ROAD TOWN, Tortola, VI – The 2010 Virgin Islands Winemakers Dinners, to be held 1-7 December, will feature seven gourmet 5-course dinners and seven delicious 3-course luncheons at a collection of special venues throughout the BVI.
 

ROAD TOWN, Tortola, VI - The 2010 Virgin Islands Winemakers Dinners, to be held 1-7 December, will feature seven gourmet 5-course dinners and seven delicious 3-course luncheons at a collection of special venues throughout the BVI.

Details of the annual event, hosted by the BVI Charitable Fund of the Community Foundation (BVI) Limited, were revealed on Tuesday at the breakfast meeting of Rotary Club Sunrise of Road Town.

Mr. Ajit Mathew George, Co-Chair of the BVI Charitable Fund, said the net proceeds of the 2010 Winemakers Dinners will be distributed to YEP (Youth Empowerment Project); the Food & Beverage Management Programme at H. Lavity Stoutt Community College; Sailability BVI; BVI Special Olympics and the swimming pool project of Virgin Gorda Charitable Company Ltd.

George also said that this year's Winemakers Dinners include new partnerships with the Rotary Club Sunrise of Road Town, the Rotary Club of Road Town, HLSCC and YEP.

The members of these two Rotary Clubs in the BVI will be selling a limited number of tickets to the seven Winemakers Luncheons at $50 per ticket with 80% of the proceeds benefitting the member's Rotary Club.

A new partnership with the HLSCC will feature a unique five-course dinner on Sunday, 5 December at H. Lavity Stoutt Community College for eighty guests. Each course will be prepared by a visiting master chef who will be paired with a chef based in the BVI, with the assistance of the students and faculty of the college. Each of these courses will be paired with two wines poured by the visiting winemakers.

Stacy Mather of YEP stated that the young members of YEP will be working very hard between now and 1 December to create a piece of custom art work to present to each chef, winemaker and member of the press who will visit the Virgin Islands for the 2010 Winemakers Dinners.

While Chef Vikram Garg from Halekulani Resort in Waikiki, Hawaii will remain as the Founding Executive Chef, he will be collaborating with Chef Alexander Yates from The Restaurant at Leverick Bay who will serve as the Executive Chef of the 2010 Virgin Islands Winemakers Dinners.

In 2009, over 860 people in total attended the four dinners, seven luncheons and the VIP Reception between 2-6 December, which featured 74 separate courses of food, and 81 different wines that were paired with these courses. During the July series of the Winemakers Dinners, about 1,000 people in total attended the four dinners, seven luncheons and the VIP Reception, which featured 78 separate courses of food, and 87 different wines that were paired with these courses.

Mr. George reported that both the July and December series of the 2009 Winemakers Dinners were completely sold out in advance with a waiting list for each dinner. He also reported that all the lunches were very popular. The net proceeds of the 2009 Winemakers Dinners will be distributed between September and November 2010.

"The 2009 Winemakers Dinners were a series of exclusive events during which guests had the opportunity to meet some of the most gifted winemakers in the world and sample their award-winning wines," stated Mr. George. These wines were expertly paired with innovative creations by international master chefs together with some BVI chefs."

Wine and food pairings will be made by Richard Grosche, wine journalist from German wine magazine Weinwelt and manager of the international wine academy MUNDUS vini. OHMS - which stands for On Her Majesty's Service - also donated the fine Czech porcelain and glasses for the five course place settings each evening. In addition to OHMS, the other Founding Sponsor is Allivictus.

The Co-Chairs of the BVI Charitable Fund are Premier Honourable Ralph T. O'Neal, OBE and Ajit Mathew George.

The BVI Charitable Fund was established in March 2008 with a $25,000 challenge grant from Nail Bay Resort to help promote this destination to potential new visitors, while at the same time creating new and innovative fund-raising events to benefit various charities in the BVI by attracting support from both outside and within the BVI. The BVI Charitable Fund is part of the Community Foundation (BVI) Limited.