What a day! The folks at Thomas Fogarty Winery & Vineyards gave us exclusive all-day, all-evening access of their estate for our magazine. We took full advantage and staged “Casbah Cool,” one of our entertainment features, and “Midsummer Mediterranean Grill,” our main cooking story. Ellie Platis, one of Fogarty’s event managers, was such a doll. Her positive energy and pitch-in attitude helped us feel welcome and the experience enjoyable, even though for us it was quite a work day. (Image by Natalie Wi)
The entire estate…just for us! (Image by Natalie Wi)
We parked by the lily pond with the resident turtle on his floating island! (Image by Natalie Wi)
Jeannie Fraise and Allie Bruch from Lotus Bleu work on styling a modern Moroccan table with a nesting theme. James Burkart is filming their work-in-progress for the video bite in the magazine. (Images by Natalie Wi)
A close up of the table shows the chick vases by Kanick Chung (available through Lotus Bleu) and the flowers by Amy Burke. Don’t the flowers look like whimsical bonnets? One of Thomas Fogarty’s Pinot Noirs is ready to be uncorked. (Image by Natalie Wi)
We walked the grounds, and photographed our blogger “models” throughout the estate. (Images by Natalie Wi)
Inside, the culinary team works on our post-shoot dinner…preparing the recipes that are featured in Midsummer Mediterranean Grill. (Images by James Burkart)
Our models enjoy a glass of wine while awaiting dinner. (Image by Natalie Wi)
The evening concluded with special gifts for everyone! Take a peek at the gifts galore…(Image by Rio Constantini)
A taste of Thomas Fogarty Winery and Vineyards to take home…A bottle of their 2006 Estate Chardonnay (Santa Cruz Mountains).
Brick Monkey, known for their curious and distinctive furniture and accessories, gave everyone a chic ceramic pineapple-leaf candle holder with votive wrapped in their signature packaging.
Diane Phillips of DK Designs made beautiful paperweights…She handcrafted single white gardenias and attached them to antique blue glass made from mason jars by Midwest Finds. (Image by Diane Phillips)
Pamplemousse Patisserie et Cafe shared their French macarons…the best we’ve EVER tasted! (Image by Justin Miel)
SkinSpirit Skincare Clinic & Spa gifted their signature “Bochox,” a box of delicious dark chocolate! (Image by Natalie Wi)
There were not one but two delicious cupcakes to take home from Bebecakes Cupcakery–VaVa Voom (chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting and chocolate chip/cream cheese filling), and Miss Scarlett (red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting).
Lotus Bleu included sweet felt pouch by the French company, Muskhane. The pouches are eco-friendly, naturally dyed, and made by hand in Nepal.
What a surprise…A Pinkies Nail Salons’ gift card means manis for everyone! (Image by Natalie Wi)
