This is the inaugural year for “Flavor! Napa Valley – A Celebration of Food, Wine, and Fun” being held November 17 – 20, 2012.  The series of events will be hosted at Silverado Resort and Spa in Napa, and The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) at Greystone in St. Helena, featuring world-class Napa Valley wines alongside chefs who either have restaurants in the region and/or are graduates of the CIA.   This includes long-time Napa Valley chefs and residents Michael Chiarello, Ken Frank, Jeffrey Jake, Thomas Keller, Christopher Kostow, and Cindy Pawlcyn, along with newer-to-Napa-Valley chefs Tyler Florence and Masaharu Morimoto.

Flavor! Napa Valley events include wine tastings, dinners with Napa Valley winemakers, and a grand tasting of over 100 wineries and 24 restaurants at “The Appellation Trail: Tasting Napa Valley.”  You can also witness culinary demonstrations from:

• Richard Blais, CIA graduate and recent winner of Bravo’s Top Chef “All-Stars”
• Ken Frank, opening chef at Michael’s in Santa Monica and current chef at La Toque, a Michelin one star restaurant in Napa which was also named one of the Top 20 Restaurants in America by the Wine Spectator
• Thomas Keller, designated a Chevalier in the French Legion of Honor in early 2011, who has also received separate three star ratings from Michelin for his restaurants The French Laundry in Yountville and Per Se in New York
• Christopher Kostow, named one of Food and Wine Magazine’s Best New Chefs in 2009, now the chef at The Restaurant at Meadowood, one of only two restaurants in Napa Valley with three Michelin stars
• Masaharu Morimoto, star of Iron Chef and Iron Chef America, executive chef at Morimoto Philadelphia, Morimoto New York, and Wasabi by Morimoto, and owner of Morimoto Napa which opened in July 2010
• Cindy Pawlcyn, owner of Brassica, Cindy’s Backstreet Kitchen, and Mustards Grill in Napa Valley, and author of four cookbooks  (including The James Beard Award-winning Mustards Grill Napa Valley Cookbook) with a fifth cookbook scheduled for release in 2012

Net proceeds from the Flavor! Napa Valley event will support programs and scholarships at the CIA’s Greystone campus to develop the future’s culinary and wine education experts, and you can click here to learn more about the event and to purchase tickets.