Attending Wine Spectator's Best of the Best at Miami's Fontainebleau Hotel
This past weekend, I flew to Miami, Florida to take part in the annual South Beach Wine & Food Festival. This is always such a fun and star-studded four-day affair with so many great events to choose from. After landing in Fort Lauderdale my traveling companions and I found our way to our accommodations in the luxurious Soho Beach House on Miami Beach, where we were happy to settle in. Later that evening, we drove to the famous Fontainebleau Hotel to attend the Wine Spectator’s Best of the Best Sponsored by Bank of America. This very popular event combines the best new chefs with favorite established chefs and pairs their culinary creations with the best wines rated 90 points or more on the Wine Spectator's scale. One strolls from station to station sampling delicious bites while sipping on top varietals, making for a very memorable evening.
1 This is the charming butler at the SoHo House, located on Collins Ave. in Miami Beach.
2 He came to my luxurious suite to mix some nice cocktails after arriving in Miami.
3 He offered caipirinhas, gin and tonics, and other interesting cocktails.
4 The cart was well-stocked with fresh juices and condiments.
5 He has a nice shaking technique.
6 A caipirinha is made with fresh muddled lime, cachaça - a liquor made from fermented sugarcane juice, and cane sugar syrup.
7 Caipirinhas are quite delicious and refreshing.
8 I was in Miami with Lucinda Scala Quinn, Sarah Carey, Daisy Schwartzberg, and Kevin Sharkey. SoBe greeter Jennifer Hager met us at the airport.
9 On Friday evening, we attended Wine Spectator's Best of the Best at Fontainebleau Hotel.
10 This is the famous Bleau Bar, which has long been regarded as the meeting place of the stars.
11 After a $1 billion renovation and expansion, the Hotel held a grand reopening in November of 2008. The grand lobby's original white-and-black bow-tie floor pattern was recreated out of new materials.
12 This is one of many fabulous chandeliers in the Hotel.
13 Best of the Best was held in a very crowded grand ballroom. This event features the best chefs in the country, who pair their dishes with the best wines rated 90 points or higher on Wine Spectator's scale.
14 Upon entering the ballroom, guests are each given a wine glass.
15 The wineglasses are in a holder and are designed to be worn around the neck.
16 Here I am with Susan Magrino, my long-time publicist. It was very humid in Miami and definitely not a good hair day. I was also fighting the flu.
17 Sanford Winery, located in the Santa Rita Hills of CA, is known for their Pinot Noir. With climate and soil similarities to France's Burgundy province, Sanford was the first CA winery to plant Pinot in that area. http://www.sanfordwinery.com/
18 Cloudy Bay Vineyards is located in various location in the Marlborough region of New Zealand to maximize the considerable diversity that exists in micro-climates and soil types. http://www.cloudybay.co.nz/
19 Cloudy Bay had several excellent wines to choose from.
20 Here I am with Chef Brad Farmerie from Public in New York City, where he serves free-spirited fusion. http://public-nyc.com/
21 Chef Brad holding his tasty creation - Each chef is required to prepare 600 - 900 individual servings to satisfy the crowd.
22 The very recognizable Robert Mondavi Winery from California - http://www.robertmondavi.com/
23 This fellow did not want to pour me any wine.
24 I held out my glass until he acquiesced. I had a small taste and it was quite good.
25 This is Chef Michael Anthony of Gramercy Tavern in New York City, where he offers refined, contemporary American cuisine. http://www.gramercytavern.com/
26 Chef Michael served the crowd a wonderful dish of Gulf shrimp.
27 Jordan Vineyard & Winery is located in Sonoma County, CA and are known for their excellent Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay. http://www.jordanwinery.com/
28 Posing with Chef Pascal Oudin, chef/owner of the award winning French restaurant, Pascal's on Ponce, in Coral Gables, FL.
29 Chef Pascal served a yummy steak tartar topped with caviar.
30 A large tin of caviar staying cold in an ice bowl
31 These gals were working feverishly assembling a rather complicated hors d'oeuvre of crabmeat.
32 This type of dish is difficult to prepare for 600 - 900 hungry attendees.
33 It was quite good.
34 The Vodka Cured Salmon Belly was amazingly fresh, served with dill pearls and mustard caviar on black bread. It was prepared by The Villa By Barton G restaurant in Miami Beach. http://www.thevillabybartong.com/dining
35 I wanted some of these freshly dug truffles! On the left is Chef Michael Lewis of Zuma Miami, offering a sophisticated cuisine philosophy of flavorsome, modern Japanese dishes. http://www.zumarestaurant.com/
36 There were many desserts and they were all quite extraordinary!
37 There was so much variety.
38 Light as a feather mousse
39 A very special panna cotta - It was utterly delicious!
40 Someone was serving sweet spiced popcorn.
41 And someone else was spinning cotton candy.
42 These fellows from Lavazza were serving up shots of espresso as a form of drunk prevention. I wished them luck!
Martha Pins
Martha Tweets
Martha,
Thanks for sharing this fun event.
Posted by: KLBrown | February 27th, 2013 at 12:38 am
Well Martha, for someone who was fighting the flu AND a bad hair day, you were sure holding your own. I didn't see either. Photo #16 is a very good picture of you, and all of them with you in them looked just fine.
The food looked delicious.
Gloria G!!
Posted by: Gloria | February 27th, 2013 at 2:51 am
Martha, Martha, Martha - I was just sitting here thinking how exquisitely beautiful you looked and I read the picture caption and you were saying it was a bad hair day and you were fighting the flu! After all this success you still can't lighten up on yourself? Relax! You're gorgeous!....and smart and interesting, and more important, interested, and amazing, and must I go on?
Posted by: JustB | February 27th, 2013 at 6:38 am
Thank you for providing links to the beautiful SoHo Beach House and the fabulous Fontainebleau Hotel Martha. I enjoyed perusing their websites, such lovely places to stay in Miami.
Delightful photos of Wine Spectator's Best of the Best. The food looked delicious and how yummy pairing them with the best wines. No surprise it's such a popular event!
Martha, fighting the flu and humidity you still manage to look beautiful, thank you for sharing this fun event.
Posted by: Cindy F | February 27th, 2013 at 6:41 am
Cloudy Bay wine has been my chose for many years but hard to fine in the Mid West. It was introduced to me by an entertainer in the UK.
Posted by: ga447 | February 27th, 2013 at 8:14 am
Allen has seen change in real estate here and thanks for your help promoting wonderful FL. Is that a before shot of you in #8. You look wonderful and my wish is for good health to you always,
Posted by: ann | February 27th, 2013 at 8:34 am
Oh Martha! I kind of like the wild Miami hair. You're a babe!
Posted by: Stephen Andrew | February 27th, 2013 at 8:40 am
You look FABULOUS no matter the humidity or ills you were suffering. Thank you for sharing your trip and all that you post to your blog. Pat
Posted by: Patr | February 27th, 2013 at 8:55 am
What a wonderful time! I love flipping through our Wine Spectator for fresh ideas!
Posted by: nantucket Daffodil | February 27th, 2013 at 9:15 am
Martha, I am 10 yrs younger than you. I could spend 4hrs getting myself ready for a night out, and you would still run circles around me and every other woman in the crowd. You say you were fighting the flu?--ha! Would have never guessed! You are so photogenic...you look luminous...and just have to say...look more like your daughter in that photo than any other I've seen. Yes, I must concur with JustB, who wrote that you are too darn hard on yourself. Oh, BTW...your hair looks lovely with the slight waves framing your face!! Very flattering!
Posted by: maggie c | February 27th, 2013 at 9:25 am
Hi Martha, Sure hope you don't have the flu, but I've noticed that you only had a couple of tweets lately and had reruns on Sirius XM107. Sure hope your weather is nice and you don't get any more bad weather. We are having a bit of rain daily and lots of wind, but it gets up to the 50s occasionally. Can't wait for spring to come ASAP! Thanks for this wonderful blog about your trip to Miami and I'll bet their weather was much nicer! I loved seeing those 3 websites, also! All of these photos are wonderful and you, Lucinda, Sarah, Kevin, Daisy, and Jennifer must have had a great time! You looked marvelous in many of these photos and it was fun to see all the places you went to! Those wine glasses and all the different wines must have been delicious and all of the foods were, too! You do look cute in photo #16 with Susan Magrino! Every one of those chefs looked great and very happy to be there! Thanks again for sharing another fabulous blog! Off to see The Daily Wag about "What's in the Odd Little House?" Sure hope you are feeling better and have a great day! Jan
Posted by: Jan Erickson | February 27th, 2013 at 9:37 am
I've been lucky enough to visit (and stay at) Jordan Vineyards...
Beautiful property and awesome wine!!!
you should take a trip there!!!
Posted by: jill | February 27th, 2013 at 9:51 am
Hi Martha,
Nice outfit and great earrings and yes the humidity down here certainly can do a number on one's hair although yours looked nice - very Floridian. I keep mine short so I can maintain the waves and curls. Thanks for sharing your night at the Fontainebleau - I don't drink but the food looked really good. Those chefs had their work cut out for them didn't they with up to 900 attendees! Everything looked so beautifully prepared too. Trish
Posted by: Trish | February 27th, 2013 at 10:36 am
So I have to ask... Why didn't that fellow want to pour you any wine? Because you had the flu or another reason? Just curious.
This event looks fantastic! All that food and wine- Yum! And to be in nice warm Miami in the middle of winter must have been great.
Posted by: Janet | February 27th, 2013 at 11:05 am
Martha, I thought you looked amazing in spite of not feeling well. Love what you were wearing, too. Wonderful photos.
Posted by: Becky in Kzoo | February 27th, 2013 at 12:50 pm
I don't know. I like the look of your hair in these pictures.!
Posted by: John Newman | February 27th, 2013 at 1:30 pm
I'll get to this event sometime!
Posted by: Holiday Baker Man | February 27th, 2013 at 2:47 pm
I'm so happy you're having the time to have fun with your friends! Of course your opinion and approval matters greatly at these galas! I vote for Robert Mondavi as best winery to tour...
Posted by: Marilyn Bartlett in TX | February 27th, 2013 at 5:20 pm
Martha, you looked beautiful. No one notices "bad hair" on an honest-to-goodness business legend! The panna cotta looks terrific. I enjoyed this "taste" of Miami, as Miami is a city I haven't explored.
Posted by: Karen | February 27th, 2013 at 10:56 pm
I love Sanford wines! They not only make a great Pinot, but their Chardonnay is wonderful, too. It's also a beautiful place to visit.
Posted by: Susan | February 28th, 2013 at 1:38 pm
I have always wanted to go to the South Beach Food and Wine Festival. It looks like such a great time with so many amazing chefs, like you. It is so nice that it is during winter too - an excuse to escape.
Posted by: Laura Dembowski | February 28th, 2013 at 2:57 pm
i like ur recipeee, i can try ,and GOD bless u
Posted by: shahab | March 1st, 2013 at 3:15 pm