2017 Relais & Chateaux GourmetFest Announces Star-Studded Chef and Winery Line-Up for 2017 Event, March 16-19
Over 18 Relais & Chateaux Chefs, Including Daniel Boulud, Michael Tusk, Justin Cogley, Shin Takagi, Nathan Rich, Cassidee Dabney and Per Hallundbaek, Join Winemakers Dominique Lafon, Aurélien Valance, Cyril Chappellet, Thierry Gasco and Philippe Prost to Headline Fourth Annual Elite California Food and Wine Festival
Relais & Châteaux GourmetFest, a four-day culinary extravaganza, returns for its fourth delectably extravagant year March 16-19, 2017 with 18 Relais & Châteaux chefs, including Michelin three-star Chef Michael Tusk of Quince, and two-stared Chefs Daniel Boulud and Shin Takagi.
Top wine estates for 2017 will include Chateaux Margaux, Bouchard Pere & Fils, Domaine des Comte Lafon, Chappellet Winery, and Champagne Pommery. Sommeliers Larry Stone, Raj Parr and Jeff Kellogg will lead tasting panels supported by over 30 of the nation’s top Sommeliers in attendance.
GourmetFest was founded in 2014 by L’Auberge Carmel’s proprietor David Fink, original founder of the Masters of Food & Wine in 1987. Now in its fourth year, the Relais & Châteaux GourmetFest has become a tour de force in the food and wine festival circuit.
More than 18 Relais & Châteaux chefs will descend on Carmel-by-the-Sea, California for 20 gastronomic events, from the much-lauded “Wild Mushroom Hunt & Lunch” with Chefs Cassidee Dabney of Blackberry Farm, and sustainability-driven Jerry Regester of Santa Lucia Preserve; cooking demos and lunch with acclaimed Chefs Daniel Boulud and Michael Tusk in the State-of-the-Art Gaggenau Demo Kitchen; a 10-course rarities dinner feast paired with wines from Champagne Pommery, Château Margaux, Domaine des Comtes Lafon and Bouchard Père & Fils, prepared by James Beard Award-winning Chef Michael Tusk (Quince Restaurant, San Francisco), Food & Wine magazine “Best New Chef” and Relais & Châteaux Grand Chef Justin Cogley (Aubergine, Carmel-by-the-Sea), acclaimed two-star Michelin Chef Daniel Boulud and Relais & Châteaux Pastry Chef Yulanda Santos (Aubergine, Carmel-by-the-Sea).
The Wine highlights for the weekends are five extraordinary once in a lifetime tastings with Aurelien Valance of Chateau Margaux, Philippe Prost of Bouchard Pere & Fils, Dominique Lafon of Domaine des Comte Lafon, and Champagne legend Thierry Gasco, Chef de Cave at Champagne Pommery, whom will lead a Sunday morning tasting of the rare Pommery “Cuvee Louise” which will include Jeroboams of the 1990 vintage. A special tribute to the late Donn Chappellet and tasting is also planned to celebrate 50 years of Chappellet, which includes the ultra-rare and iconic 1969 Chappellet Cabernet Sauvignon.
The 2017 Relais & Châteaux GourmetFest major sponsors included this year are Visa, BMW, Gaggenau, L’Auberge Carmel, Royal Blues Hotel, Air France, Champagne Pommery and media sponsors including Art Culinaire and San Francisco Chronicle.
In addition to the four-day event, the festival’s online auction – benefiting the Carmel Chamber of Commerce, CSU Monterey Bay hospitality program, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and Rancho Cielo, will feature visits to some of Relais & Châteaux’s most extraordinary properties.
To purchase tickets or for more information on the 2017 Relais & Châteaux GourmetFest visit: gourmetfestcarmel.com.
ABOUT RELAIS & CHATEAUX
Established in 1954, Relais & Châteaux is an association of more than 540 landmark hotels and restaurants operated by independent innkeepers, chefs, and owners who share a passion for their businesses and a desire for authenticity in their relationships with their clientele. Relais & Châteaux is established around the globe, from the Napa Valley vineyards and French Provence to the beaches of the Indian Ocean. Relais & Châteaux members have a desire to protect and promote the diversity of the world’s cuisine and traditions of hospitality. They are committed to preserving local heritage and the environment, as encompassed in the Charter presented to UNESCO in November 2014. For more information visit: www.relaischateaux.com.
