Mumbo Gumbo: A Chile Reception

Chef Peter Fassbender spent five frantic hours recently trying to reach family in Santiago after the recent devastating 8.8 magnitude earthquake.

He reflected, "All communications were lost internally in Chile so everyone was ignorant of what was happening." Fortunately, those he loves were unharmed and experienced only structural damage to their homes.

The spirit of generosity and of wanting to come to the aid of his countrymen (Peter is a native of Chile) inspired a Chilean Wine Dinner at Season's Restaurant on April 22 with 20 percent of the proceeds going to the Red Cross Chilean Relief Fund. Multi-lingual and trained in a wide variety of cuisines, Chef Fassbender plans to serve many traditional dishes, a number of which revolve around fish. "With 4,000 miles of coast, we have a rich heritage of seafood such as Centolla (king crab) and salmon." Because of the geographical reach of Chile, Spanish influences are very important (expect to see empanadas on the menu!), as are those of Germany.

Richard McKinney of Tryon Distributors will be presenting a variety of wines from the Errazuriz Winery, one of the three oldest family-owned Chilean wineries. A walking encyclopedia of wine knowledge, Richard says, "Errazuriz runs the gamut of varietals in breadth and depth because they have perfectly situated properties throughout Chile." He will present some of the history of Chilean wine making, which is a direct descendant of French viticulture. Richard adds, "Stylistically, these wines fall very much within the French profile."

Wining, dining and giving. Sounds like a delicious evening.

Tweet