Cheers! from the Duke of Bourbon

The Duke is delighted to inform you about the 25th Annual Central Coast Wine Classic to be held July 9-12, 2009, in Avila Beach, California.

We have been supporting and attending this exciting event for over 20 years. Novices as well as connoisseurs are blended together for an amazing variety of activities, all based around one of the best auctions in the country. It's a barrel of fun!

We asked Archie McLaren, Founder and Chairman of the Central Coast Wine Classic, to send us a description of this very special event, which we include below.

After you read it, please follow the link to the Central Coast Wine Classic website for all of the exciting details. If you have any questions, David at the Duke of Bourbon (818-341-1234) will be happy to answer them.

If you decide to attend, please be sure to let us know so you can be part of "Team Duke."

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Who would have thought that a modest tasting and auction in Avila Beach twenty-five
years ago would have become one of our nation's most well-respected and most sought-after charity food and wine events? For many years of its Twenty-Five Year History, the Central Coast Wine Classic has been among the top charity wine auctions in America, often among the Wine Spectator's "Top Ten."

The Central Coast Wine Classic Foundation that is supported by the Wine Classic provides grants for specific projects to San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara county non-profits whose missions are in the Healing, Studio and Performing Arts (Over 50 in the last five years for grants totaling $1,165,000!).

For this special year, our Twenty-Fifth Annual Wine Classic, the Foundation's Board of Directors has chosen as beneficiaries the following non-profits:
Foodbank of Santa Barbara County; Foundation for the Performing Arts Center of San Luis Obispo; Friends of Prado Day Care Center in San Luis Obispo; Friendship Adult Day Care Center of Santa Barbara; Gatehelp, Inc./Gryphon Society in Atascadero; Public Radio KCBX San Luis Obispo & Santa Barbara Counties; Los Padres Forest Watch of Santa Barbara; Morro Bay High School Band; Paderewski Festival of Paso Robles; Santa Maria Philharmonic Society; Senior Volunteer Services of San Luis Obispo and Transitions Mental Health Association of San Luis Obispo. The Annual Fund-A-Need Auction Lot will fund Respite Care for the Central Coast Alzheimer's Association .

The Official Hotel venue of the 2009 Wine Classic will remain as last year, Dolphin Bay Resort & Spa in Shell Beach, for all of our tastings and symposia, beginning with the Barrel Tasting on Thursday, July 9, and culminating with the Reserve Tasting the afternoon of Sunday, July 12. The Saturday, July 11, Rare & Fine Wine & Lifestyle Auction will again take place at the Avila Beach Resort, now and hopefully into the future, the Official Auction site. The incomparable annual Black Tie Dinner at Hearst Castle will be created by chefs whose association with the
Wine Classic stretches back to our beginnings in the 1980s.

This year's Auction will present by far the most remarkable array of fine wine and lifestyle offerings in our history. They will be rare and fine wines from wineries, businesses and patrons from all of the fine wine appellations in California, as well as from Oregon and Washington and from the world's fine wine regions of France, Italy, Spain, Germany, New Zealand, Australia and South America. And we will also offer a brand new Lexus RX 450h Hybrid, courtesy of Lexus.

In addition, private collector patrons, fine wine retailers and distributors, and even our team of auctioneers, graced us with wonderful donations of rare wines and food and wine-oriented lifestyle packages. Restaurants and hotel properties throughout the United States, as well as other successful charitable wine auctions, favored us with comprehensive packages that take our winning bidders on wine and culinary extravaganzas in the finest restaurants in the most desirable destinations, including the great wine regions, towns and cities of California, as well as destinations in France, Italy, Spain, Eastern Europe, China and Africa.

Come share the celebration of our Twenty-Fifth Wine Classic; it will be unforgettable!

Contact Archie McLaren at (805) 544-1285; fax 595-2742; email archie@slonet.org, for further information and for registration.

Central Coast Wine Classic web site