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Final Masters of Food & Wine Goes Out With a Bang

Carmel, Calif., gathering of great chefs impresses on all levels, with attendees hungry for a revival

Harvey Steiman

Posted: Tuesday, February 27, 2007

The 21st Masters of Food & Wine, held Feb. 22-25 at the Park Hyatt (formerly known as the Highlands Inn) in Carmel, Calif., was the last one. And this time they really mean it.

Last year's event was rumored to be the final Masters (the Highlands Inn recently became a Hyatt Vacation Club property, with a large percentage of its rooms and dates committed to prepaid members). Tearful goodbyes were said. Attendance was down and some of the chefs didn't come. And then this year's event was announced, and it sold out.

Hyatt owns the event, which packs several lunches and dinners--divvied up among big-name visiting chefs--between tastings of great wines. It was possible to hold the event one last time, a Hyatt source said, because one February week had been reserved for the developers. And they made the most of it, with guests paying anywhere form $175 to $350 for vertical tastings of such rare wines as Château Palmer, Château Haut-Brion Blanc, Opus One, Dal Forno Amarone, Penfolds Grange and St. Henri. Guests forked over $1,000 each for the vertical tasting of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti La Tâche.

Chef stars included David Kinch of Manresa in Los Gatos, Calif.; Rick Tramonto of Tru in Chicago; Wylie Dufresne of wd-50 in New York; Grant Achatz of Alinea in Chicago; and Susan Spicer of Bayona in New Orleans. Also on hand were popular Northern California talents Michael Mina and Gary Danko, whose eponymous restaurants are in San Francisco; as well as Richard Reddington of Redd in Yountville, Calif.; and Cal Stamenov of Marinus in Carmel Valley, Calif.

"I am going to miss this event," said Michel Richard, chef and owner of Citronelle in Washington, D.C., who has cooked at six Masters weekends. "Who wouldn't like to come out to this beautiful place in February, when we're freezing our asses off in the east, to cook with so many other great chefs and friends?"

That's been the secret behind this event, how it's been able to attract some of America's--and the world's--top food and wine talent. The pros come for the setting and to hang out with their peers, cooking together in the tight quarters of the small hotel's kitchen, and eating and drinking together at epic after-dinner parties that run till 4 a.m. or later.

The public ate and drank well, too, this year paying $175 for four-course lunches and $300 to $350 for five- and six-course dinners in which one star chef after another prepared a single dish. They didn't stint on the ingredients, either, going through piles of Wagyu beef, truffles, lobster, caviar and other luxury foods. The wines came from highly regarded producers such as Château Palmer, Pio Cesare, Bründlmayer, Numanthia, Casa Lapostolle, Littorai, Staglin, Kosta Browne, El Molino and Flowers.

Among this year's highlights was a stunning pairing at the final dinner of open-textured and ripe Pio Cesare Barbaresco Il Bricco 1998 with rosy roasted bison loin over herb spätzle from chef Gary Danko. The previous evening, Highlands Inn chef Mark Ayers' roasted venison loin over cherry wood–smoked polenta made a vibrant match with Kathryn Kennedy Cabernet Sauvignon Santa Cruz Mountains 1996, a sleek and generous, perfectly aged red.

Michel Richard's scrambled scallops with Israeli couscous mimicking caviar was a crowd pleaser.

Another favorite was Richard's simple first course at Saturday's lunch. He chopped scallops and cooked them lightly like scrambled eggs, topping them with Israeli couscous blackened with squid ink to resemble gigantic caviar. It made a beguiling match with Josef Leitz Riesling Spätlese Rheingau Rüdesheimer Madgalenenkreuz 2004, whose refreshing grapefruit and peach flavors take less time to appreciate than to pronounce. At the same lunch, Kinch stewed root vegetables and truffles to tuck under juicy roasted chicken--which melded effectively with velvety, berry-rich Bergström Pinot Noir Willamette Valley Cumberland Reserve 2005 from Oregon.

On Friday evening, Kinch, Tramonto and the Pourcel brothers, who own a Michelin two-star restaurant in Montepellier, cooked for 24 guests who ponied up $5,000 each for the exclusive Rarities Dinner. The 22-wine lineup included three classic 1958 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignons, three 1959 Bordeaux, plus several trios of ethereal Burgundies, including Romanée-Conti 1961 and 1969.

Eight longtime attendees received commemorative plates for being there every year. Some, including Jeffrey Bragman, a clinical psychologist, wine collector and food buff from San Carlos, Calif., wondered whether the event would reappear somewhere else. "I would be willing to go anywhere they did this," Bragman said. "Anywhere."

Although Hyatt officials would not speak on the record about any future possibilities, some hinted at a revival elsewhere in the United States in two years. Earlier in February, Hyatt introduced an international version of the event at its resort in Mendoza, Argentina. It was well-attended and another week is planned there in February 2008.

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