The Off the Vine Wine Auction & Gala is pleased to present an esteemed lineup of headliners. These generous individuals have given of their time, resources and considerable talents to make our 2008 event one that you will long remember.

Celebrity Chef

Mark Kiffin - The Compound - Santa Fe , NM

Mark Kiffin, chef/owner of The Compound Restaurant in Santa Fe, was honored with the coveted James Beard Foundation's Award for "Best Chef in the Southwest 2005" and has worked, written and taught in the restaurant industry for more than 25 years. A recognized leader in the culinary world, he is known for creating new and exciting dishes known as Contemporary American Cuisine that combines true regional ingredients brought to the Southwest by the Spaniards with diverse culinary influences of the Mediterranean . Gourmet Magazine has recognized The Compound in their Guide to America's Best Restaurants, and The New York Times has heralded it as a destination not to be missed. In 2004, Kiffin was a featured chef

at The Masters of Food & Wine event in Carmel, California, and in 2002 participated in the James Beard Foundation's Awards Reception, the culinary equivalent of the Oscars.

Guest Chef

Scott Neuman - ¡Oba! Restaurante - Portland, OR

Scott Neuman’s dad introduced him to the smoky world of barbecue as a fifth grader, prompting him to write a cooking column for the school newspaper. While obtaining a degree in corporate communications from the University of Texas, he developed a keen interest in Latin foods.

Scott and his business partner Steve McLain, owner of Celebrity Restaurants, have several successful restaurants. The newest addition, ¡Oba! Restaurante, in Portland, Oregon’s trendy Pearl District was one of the city’s most touted restaurant openings and earned Restaurant of the Year ranking. Scott’s distinctive Nuevo-Latino blend of Southwestern, Cuban, Caribbean, and Latin American flavors has made ¡Oba! one of the city's most fun and popular fine dining establishments.

Wine Ambassadors

Honorary Wine Ambassadors from California, Oregon and Washington each present a quality wine that complements a dinner course prepared by our visiting celebrity chef. Wine Ambassadors also attend the event and act as hosts, greeting guests and sharing information about their wines. 

Violet Grgich, Proprietor – Grgich Hills - Rutherford, California

Tasting” of 1976. There, in a now-historic blind tasting, a panel of eminent French judges swirled, sniffed, and sipped an array of the fabled white Burgundies of France and a small sampling of upstart Chardonnays from the Napa Valley.  The French judges were shocked that they had chosen Mike’s 1973 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay as the finest white wine in the world! The results stunned the international wine establishment earning Mike Grgich a reputation as one of the greatest winemakers in the world and served notice that the California wine industry was on the move.

After his victory in Paris, Mike formed a partnership with Austin Hills, and his sister,

Mary Lee Strebl, from the Hills Bros. Coffee family who owned premium vineyards in

Rutherford in the heart of the Napa Valley. On Independence Day 1977, Grgich Hills was established and began producing what have  become their signature wines—exquisite, richly complex Chardonnays. While such world leaders as Presidents Reagan and  Clinton, Queen Elizabeth II and French President Francois Mitterrand have served these wines at state dinners, Grgich Hills is just as proud that every day discriminating wine drinkers turn their own dinners into special occasions.

Ken Wright, Winemaker/Owner - Ken Wright Cellars – Carlton, Oregon

Located in rural Carlton, Oregon, Ken Wright Cellars is devoted to showcasing the inherent quality of selected vineyard sites. With a clarity and breadth that is unequaled by other varieties, Ken believes that Pinot noir best expresses the character of these sites and is a vehicle for conveying the aroma, flavor and texture of the location in which it is grown. The winery also produces limited amounts of Chardonnay and Pinot Blanc.

Ken Wright Cellars is the only Oregon winery to be rated as “outstanding” by wine writer and critic Robert M. Parker, Jr. Among the nation’s most esteemed winemakers, Ken understands that while it is the nature of human beings to tinker with things, it can have a negative effect in the cellar. Minimal handling of the wine, along with healthy and sustainable vineyard practices, results in some of the most magnificent wines one will ever experience.

Eric Dunham, Winemaker - Dunham Cellars – Walla Walla, Washington

Eric Dunham grew up in the Walla Walla area with a passion to make wine. Like in many European countries, wine was always on the dinner table. After 4 years in the U.S. Navy, and upon graduating from college, he decided he wanted to follow his true passion, and began his journey into the world of winemaking. After interning at Hogue Cellars, he was employed by L’Ecole No. 41 winery as assistant winemaker where he honed his skills under the tutelage of respected winemaker Marty Clubb. In his spare time, Eric would handcraft small lots of premium Cabernet Sauvignon under the Dunham Cellars name.

The inaugural release of the 1995 Dunham Cabernet Sauvignon 1 in the fall of 1997 created quite a stir garnering several prestigious awards including a gold medal and a 93 rating at the World Wine Championship. In 1999, Eric and his family opened Dunham Cellars at the Walla Walla Regional Airport in a converted WWII airplane hangar. Today, the brand features several wines including Eric’s ultra-premium Cabernet Sauvignon Syrah and brings something special to the bottle that he is proud to put his family’s name on.

Auctioneer

David Reynolds - Reynolds & Buckley - San Francisco , CA

"Dave Reynolds is a one-man orchestra of auctioneering, able to separate audiences from their currency with the subtlety of a Spanish galleon in full rig and the passion of Billy Graham in full flight," wrote Jeremy Oliver, the Australian wine writer after seeing David Reynolds in action. Dave charms, cajoles, and entertains with spontaneous one-liners. Along the way, he is transforming the role of fundraising auctioneer into a new kind of performance art while raising millions of dollars for charity.

Recognized by the wine industry as an expert, Dave is equally adept at auctioning fine art, travel, dining, and other unique items. He and Colleen Buckley, his wife and business partner in Reynolds & Buckley Auctioneers, are based in San Francisco, California.

Featured Artist

Richard Hoyen - Portland, Oregon

2008 Off the Vine’s featured artist, Richard Hoyen, is a painter, illustrator, and designer who was born in Staten Island, New York and now resides on Sauvie Island near Portland, Oregon. In 1996, Richard moved from his native New York City, where he had spent most of his professional career in architecture and related fields. He has been a professional architectural renderer since 1985, working in watercolor, pencil, pen and ink, and oil.

His magazine illustrations have appeared in Bride’s, Connoisseur, Industrial Design, and Oregon Home magazines. His landscape, cityscape, and still life paintings are in the collections of Sandoz Corporation, United Way, Coopers Lybrand, Davis Wright Tremaine and many private collections. His work is noted for its immediacy, quality of light, and sense of time and place. He is represented in Oregon by the Pulliam Deffenbaugh Gallery.

Past Headliners

Since the inception of the "Off the Vine" Wine Gala & Auction, we have had the privilege of welcoming some of the most prestigious names in their industries.

Wine Gala & Auction Chairs

2006 Nanette Hutto & Cathy Norton
2004 Nanette Hutto & Cathy Norton

Wine Ambassadors

2006 Marc Mondavi -- Charles Krug Winery
2004 Hal and Fiona Barnett -- Barnett Vineyard

Celebrity Chef

2006 Dean Fearing - The Mansion on Turtle Creek - Dallas, TX
2004 Dean Fearing - The Mansion on Turtle Creek - Dallas, TX

Featured Artists

2006 Yvette Leigheber of Yvette Marie Gallery (Commemorative)
2006 Carol Radighierri - All Saints Episcopal School Class of 2006 (Cover Art)
2004 Kathleen Presley - All Saints Episcopal School Class of 2004