by Ted Scheffler
Salt Lake City Weekly
Last week I had the distinct pleasure of attending an exceptional wine dinner held at Park City's Zoom restaurant, hosted by executive chef Brian Prusse and Zoom's terrific longtime manager Steve Solomon. It was the fourth in a series of dinners which are part of the Sundance “Celebrating Wine as Art” program. Celebrating Wine as Art is a unique program intended to showcase the superb culinary and vinicultural talents of highly visionary chefs and winemakers. As such, it complements Sundance's unique Tree Room author lecture series, The Bluebird Café at the Owl Bar evenings and its many ongoing art, film and theater programs—all of which are geared toward bringing distinctive independent artistic voices to Utah.
What distinguishes these wine dinners from most is they really do feature the independent visions of winemakers and chefs that may legitimately be called artists. For many wine and food nuts, the chefs and winemakers Ray is bringing to our state rival the Renoirs and Chagalls of the art world—except insofar as they are still alive. As with the production of any great art, the artisan winemakers featured in Celebrating Wine as Art combine boundless passion, soul and studied technique, along with stunning imagination and creativity to produce magnificent wines that dance on the palate.
And while the focus is on wine in the Celebrating Wine as Art program, renowned chefs like Hiro Sone (see below) also pepper the series, working in tandem with winemakers to create stunning wine pairings that will only happen once, then vanish forever like the wine and food itself. It's our good fortune that these very special dinners are taking place right here in Utah.
In honor of Celebrating Wine as Art, Sundance has made available to guests a special collection of limited-edition wines carrying the Sundance label, with art for the series produced by celebrated graphic artist Michael Schwab. The wines are available at the Celebrating Wine as Art dinners, at Sundance restaurants and in the Sundance General Store.
Among the artisan winemakers (representing award-winning wineries) included in the Celebrating Wine as Art series are Susie Selby (Selby Winery); Bunny and Art Finkelstein (Judd's Hill); John and Diane Livingston (Livingston-Moffett); Laely Heron (Heron); and Steve Girard and Carl Doumani (Benton-Lane). The Sundance label wines currently featured in the Celebrating Wine as Art program include Livingston-Moffett Stanley's Selection Cabernet Sauvignon 2002; Judd's Hill Napa Valley Merlot 1999; Selby Winery Sonoma County Chardonnay 2002; Benton-Lane Winery Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2002; and Heron California Syrah 2002.
Any one of these wines would be enough to get me to a Celebrating Wine as Art dinner. But being able to indulge in all of them as I did last week—in tandem with Zoom executive chef Brian Prusse's marvelously well-conceived dishes and pairings—well, that's when I really can say I've celebrated art as wine.
Sips: The next event in the Celebrating Wine as Art series will take place at Sundance's Tree Room restaurant on May 19, 2005. That evening Sundance will host a wine dinner featuring the food of Hiro Sone (voted “Best California Chef” in 2003 by the James Beard Foundation) and Lissa Doumani of Terra restaurant in Napa Valley, paired with wines from Judd's Hill. Judd's Hill winemaker Art Finkelstein will also be in attendance. The dinner is $70 per person and wine pairings are available for an additional $55. For reservations, phone 801-223-4220; for more information on Sundance visit SundanceResort.com.