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2004 ST. MICHAELS FOOD & WINE FESTIVAL
ATTRACTS THOUSANDS
ST. MICHAELS, MD. May 18, 2004 – According to all who
participated in and contributed to the 2004 St. Michaels Food &
Wine Festival, it was an overwhelming success. Only in its
second year, the Festival drew over 1,000 visitors to the
central pavilion tent and hundreds more to its off-site special
events throughout the four-day festival.
Attendees traveled from as far north as New
York and as far south as Florida to join in the celebration.
 “Beautiful
weather, a wonderful slate of guest chefs and a fantastic
location brought a large turnout of people,” said Jon Mason,
Festival Chairman. “Our biggest issue was the size of the tent.
That only means the event was more successful than we imagined
it would be. Next year, we will have two tents, so there will be
plenty of room for people to taste and discuss the wines, sample
food from around the region, and to view the cooking
demonstrations and wine seminars.”
The four-day celebration of food and wine
began on Thursday evening at the Miles River Yacht Club with a
VIP reception catered by Gourmet by the Bay and hosted by
Brown-Forman Spirits. Local chefs, restaurateurs, event sponsors
and area residents mingled with celebrity guest chefs such as
Tom Colicchio of Gramercy Tavern and Craft Restaurant in New
York City; Bob Waggoner, Executive Chef of Charleston Grill at
Charleston Place Hotel in Charleston, South Carolina; David
Burke of davidburke & donatella in New York City; Adrian Cooling
of Thyme Café in Sheffield, England; and, Lynne Tolley,
great-grandniece of Jack Daniels, from Lynchburg, Tennessee.
 On
Friday, the St. Michaels Festival Pavilion, located on the
grounds of The Inn at Perry Cabin, was opened at 1:00 p.m. by
Local Delegate Jeannie Haddaway. A large demonstration kitchen
provided by Viking Range Corporation became the stage for local
and celebrity chefs to prepare their favorite foods. Friday’s
demonstrations included a Jack Daniels bourbon tasting lead by
Lynne Tolley and a delicious Carrot Cake Roulade prepared by
Chris Kujala, Executive pastry chef of Kinkead’s in Washington
DC. Friday evening, a sold out wine dinner at Sherwood’s Landing
at The Inn at Perry Cabin, gave guests the opportunity to
experience different delights from Mark Salter, Executive Chef
at Sherwood’s Landing, David Burke, Bob Waggoner and Adrian
Cooling. Each chef prepared a course, which was then matched
with a special selection of wines from Cakebread Cellars in Napa
Valley, California.
Adrian Cooling opened the festivities on
Saturday by dispelling the myth about boring English food. The
special version of the classic English Shepards Pie was a great
hit and the red pepper risotto demonstrated the versatility of
his talents. Mark Salter conducted an exciting demonstration
with his award-winning recipe of pork tenderloin featuring his
very own, Salter’s Chesapeake Gourmet, Tamari Orange dressing.
Bob Waggoner continued to impress this great crowd with his
yellow tomato gazpacho and Country crepinette of local rabbit
loin with seared foie gras in a sawmill sausage gravy, thus
demonstrating why he has steered Charleston Grill to the five
star level it has received. Washington, DC Chef Nora Pouillon of
Restaurant Nora and Asia Nora stopped by the tent following her
cooking class at The Tilghman Island Inn to sign books and talk
about organic cooking. Cookbook signings were also held that
afternoon by Chefs Tom Colicchio and David Burke as well as
Lynne Tolley.
 More
than a hundred wines were available to taste from vineyards as
famous as the Californian wineries of Robert Mondavi, Firestone
and Robert Pecota, as well as new world wines from Australia and
Argentina. Festival t-shirts, polo shirts, hats and chef’s
jackets were on sale and the Pavilion was alive with cooking
aromas and the sound of wine bottles uncorking.
As an additional feature to the St. Michaels pavilion location,
Dockside Express provided a shuttle service driving guests to
the Tilghman Island Inn, where a second tent was set up for
festival goers to sample organic meats and produce and to taste
a host of different wines. According to David McCallum,
Executive Chef/Owner at the Inn, “Over 600 people came through
the Tilghman Island Inn tent on Saturday alone. It was very
exciting.”
Harbour Lights, located in the St. Michaels
Harbour Inn, Marina & Spa, hosted a wine & oyster tasting on
Saturday afternoon. “Grapes and Shells” gave guests the
opportunity to taste several different oyster preparations
paired with crisp white wines. The Wine dinner on Saturday
evening took place at Bistro St. Michaels. Tom Colicchio and two
of his chefs from Gramercy Tavern and Craft Restaurant in New
York City joined David Stein and his team at Bistro St. Michaels
to create a fabulous five-course menu. Wines were paired by
Chris Goodhart, Wine Director for Balthazar, Pastis, Pravda,
Lucky Strike and the newly opened Schiller’s in New York City.
 Saturday
evening was crowned with Desserts, Spirits and Cigars at Town
Dock Restaurant, hosted by Gourmet by the Bay, Jack Daniels and
Easton’s Cigar and Smokeshop, which offered Caribes' Camacho
Corojo, the world's only authentic Corojo cigar.
Sunday morning, the Pavilion tent opened with
a champagne and hors d’oeuvre reception hosted by Bellefon
Champagne. At noon, Barbara Werley, Master Sommelier and
Beverage Director at The Homestead in Hot Springs, Virginia,
took the stage for a Champagne seminar. Ticket holders enjoyed
wine tastings and presentations leading up to the Pavilion
finale at 1:00 p.m., which was the live travel, food & wine
auction.
Local auctioneer Herb Andrews kept bidders in
suspense as they fought over a variety of items, including: a
Viking beer keg refrigerator valued at $3,500; dinner for 12
guests cooked by five of St. Michaels finest chefs, valued at
$2,000; and, the top auction item, a five-day, four-night trip
with airfare to the luxurious Seven Mile Beach in the Cayman
Islands, valued at $5,000. Other auction items included
collector bottles of wine in both magnum and 750 milliliter
sizes, flights of collector’s bourbons, a humidor filled with
special cigars, and a tour of Orient Express Properties,
including overnight stays at Keswick Hall in Charlottesville,
VA, Charleston Place in
Charleston, SC, and the Windsor Court Hotel in
New Orleans, LA. This event alone raised over $13,500 for local
charities.
On Sunday evening a wine dinner was held at
Town Dock Restaurant with Chef Michael Rork inviting chefs Chris
Moyer and Randolph Sprinkle to re-create the James Beard Wine
Dinner this team previously cooked at the James Beard House in
New York City in 1997. That evening, The Tilghman Island Inn
also hosted A Classic Maryland Wine Dinner prepared by the Inn’s
Chef David McCallum and Executive Sous Chef Dawn McLoughlin.
Proceeds from the 2004 St Michaels Food & Wine Festival will
benefit the St. Michaels Food Bank and Pickering Creek Audubon
Center.
In an attempt to feed the hungry in the Bay Hundred Area, the St
Michaels Food Bank, run by volunteers at Christ Church,
distributes groceries to those in need on a daily basis. A
portion of the proceeds from the 2004 event will be donated to
the St Michaels Food Bank to purchase food items as they deem
necessary.
Pickering Creek Audubon Center, is dedicated to community based
conservation of natural resources through environmental
education and outreach. Located on a 400-acre farm and science
education center near Easton, features 100 acres of forest, a
mile of shoreline, nature trails, a low-ropes challenge course,
live animal displays and a canoe launch. Pickering Creek’s
trails are open seven days a week from dawn to dusk. Over 15,000
students and adults attend programs here each year.
The St. Michaels Food & Wine Festival Committee has already
begun preparations for next year’s 3rd annual festival. The
dates will be April 28th-May 1st, 2005.
For more information about the 2004 or 2005
St. Michaels Food and Wine Festival or to receive event
photographs, visit the SMBA website at
www.stmichaelsmd.org
or call the local office at 1.800.808.7622.
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