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KATONAH, N.Y. To lovers of organic wine, calling a dinner farm-to-table requires that the entire meal lives up to the name, beverages included. And to this purpose, online wine store ConsciousWine has planned a series of Farm-2-Fork dinners featuring its organic wines at bucolic destinations around Northern Westchester, with the first to be held Saturday, Aug. 18, at John Jay Homestead in Katonah.
Presented by owners Jeffrey Weissler, a Yonkers native, and Vinny Liscio of Somers, each dinner highlights the host location; the local Hudson Valley farmers supplying the meals key ingredients; and a featured organic, biodynamic winery from the ConsciousWine family, which mostly sells wines made in Oregon or California.
The next two dinners will be Aug. 26 at Lasdon Arboretum in Somers and Sept. 29 at Hilltop Hanover Farm in Yorktown.
Chef Lesley Sutter and pastry chef Shelley Smedberg, both formerly of Mount Kisco restaurant The Flying Pig, which closed in January, will be cooking with ingredients from Cabbage Hill Farm, a biodynamic farm in Mount Kisco. Wines from Oregons Lumos Wine Co. will be served at the first dinner, which will feature organic meat, fish and produce.
These farm-to-table dinners are about creating opportunities for people to experience the wine," said Chris Roberts, whose Katonah-based social media consulting company, Really Social Strategies, handles communications for ConsciousWine. He said he hopes to plan more dinners if all goes well.
Roberts said ConsciousWine puts a premium on supporting individual winemakers, some of whom will join guests at the dinners by way of Skype.
We celebrate wineries that make wines organically and grow biodynamic grapes and also have certain sustainable agricultural practices overall, he said.
Weissler started the company in 2009 with Liscio, whom he met at Suburban Wines and Spirits in Yorktown in the early 2000s when Weissler ran the fine-wine section there.
In 2005, Weissler moved to Oregon from Croton, where, he said, it took him 20 minutes to drive to a store where he could buy organic produce. "I wanted a chance to know my farmer, Weissler said.
Roberts said, Wed love to see wine made this way treasured by food people in the same way that food by local farmers is treasured.
The owners of ConsciousWine, he said, want people to see organic wine as an essential co-star to a fully organic meal.
Visit ConsciousWine online to buy tickets for all events, which cost $155 each.
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