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Event Planning in Southern California / Tips for planning

Taste Wine and Raise Money

Mercury Wine Club will be sponsoring a very special event on April 1, 2016. Here is the link, if you want to join us. Wine Tasting and Fund Raising

We are raising a glass and tasting the wines of Joseph Fillippi to raise awareness as we kick of Autism Awareness month.

The wine have been chosen. We will be tasting Velluto, Cabernet Sauvignon, Sangiovese (my favorite)and Syrah from the red wine collection and Vino Bianco, Muscato and Fleur de Ville. We may add others. All these wines are amazing. None are too expensive and we will have plenty on hand so that attendees can take home a bottle, or even a case. Every time a bottle of wine is purchased in conjunction with Our Village, Mercury Wine Club will donate  a portion of the proceeds to Our Village. The promotion will be ongoing, as we work towards our fund raising goals for 2017.

We will have some special gifts ready for raffle prizes. Thus far we have collected a wine and food gift basket valued at $75.00, a signed (by the wine maker) double sized bottle of Sangiovese, valued at $30 and a Toy Basket.

We plan to have the play room open so that parents can bring the kids to the event and still have a great time. You can learn more about Our Village when you visit the Facebook Page that I linked to above.

Please RSVP. We want to be sure that we have enough of everything to make this one of our annual signature events. The event is free and  I promise you it will be fun.

"Wine nourishes, refreshes, and cheers....Wherever wine is lacking, medicines become necessary "
The Talmud

On October 16 a wine tasting garden party was held by APLA HEALTh at the estate of a member of the APLA Donor Leadership Circle. We are honored to be a part of this important orginzation that physically leads by action and good deeds in supporting the LGBT community. The impeccable catered affair on a beautiful sunny day in Altadena, California abuting the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains brought out 50 donors to taste the six Joseph Filippi Winery wines. Mercury Wine Club is the exclusive distributor of Filippi wines enabling us to pass on discounted prices on all APLA generated sales.

From the chilled Chardonnay and Blush White Sin to the red wines of the 91 point Velluto, hearty Cabernet Sauvignon, Italian style Sangiovese and finally the dessert wine Fondante Ciello they complimented the excellent buffet.

We are proud to be a corporate donor participant to APLA HEALTH contributing 20% of Mercury Wine Club wine sales and memberships to that resulted in a nice donation from the event.
 
Click Here and do so good for others.

I am diving back into wine and wine events for the first time in years. What is driving me? The wines! Mercury Wine Club and all that it has to offer have motivated me to plan wine tasting events in and around the South Bay area of Los Angeles. We will be featuring wines from a variety of small production wineries in California. You can learn more on the club website.

This year, I am also partnering with Joseph Filippi and his team to get some private label wines for special gifts and special events. I can see where private label could make a an event more personal, a executive gift more fun to receive and help me with my marketing. They offer a great variety of reds, whites and sparkling wines.

This week I am preparing a wine basket for a give away. It will include fun wines for summer and eating al fresco. It will be featured at a grand opening event .

Holiday Wine Basket featuring Velluto from Joseph Filippi

When you have a special event, consider private label wines. Call us at Mise en Scene. We can help.

Eating Out In Manhattan Beach

September 12, 2011

Time to Relax

By Julie Brown

Eating Out in Manhattan Beach, California.

In August, refreshing Pacific Ocean breezes witnessed the next generation restaurant located at 117 Manhattan Beach Boulevard, Manhattan Beach, California. Formerly this location was owned and operated by Mitch McFanti Corporation famous now for La Paz, later Sunsets and finally, my personal favorite, Beaches.

The new beachfront dining spot, The Strand House, is made possible by the combined efforts of  Michael Zisliss and the Zislis Group. The four level-space boasts stunning ocean views and seats 275 guests. Consulting chef Neal Fraser (Grace), executive chef Travis Lorton (formerly of Blackbird in Chicago and Gjelina in Venice) , and pastry chef Seth Caro (a contestant on Top Chef: Just Desserts) are regular patrons of the local farmers’ markets and are serving simple seasonally driven food. Many dishes are cooked in the kitchen’s wood fired spit and pizza ovens. Appetizers range in price from $9-$18 and include items such as slow cooked duck eggs with sautéed greens, forest mushrooms and shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano; hand torn pasta rags with lamb sausage, roasted fennel, tomatoes, white wine and pine nuts. Main dishes range from $18-$40 and include such items as, crispy air-dried duck with baby root vegetables and apricot gastrique, grilled wild king salmon with roasted shitake mushrooms, ginger vinaigrette and sesame seeds. Leave room for dessert and you can enjoy such delights as cube-shaped butterscotch donuts with powdered bacon and burnt peach jelly, blackberry caviar and cheesecake.

I have not visited the restaurant yet. But I was please to see that Food Arts, September 2011 covered the opening of the new venue in there column, Birth Announcements. For those of you who dine in the south bay, you probably have eaten at Rock N Fish and have heard about The Shade Hotel. We have the Zislis Group to thank for both of these fabulous places in Manhattan Beach.  Check out the Strand House and email me your reviews at mesplanners@gmail.com.

Cooking

This deal is so near and dear to my heart I have to mention to engaged couples as well as wine drinkers. this is a great way to Have Wine With That. What a great get away.
Who wants to go?

$149 for an All-Inclusive Italian-Style Weekend Cooking Retreat at Las Brisas ($300 Value)