The
Seventh Annual Wine Aficionado Dinner benefiting the Bogart Pediatric
Cancer Research Program took place on Thursday May 14, 2009 at Disney
Concert Hall in Los Angeles. The wine dinner and live auction, called “2005:
Vintage of the Millennium (so far!),” raised hundreds of thousands
of dollars for leukemia and cancer research for infants, children,
and adolescents at the Bogart labs at Children's Hospital Los
Angeles. Dinner guests such as Kyle MacLachlan (Desperate Housewives),
Dana Delany (Desperate Housewives) and Brock Pierce (The Mighty Ducks)
mingled with agents and executives such as Joe Smith (Former Chairman
of Capitol Records), and Bogart Wine Committee members Ann Colgin (Colgin
Cellars), Jeff Smith (Carte du Vin), Sandra Rapke (Event chair and
Bogart Board member), Bob Bookman (CAA), and Pamela Morton (Morton's).
To date, the annual affair has raised over $1,656,000.
The elegant evening began with a reception in the upstairs balcony
of the Disney Concert Hall where 2005 Kistler Chardonnay and Non-Vintage
Nicolas Feuillatte Rosé Brut were paired with an assortment
of hors d'oeuvres. A seated, four-course dinner prepared by Patina
Catering and Chef Joachim Splichal immediately followed. Each course
was expertly paired with highly-collectable wines from the great 2005
vintage. The first course was white asparagus tiède, apple wasabi
crème fraîche and lobster coral vinaigrette paired with
William Fevre Chablis “Bougros” and Peter Michael Chardonnay “Belle
Côte”. The second course, which featured a Saint Pierre
filet, shallot miso, purple mustard leaves and grilled artichokes,
was paired with Daniel Rion Clos de Vougeot, and Bouchard Père
et Fils Volney “Caillerets, Ancienne Cuvée Carnot”.
The entrée was a charred filet of beef with duo purée
of fava bean and cauliflower, and a vieux parmesan and beet cannoli
paired with Clos Fourtet (St-Émilion), Château Haut-Bailly
(Pessac-Léognan), and Colgin IX Estate Red. The dinner's
conclusion featured a dessert course of almond apricot financier and
nougat ice cream with a glass of Château Rieussec (Sauternes).
Each wine at the dinner was selected and sourced by the Wine Dinner
Committee.
Sandra Rapke, Bogart Board member introduced members of the Dinner
Committee and the evening's speaker, Amy Dilbeck, who was diagnosed
with Osteosarcoma bone cancer at the age of 16. Amy, who will soon
graduate from Pepperdine University Law School, shared her story of
being a teenager with cancer, and how the Bogart Doctors at Childrens
Hospital L.A. were able to save her life.
Bogart Wine Committee members in attendance, who donated their time,
energy and items for auction lots that made the event a huge success
included Sandra Rapke, Ann Colgin (Colgin Cellars), Jeff Smith (Carte
du Vin), Bob Bookman (CAA), Stacie Hunt (DuVin Wines), Joe Kessler
(SS&K), Matt Lichtenberg (Level Four Business Management), Freddy
DeMann (executive producer of The Life and Death of Peter Sellers,
co-founder of Maverick Records), and Pamela Morton (Morton's
restaurant).
The night's highlight was an auction led by auctioneer and committee
member Ann Colgin and committee member Jeff Smith. This year, wine
aficionados bid on two exclusive lots featuring wines from 2005, a
vintage legendary for producing great wines from every corner of the
globe. The “Best Cellars 2005: France” lot, which featured
a selection of 18 wines such as the highly rated Château Clos
Fourtet and Château Angelus from Bordeaux, the southern Rhone
Château Beaucastel Chateauneuf-du-Pape, as well as a selection
of high-end Burgundy wines including Père et Fils Volney “Caillerets,
Ancienne Cuvée Carnot”. The “Best Cellars 2005:
California” lot featured a selection of cult favorites such as
Colgin IX Estate, Harlan Estate “The Maiden” Oakville,
Bryant Family Vineyard and Araujo Estate Eisele Vineyard.
One of the most exciting lots of the night was “Screaming Teen
Dream”. The package featured tickets for high-profile events
such as 2009 MTV Movie Awards and 2009 Teen Choice Awards, two tickets
to an upcoming Jonas Brothers concert including access to the exclusive
sound check party, as well as a signed Gibson Acoustic Sheryl Crow
Signature Guitar.
Other auction highlights included “The Sky's the Limit”,
a three-hour roundtrip flight to any destination on a private CitationShares
jet; “Burgundy with the Burghound”, a private dinner with
the renowned Burgundy critic Allen Meadows at CAA literary agent Bob
Bookman's historic home, once occupied by Howard Hughes and Katherine
Hepburn; “Everything's Coming Up Rosens”, a private
movie screening in the home of Fred and Nadine Rosen; “A Night
at the Sports Museum”, a private tour of the Gary Cypres Sports
Museum by Gary himself; and “Host to Host”, a progressive
dinner for four couples in four of Los Angeles' top elite homes.
The auction concluded with 40 guests generously volunteering to purchase
and donate a fully-loaded laptop for a Bogart Scholar patient. Bogart
will present the laptops, along with education scholarships to teens
battling cancer during the Childrens Hospital Los Angeles “Celebrate
Life” event on June 7, 2009 at the Paramount Lot.
The motivation for this high class revelry is the Bogart Pediatric
Cancer Research Program, which conducts the leukemia and cancer research
for infants, children, and adolescents at the Childrens Hospital Los
Angeles. Over the last six years, the Wine Aficionado Dinner has raised
over $1.65 Million for the Bogart Research Program. Funds raised by
Bogart Pediatric Cancer Research Program enable the foundation to receive
more support for its research and care, resulting in eight to ten dollars
in research grants for every dollar raised.
