Event co-chairs Jeff Smith, Sandra Rapke, Ann Colgin, Joe Wender.
The
Sixth Annual Wine Aficionado Dinner benefiting the Bogart
Pediatric Cancer Research Program was held on Thursday, May 8 at
the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. The $1,250 per seat
sold-out wine dinner and live auction called “Dial M for
Merlot” raised
an impressive $341,000, nearly matching last year's record-breaking
dinner, and resulting in the highest net profit of the event's
six-year span. To date, the annual affair has raised over $1,451,000.
The motivation for this high-class revelry was the Bogart Pediatric
Cancer Research Program, which conducts the leukemia and cancer research
for infants, children, and adolescents at the Childrens Hospital Los
Angeles.
The elegant evening began with a reception in the upstairs balcony
of the Walt Disney Concert Hall featuring 1996 Veuve Clicquot “La
Grande Dame” and 2005 Kistler Vine Hill Chardonnay. Dinner immediately
followed, with a seated, four course meal prepared by Patina Catering
and chef Joachim
Splichal. The courses were paired with highly-collectible
Merlot varietal wines, including a 2004 Villa Russiz Graf de la Tour,
2004 Avignonesi Desiderio, 2000 Girolamo Castello di Bossi
(Berardegna), 1999 Arietta Merlot, 2002 Colgin Jubilation Merlot, 2005
Blackbird Merlot, 1998 Château Clinet (Pomerol), 1998 Château
Monbousquet (St-Émilion), and 1998 Château Quinault
l'Enclos (St-Émilion). The wines were all selected and
sourced by the Wine Dinner Committee.
Event co-chair Sandra Rapke introduced members of
the Dinner Committee, and talked about Bogart's exciting new
chapter as a
completely autonomous entity, following a 25-year partnership with
the T J Martell Foundation. She then
welcomed Dr. Stuart Siegel, director of the Bogart
Pediatric Cancer Research Program, to talk about the
recent advances in cancer treatments, and to thank guests for their
continued support.
Dinner guests included Los Angeles notables such as Gary
Newman, chairman,
Twentieth Century Fox
Television, director Jef Levy, Pamela
Skaist-Levy,
musician and
film producer Shaun Cassidy, actor Dean
Cain,
producer Randall Miller and writer Jody
Savin, and Michael
Polenske. Event co-chairs Sandra Rapke,
Ann Colgin, Joe Wender, and Jeff Smith were
joined by Dinner Committee members including Bob
Bookman, Michael Duffy, Stacie Hunt, Joe Kessler, Matt Lichtenberg,
Pamela Morton,
Christian Navarro, Mark Beaven, Carl
Parmer and Nadine
Schiff, who donated their
time,
energy and items for auction lots that made the event a huge success.
The night's highlight was an auction led by Sotheby's Wine
Department consultant Ann Colgin and Event co-chair Jeff
Smith.
The Bogart Pediatric Cancer Research Program's primary purpose
is the financial support of the Bogart
Labs at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. Bogart is dedicated to continue
its support for those programs
and projects that are on the cutting edge of "bench to bedside" research.
Bogart funds the diagnosis,
treatment, care and cure of leukemia, cancer and AIDS by funding on
a research development grant
basis. This funding enables the foundation to secure more substantial
support from other funding sources.
Gary Newman, Jeanne Newman, Jeff Smith.
Shaun Cassidy, and wife Tracey Lynn Turner.
Bogart Dinner Committee member Christian Navarro and Lisette Lee Morita.
