Wine & Food Tasting History
by Kris Waller
(Photo: Kris Waller and Barnie Breslauer, Chairwomen for the 1989 Wine & Food Tasting at Christensen Ranch, seated in the Christian Eagle.)
When I was in early grade school, I remember my mom hosting a meeting in our home. Most of the attendees were housewives and the meeting format was a high tea using the formal tea set, fine china, and crystal. The group was the El Torillo Chapter of Children’s Home Society that formed in San Benito County in 1956 with 35 charter members. Their mission was to raise funds to support adoption and foster family care.
The President of the Chapter at the time, Margie Gabriel, came up with the idea of having a wine tasting for their fundraiser. Some members told her “it would never work.” I’m so glad they were wrong!
The First Year
The headline from a September 1957 newspaper article for the first wine tasting reads, “The lawn of the Bob Law Ranch at Paicines was locale for a Sunday event which was sponsored by El Torillo Chapter, Children’s Home Society of California.” The article stated, “Approximately 200 guests were present for the garden party which included the showing of the new fall styles from Towntry Fashions.” The only wines served were from Almaden Vineyard, and the cost to attend was $3.00 per couple.
Starting as an invitation-only event, it became known as the “Wine Tasting Party – one of the biggest social events of the year.” It was held at the Law Ranch from 1957 – 1974 with various themes, and during the early years, featured a fashion show to present the latest styles for the fall season (which is why it was held in September). In talking to the long-time members, the most memorable was the showing of the “Popular Paper Fashions” designed by Mrs. Mette Paris of San Luis Obispo with models dressed in paper clothing.
The wines were provided by Almaden Vineyards and an assortment of cheeses were served, courtesy of the Marin French Cheese Company. Antique cars were on hand one year to compliment the fashion show featuring clothes of olden days. One year featured a metal sculpture demo by Vern Terry. Music was provided by various local bands including San Benito Music Makers and Bob Bouchard Big Band. Local artists from the Hollister Art League and San Benito Union High School Art Department displayed their artwork on several occasions. The attendance increased each year with an estimated 950 attending the last year the event was held at the Law Ranch.
In 1975, the venue changed to the beautiful gardens at the home of Mrs. Joseph Annotti on Airline Highway. There was ample space for parking and an expansive lawn for the increased number of guests now attending. There was also room to add more tables to broaden the menu from just a selection of cheeses to BBQ sausages cooked on site and appetizers prepared by the members the night before the event. For the next 14 years, the Wine Tasting Party was held at this location.
Restaurants Added
During the planning of the 1989 Wine Tasting with 12 wineries now participating, a suggestion was made to check with our local restaurants to see if they might be interested in making trays of appetizers to serve with the wines. The idea was a big hit with 23 restaurants excited to participate. Months were spent on the new challenge of pairing wines with the variety of menus. The tables were arranged with a winery in the center and a restaurant on either side.
This was also a memorable year because we were moving the venue to a new location – the home of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Christensen on Santa Ana Valley Road. While we were busy with the event planning, the groundskeeper at the ranch was working in overdrive to shape up the beautiful garden for our Saturday evening event.
Even though we always had a back-up plan in case of rain, it was never needed in the years I had been involved in the Wine Tasting. Frank Christensen was the designer and manufacturer of the aerobatic sporting biplane, the Christian Eagle. He had a beautiful, large, spotless hanger that served as our alternate location “in case of rain.”
As we were setting up during the early afternoon the day of the event, there were concerns about the possibility of rain, so we called it and decided to move indoors. In a matter of three hours, we had to forgo some of our great pairing ideas to recreate an entire new layout inside the hanger. The logistics of check-in and parking was also reorganized.
That was the one and only year the event was planned at this venue. We were sorry we could not show off the beautiful garden, but it was a good decision as we watched the rare lightning show in Hollister followed by the roar of thunder and the flash flood rolling down the surrounding hills.
1990 – A Year of Big Changes
Children’s Home Society served all of California, and after about 35 years, the group wanted to see more money coming back to San Benito County. In 1990, the active members of Children’s Home Society unanimously voted to disband and reorganize under the Children’s Services Center out of Monterey as the Gabilan Chapter, knowing that more of their fundraising money would benefit children and families in San Benito County. In 1995, the name was changed to Kinship Center and their offices were moved to the current location in Salinas.
The other big change was moving the venue back to its original location – the Law Ranch, now known as Paicines Ranch owned by Ridgemark Corporation. The grounds were beautiful and had been expanded over the years to be able to accommodate the 28 wineries and 34 restaurants participating in the fundraiser, along with the estimated crowd of over 1000 attending. In 2001, the ranch was purchased by Sallie Calhoun and Matt Christiano.
With the addition of the restaurants, the name of the event was changed to the “Wine & Food Festival,” but members felt that “festival” was the wrong connotation for the dressy garden party. This name was short-lived and was changed to the “Wine & Food Tasting.” This iconic name and the fabulous event have been a constant to this day.
Closing
Gabilan Chapter Seneca is still a group of 35-40 women. Ages range decades apart, and some are third-generation volunteers. Some members are working women or retirees, some are moms and grandmothers, and the meetings have taken many different formats, but the purpose remains the same – raising funds to support children to find their forever homes.
The Gabilan Chapter Wine & Food Tasting has raised over $1.5 million for Seneca (formerly Kinship Center) to help support this mission.