Berning with wine fever: the Bern's Steak House annual Winefest and how it grows

Cheers, Sept, 2002

At most restaurants, even simple wine events can be taxing; putting on the occasional wine dinner, or managing the seasonal food and wine tie-in or an in depth by-the-glass program, or even routine wine promotions, can be more than enough. But restaurants which are deeply wine-focused can't really settle for the expected promotion or event, and in the case of Bern's Steak House in Tampa, known for its stupendous wine collection and the winner of the 2002 Cheers Classic Award, regular customers demand a higher level of celebration.

Hence, the annual Bern's Winefest. At a series of multi-day winemaker-attended tastings, seminars and dinners, culminating in the grand tasting event (featuring more than 200 wines and 20 different dishes), Bern's merges its wine focus, drive for education, legitimate pride in a world class wine collection and charitable impulses into a local must-attend for wine lovers.

Spread over three days and four nights, the 2002 Bern's Winefest welcomed more than 600 guests.

"It's by far the finest wine event in the state," says Bern's head sommelier Ken Collura. "And it's tripled in size in the five years we've hosted it. Each year, we can sell more tickets than we plan for." Part of the reason Bern's Winefest attracts so much attention is the place the restaurant occupies in the local market. "Bern's reputation is peerless for what we do; consequently our events are always well-attended."

Collura's not the only enthusiast on the Bern's staff; waiters volunteer to work set-up and break-down during portions of the event to get an opportunity to participate in the in-depth tastings and the grand tasting event.

The Winefest is a major undertaking, with the seminars spread among the various Bern's properties and the big events held in a tent that bulges from the attendance at the grand tasting. The widespread reputation of the Bern's wine holdings (said to be among the largest restaurant collections in the world) is sufficient that word travels fast around the Tampa area when tickets go on sale. Yet Bern's is running out of space, and so, says Collura, restaurant management is looking at ways to make the wine festival more manageable in the future, without changing its nature. While the Winefest has never been a big money maker, the week-end wine party has never lost money.

MAKING FRIENDS

Generally, each year three winemakers are recruited by each of the three Bern's businesses to speak at the Saturday seminars. (Beside Bern's, the company operates the more casual SideBern's restaurant, and Bern's Fine Wines and Spirits retail operation). Speakers this year included Clay Gregory, vice president of the Robert Mondavi Winery, who brought five choice Mondavi wines for tastings, including a 1999 Stags Leap District Cabernet Sauvignon, 1999 Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon and a 1999 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve. Chef Jeannie Pierola and wine director Amy Cairns hosted an American Food and Wine Pairing seminar, focusing on the Willamettte Valley in Oregon, Santa Barbara County in California and Washington State. The two paired a 2000 Jaffurs Roussanne, Santa Barbara County, with pan roasted prawns with white truffle mash & caramelized garlic broth; a 2000 Toni Mor Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, with risotto of morel mushrooms, asparagus and spring onions with chervil-infused pinot noir emulsion; and a 199 9 DeLille D2 (Cabernet/Cabernet Franc/Merlot) from Washington with salmon, fennel & leek cobbler with wild berry merlot reduction and fennel pollen.

The headliner of the day was Pierre Perrin, owner of France's Beaucastel Winery. His seminar featured several of Beaucastel's best wines including from Perrin Estate a Gigondas, the Coudoulet de Beaucastel and Tablas Creek Rouge from their Paso Robles Winery.

At other events during the weekend, George Foote from Beaulieu Vineyard lead a discussion and tasting featuring the wines of BV, including 1999 Chardonnay Reserve, 2000 Pinot Noir-Carneros, and 1998 Tapestry Reserve. Collura and Pierola later presented an interactive seminar called "Who Paired that? Classic Pairings that don't Work & Some Surprising Ones that Do." They explored various standard wine and food pairing, like champagne and caviar, white wine and fish, and discussed why ripe cheeses sometimes benefit from white wine pairings.

Other wines (1996 Banfi Brunello di Montalcino, a 2001 Penfolds Koonunga Hill Cabernet-Merlot, Hogue Vineyard 1998 Reserve Cabernet and a 1999 Keegan Pinot Noir-Russian River) were poured during the tastings as well, and next year, Collura said, a greater Penfolds focus may be in store. The food focus this year was strictly American, with dishes such as key lime coconut pastels; bourbon molasses braised short ribs, maple mustard white beans, sweet & crunchy slaw; Kahlua pig, okinawan sweet potatoes, pineapple macadamia coconut relish, banana guava ketchup; and New Orleans lump crab chanterelle etouffee.

PAIRING OFF

Spacing the celebration out over different days, nights and venues works to Bern's advantage. On Monday night, for instance, a much sought-after event at SideBern's featured the wines of Robert Mondavi in a six-course dinner that included oxtail-stuffed scallop, saffron risotto, roasted portobellos & tomatoes paired with a 1999 Luce; a pistachio-crusted rack of lamb, sweet potato tamale, com shoots, cinnamon cap mushrooms, mole cabernet sauce with a 1999 Robert Mondavi Oakville Cabernet Sauvignon and 1999 Robert Mondavi Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve. And Tuesday evening, 50 guests sat down to a five-course dinner at Bern's which featured the wines of Chateau de Beaucastel.