Special Events
Butcher Room Dinner Series at Hen of the Wood (Thursday, June 23 & Friday, June 24), 6:30 p.m.
A BWF tradition continues as we proudly present our annual winemaker dinner series at the intimate “Butcher Room” table in the Hen of the Wood kitchen. This year we’re privileged to bring two accomplished winemakers to Burlington to share their stories and pair their special bottles with unforgettable cuisine by chef Jordan Ware.
Only 10 seats are available for each dinner! .Tickets are $150 per person, plus tax and gratuity. Call Hen of the Wood at (802) 540-0534 for your reservation.
Thursday, June 23 - SOLD OUT – Richard Rainey of Forge Cellars, together with Louis Barroul, owner/winemaker of St Cosme Winery in the Rhone, recognized the incredible potential in the Finger Lakes and started a partnership. Locating parcels of land that offered the soil and sun they were looking for, they are now producing some of the finest cool climate Dry Riesling, Pinot Noir & Cabernet Franc that the team at Vermont Wine Merchants has come across. Working organically, their wines show incredible complexity, acidity and fruit. Don't miss this opportunity to sit and try these wines with the wonderful cuisine that will come out of the Hen Kitchen..
Friday, June 24 – Danielle Shehab of Forlorn Hope in Calaveras County in the Sierra Foothills of California , together with Matthew Rorick, has been bringing something incredibly fun, unique and damn tasty to the wine world! We're very lucky to have Danielle on hand to lead you through their incredible wines. Farming organically, working with unique varietals such as Chenin Blanc, Grenache and Mondeuse, and exploring winemaking techniques such lengthy skin fermentation, they create wines with lovely flavor profiles, balance and complexity.
"Winemaker Round Table" Dinner at Waterworks (Friday, June 24, at 6 p.m.)
You’re invited to join us for a BWF favorite....the 6th Annual "Winemaker Round Table Dinner!" This special event will be held in the beautiful new riverside function room at Waterworks in Winooski. Only 32 seats are available at this exclusive event!
Tickets are $90, including tax and gratuity. Call Waterworks at (802) 497-7702 to secure your reservation.
You'll start your evening with a visit to the Champagne bar, then head to one of the four tables, each seating 8eight guests and hosted by one of our celebrated winemakers. You’ll spend time sampling three wines, paired with some of Waterworks wonderful cuisine, and enjoying fascinating conversation with your winemaker host. After 20 minutes, relax during a short pause while the tables are cleared (perhaps with another sip of Champagne!), and when you return, you'll have the company of a new winemaker. This year's winemaker hosts are Jonathan White of Washington Wine Group., Michele d’Aprix of Chateau Beausejour, Richard Rainey of Forge Cellars and Matt Cline of Three Wine Company.
Over the course of the evening, you'll enjoy spending time with all four winemakers, tasting and dining with each. This is a rare and wonderful evening, where you’ll have the chance to ask questions you’ve always wanted answered as you enjoy your time "up close and personal" with these celebrated winemakers.
"Homegrown" with Matt Jennings at Hotel Vermont (Friday, June 24, at 6 p.m.)
Celebrated chef and cookbook author Matt Jennings got his start in the food world as a 14-year-old prep cook and stock boy at a grocery and café in his native Massachusetts. After graduating from the New England Culinary Institute with distinction, Jennings worked at notable restaurants around the country and abroad before opening Farmstead in Providence, Rhode Island, where he garnered four James Beard Foundation nominations.
In 2014, he returned home to Boston and opened Townsman, a New England Brasserie concept that was named “Restaurant of the Year” in 2016 by Food & Wine magazine. Today, Jennings lives on a farm in Vermont’s Champlain Valley with his pastry chef wife, Kate, and their two sons. Together, they raise chickens, pigs, sheep and operate Red Barn Kitchen, a state-of-the-art commercial kitchen that acts as home base for their
distinctive, seasonal catering, delicious farm-fresh Luncheonette window and private events that focus on the bounty of New England.
Enjoy this intimate and unique evening where you'll meet Chef Matt Jennings, graze on the stellar cuisine of the team at Hotel Vermont, enjoy welcome drinks from Vermont Wine Merchants and Zero Gravity, and take home a signed cookbook.
Tickets are $95 per person and include food, two welcome drinks and a signed cookbook. Click here for details and tickets.
And check out this menu! Lamb meatballs with yogurt sauce, fire-roasted Harbison with black garlic crostini, smoked bluefish pate with squid ink crackers, clam rolls with tartar sauce, short rib and Moxie bean tacos with spicy slaw, Red Barn Kitchen cured ham and radicchio on brown bread toast, charcuterie board including salame and pates, fried pickled ramps with maple miso aioli, cheese board featuring a variety of local cheeses, nuts and jams, Boston Cream whoopie pies, duck egg sabayon with strawberries and birch beer floats.
This event is sponsored by Vermont Wine Merchants, Performance Food Group and Phoenix Books in conjunction with Burlington Wine & Food.