restaurants, the most amazing auctioneer I have ever heard in action, and the chance to dance along with local band Steppin' Out, and a great time was had by all. Fingers crossed there will be some pics of that costume contest up on Growing Gardens' website soon! I was too busy pouring samples and chatting with attendees to take any pics of my own. Check out www.growing-gardens.org for info about this great cause and their work.

Cheers,
Rachel

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Nice work Rachel! Thanks for making a difference!