Nearly 300 people attended what is the Ceres Community Project’s biggest fundraising event of the year. Partnering with celebrated chefs and local wineries, the event featured eight different food and Sonoma wine pairing stations. Here, teen volunteers, gardeners, and chefs came together to create the tasting menu and nourish the community.

Over 175 different items were donated to the ever-popular silent auction by Napa and Sonoma County Wineries, local businesses, hotels, and restaurants. “We couldn’t have raised our goal without everybody in the community coming together. So that was really big for us,” said Ceres Development Associate Melissa Hosking. 

Here are the top four auction items that were offered at the fundraiser.

Private Farm Dinner Experience for 10 at Live Oak Farm ($3,250)

A private dining experience for 10, featuring organic farm-grown produce, wine pairings, and a farm tour.  Live Oak Farm in Petaluma is a CCOF Organic farm where a collaboration of land, creativity, community, and continued evolution in farming has been created by your hosts William and Tom. Farmers William and Tom have backgrounds in food and wine prior to starting the farm and love sharing their farm story with Community. Live Oak Farm is located on the former Bundesen Ranch, where four generations of farmers previously tended the land.

5 Night Stay in Alpine Meadows, Tahoe w/John and Diana Schaefer ($3,200) 

An adorable modern cabin in the heart of Alpine Meadows, next to Squaw Valley and Tahoe City. Fully refurbished by a bay area interior designer sleeps up to 7 guests and is host to 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a jacuzzi tub in the master bedroom, a fireplace, flat-screen TVs, and a new stainless-steel kitchen and bar area. One mile from Alpine Meadows Ski Resort, 10 minutes from Tahoe City, and just one mile from the Truckee River. Activities include rafting, mountain biking, fishing, hiking, horseback riding, and swimming right out your front door. The local HOA also includes a private freshwater pond with a beach, barbecue area, and tennis courts.

Halleck Vineyards and Mazza Catering Winemaker Dinner for Eight ($3,100)

Join Ross Halleck and Chef Kristina of Mazza Catering at the Halleck Vineyard Sebastopol Winery for an unforgettable food and wine pairing event. Halleck Vineyard wines have been judged #1 Pinot Noir in North America three times, #1 White Wine in California, and #1 White Wine in Napa, Sonoma, Lake, and Mendocino counties. Chef Kristina Daya, a Sonoma County native, cultivated her craft while journeying throughout the Mediterranean and has since earned The Confrérie de le Chaine des Rôtisseurs, an esteemed chefs’ accolade. Eight guests will be hosted in Ross’s Sebastopol home, overlooking all of Sonoma County from its perch. This stunning location is also home to his Estate Grown Pinot Noir, offered only to wine club members. You will enjoy a six-course chefs’ menu from Mazza Catering paired with current and library wines from Halleck Vineyard’s extensive collection. Tour the vineyard and its beautiful gardens, pick fruit from the trees that line the property, and soak in the mystery and majesty of West County.

Dinner for Four Guests at Single Thread Restaurant ($2,750)

This 3-Michelin-starred restaurant is one of the top 50 “World’s Best Restaurants. Savor an impeccably-prepared 10-course tasting menu crafted by one of the country’s most accomplished chefs, Kyle & Katina Connaughton.

The menu showcases the farm’s seasonal bounty, grown with healthy, nutrient-dense soil in the heart of the Dry Creek Valley. It changes with each micro-season. SingleThread in Healdsburg is a sensory experience – from the comfortable, Japanese-inspired dining room to the remarkable meal presentation.

The auction was conducted by professional auctioneer, Keith McLane, who was retained by Ceres to manage the live bidding.  A large number of Northern California wineries donated to the cause, including Russian River wineries Halleck Vineyard, Iron Horse Vineyards, Horse & Plow, Inman Family Wines, Martha Stoumen, and Hafner Vineyard, a small family winery in Alexander Valley near Healdsburg in Sonoma County that produces Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, and a Malbec. Breweries like Lagunitas in Petaluma and HenHouse in Santa Rosa supplied the auction with cases. With food from Park Avenue Catering in Cotati, Oliver’s Market in Santa Rosa, Chef Daniel Kedan of Backyard Forestville, Ceres Teen Leaders, Fishetarian Fish Market in Bodega Bay, and Three Leaves Foods in Santa Rosa. 

About Sebastopol Charity Ceres Community Project

Sebastopol charity Ceres Community Project is a non-profit organization that works with teen volunteers to prepare and deliver healthy, wholesome, and 100% organic meals to people undergoing serious acute or chronic illness. These are free or low-cost meals.

Ceres also partners with healthcare providers such as Kaiser Permanente to make access to medically tailored meals a routine part of healthcare. In 2018 it galvanized California into funding a first-in-the-nation statewide pilot program of medically tailored meals for low-income community members with congestive heart failure. Currently, Ceres is working to establish full reimbursement in the state’s MediCal program for medically tailored meals. 

Additionally, Ceres Community Project has a youth development program. They work to ensure that teens and young adults know how to make a healthy meal and understand the impact their food choice has on their own health and the health of the planet. To this end, they empower teens as volunteer gardeners and cooks, giving them direct hands-on experience in growing organic food and preparing nutrient-dense meals. With their help, Ceres maintains two organic gardens, and three kitchens in Santa Rosa, Sebastopol, and Novato, where all meal preparation takes place. This expands their confidence and skills, which the organization mentors as they usher them into the business world.   

To make a one-time or recurring donation to the Ceres Community Projects, click here.

We make Russian River Valley and Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir, Dry Gewürztraminer, Dry White Zinfandel and California Sauvignon Blanc, also from the Russian River Valley.

We hosted our first wine tasting at our estate in Sonoma County in 2002.

Before the pandemic, the wine tasting rooms in Sonoma and Napa were thriving. Not anymore.

Virtual Wine tasting has become a pivot for wineries challenged by shifts in travel, protocol, and concern for the safety of their guests.

At Halleck Vineyard, our challenge was to keep the experience as intimate as possible, aligned with making a personal connection with everyone who enjoys our wine.

Within days of the shelter-In-place mandate, we created a virtual tasting room that was like none other.

And we’ve continued to improve it since. We’ve been written about in Forbes, Walnut Creek Magazine and 7×7.

Our Virtual Tasting Salons are designed not only to bring the vineyard to you, but to offer a tasting experience paired with organic delectables created by local artisan producers. As part of our California Wine Club, we’ve explored food pairing with Pinot Noir wines, Gewurztraminer, Sauvignon Blanc and many others.

With Stephanie Culen, Certified Sommelier, I’ve been hosting tastings of our wines paired with a selection of specialties sourced from local purveyors of the finest food items.

Artisan olive oils, boutique cheeses, organic house-made pastas of garden vegetables, and hand-made organic chocolate truffles infused with Halleck Vineyard wine are expertly paired with individual wines.

Having been awarded the best Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir in the United States for our 2001 vintage, we’ve enjoyed a following of Pinot enthusiasts to our door since. In 2019, we were judged Best of Class, the best Russian River Valley Pinot Noir in North America, for two of our wines in the prestigious San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition. And Sunset Magazine awarded our Sauvignon Blanc Best of Class in the United States. To top it off, the California State Fair awarded our Dry Gewurztraminer 99 Points and deemed it Best Micro White Wine in California.

Virtual Wine Tasting Party

Our intention with these intimate virtual wine tastings is to bridge the gap imposed by the pandemic and our inability to see those most important to us, face-to-face. We host families, friends across the country, and even corporate colleagues, all separated by the inability to travel, to enjoy these experiences together, from the comfort of their homes. We offer to keep groups together for their own private experience or blend people who join for the simple pleasure of meeting new people and sharing an experience.

With the local bar off-limits, we’ve found people thrilled to meet over a glass of wine. Or delighted to connect with family members in an event bringing them together. Companies are rewarding their top-performers or gifting cherished business partners, creating experiences money-can’t-buy over a glass of wine with the vintner. There is nothing that can substitute for a hug, a warm touch, or a look into the eyes of someone we care about. But we’re finding this hunger nourished over a glass of wine, laughter, and warm conversation. We’re attempting to create an intimate experience within the confines of our limitations.

Virtual Wine Tasting Kits

So we meet people where they are, literally. That means wherever they’re comfortable; we ask them to pull up a chair, a glass, and a computer. We encourage people to put their feet up and enjoy the experience.

That the experience takes place at home eliminates any concerns we currently experience in public places. Feeling safe is the first threshold to achieving intimacy.

Also, to meet the broadest set of needs, we offer three Virtual Wine Tasting Kits:

Essential Wine Tasting Kit

For those simply wanting to explore Halleck Vineyard wines, to learn about the place, our family, the vineyard, and our community, we offer our Essential package. This includes a selection of three wines: Russian River Valley Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir, California Sauvignon Blanc. We add our professional sommelier wine opener, and some reference material to use during our tasting together. People select a date and time of preference on our online calendar to make the reservation. We then collect shipping and credit card information to send the pack

age. We ask for two weeks between order and scheduling, but can accommodate shorter timeframes if requested personally and shipping allows.

After receipt of a beautiful selection of wines, I and/or Stephanie will meet our guests on Zoom to guide them through this intimate wine tasting experience. To bring people to the vineyard, we present slides of Halleck Vineyard, this wonderful home and vineyard along with stories, descriptions and instruction of how to most deeply appreciate each of the wines. We hope to impart a deeper understanding of what goes in the winemaking, but more importantly the mystical nature of our role in its creation. We explore how to taste, introducing our guests to tasting techiniques, perhaps for the very first time.

Deluxe Wine Tasting Kit

For those desiring a full tasting seminar, introduction to our wines and some absolutely delicious delectables provided by like-kind artisan producers, we offer our Deluxe package. Again, there’s a selection of three wines: : Russian River Valley Pinot Noir, Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir, California Sauvignon Blanc.

Also included is a sampling of personally selected pairings with some extraordinary products. Our olive oils are sourced from a family in the Sierra foothills, growing olive trees and making award-winning oil for over 20 years. Our Sonoma County cheeses are produced by a family just down the street, who’ve been raising cows and making cheese for generations. We have chocolate truffles infused with our Russian River Valley Pinot Noir by one of the most celebrated chocolatiers in California, right in our home-town of Sebastopol.

We not only walk through the wines, sharing tidbits and stories, but we take our guests on an exploratory journey of their palate with flavors never experienced. For many, this is truly tasting for the very first time.

Ultimate Wine Tasting Kit

Our Ultimate package includes everything described in our deluxe with a significant addition.

We offer our guests a Coravin Model 1 or 3. For those unfamiliar, the Coravin is a wine preservation system that allows one to enjoy our wines, and every wine in their cellar, on an “as desired” basis. Simply, one can enjoy a glass or a taste anytime desired and the wine will remain fresh, as if never opened, for months. This device, which has revolutionized the wine industry, allows one to start the evening with a glass of rosé or white, and continue with two different reds without committing to the entire bottle. Due to a special partnership with enjoy with the manufacturer, we’re thrilled to share it with our community at a price available nowhere else.

All said these Wine Tasting Experiences are the most extensive, intensive, fun, and intimate that we know of. Our wish is to build community through wine, and in doing so, contributing in our small way to making the world a better place.