Dear Friends and loyal customers
As hard as it is to believe next year we will be celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the California Barrel tasting.
The Barrel Tasting and dinner continues to honor two men who enjoyed great wine, great food and great friends. Addy Bassin, the founder of MacArthur Beverages, had a vision to create a California futures program offering customers an opportunity to sample and then purchase great wines years before their release. Sadly Addy passed away in 1986 shortly after the first barrel tasting. Addy’s son, Bruce, took over the operation of the store and continued to improve and expand the event started by his father. The Addy Bassin Cancer Research fund was started in Addy’s honor at the second tasting in 1987. In 1999 after the very sudden and tragic passing of Addy’s son, Bruce, his name was also added to the charity.
Friday April 16th 2010 Wine Makers Dinner
We are very excited to announce that Eric Ziebold of CityZen Restaurant will be preparing this years dinner at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. The evening begins at 7pm with a Billecart- Salmon Rose Champagne reception and passed hors d'oeuvres. This is followed by a sensational five course dinner featuring sixteen wines covering both recent vintages and older cellar selections made by the wine makers attending the dinner
Some of the wineries pouring at the dinner this year will include Miner Family, ZD, Dunn and Vineyard 7&8 already confirmed with more to follow. The cost of this gastronomic experience will be $295.00 per person. Do not delay in making your reservations, less than 100 seats remain.
| Widely acclaimed both locally and nationally, Eric Ziebold has assumed the position of Executive Chef at CityZen since its inception in 2004. He previously served as Thomas Keller's Chef de Cuisine at The French Laundry in Yountville, California and worked through various stations in the kitchens of Wolfgang Puck's Spago in Los Angeles and Jeffrey Buben's Vidalia in Washington D.C. Named "Best New Chef" by Food & Wine Magazine in 2005 and "Best Chef: Mid Atlantic" by the James Beard Foundation in 2008, Ziebold calls his distinct style of cuisine Modern American. In September 2009, he lent his talents to the design, opening and execution of Sou'Wester, a second restaurant in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Washington D.C. where he offers American comfort food with inspirations from our region. |  |
Saturday April 17th 2010 Barrel Tasting
This year the Barrel Tasting will feature not only the 2008 vintage but we will be reoffering the incredible 2007 vintage again giving the attendees a second chance to pick up on some of these wines still available. The tasting will be held in two identical two and a half hour sessions. The first is from 12:30pm until 3pm and the second 6:30pm until 9pm. The cost this year will be only $100.00 per person. This also includes an incredible buffet, desserts and coffee service. When you make your reservation please indicate which of the two sessions you wish to attend.
Reservations for both the Friday night Dinner and Saturday Barrel Tasting can be made on line at our secure web page www.bassins.com or by calling the store at 202 338 1433.
The Mandarin Oriental Hotel has a block of rooms held under MacArthur Beverages for customers wishing to stay in Washington and make a weekend of the event. The rooms are $235.00 per night. Please call 1 888 888 1778 no later than March 16th 2010.
The Mandarin Oriental Hotel is located at 1330 Maryland Ave S.W., Washington DC.
