A Spectacular Beginning to an Important Weekend
This is a big weekend for The Lost Colony.
Now that the shows are wrapped up for the summer, the longest running outdoor drama in North America can move on to some other things, and one of the most important of those things is raising the money needed to keep Waterside Theater open, the staff employed and the actors paid.
This weekend is the largest fundraiser the organization does all year, and there are two events with something for everyone.
Today, Saturday, it’s the Grand Tasting with over 100 wines to sample, local microbreweries on hand and some great finger food from area restaurants. Anchored by the Sound Stage Theater—which used to be the dressing rooms and costume shop for the production—the setting for the event is beautiful. Bordering Roanoke Sound the exquisite views of the sound make a great time even better.
We were there last year and had a great time.
This year, though, we had a chance to go to the Vintner Dinner featuring the wines of Virginia Dare Winery paired with some amazing dishes.
At one time Virginia Dare Winery, created in the 19th century in North Carolina, produced more wines than anyone else in the United States. Prohibition and changing tastes though doomed the label, but, as the story goes, a young Francis Ford Coppola fell in love with the jingle he heard as a young child and the beautiful young girl on the label.
After making his fortune in movies, Coppola turned to wines and with his Coppola Winery well established, he created the Virginia Dare Winery and as tribute to the first English child born in the New World, has helped The Lost Colony with the wine dinners.
Held in downtown Manteo this year, the kitchen and menu was organized by Sam McCann of Blue Point Restaurant in Duck.
Sam brought in two outstanding chefs from Durham to help with the evening— Phil Bey of Saint James Seafood and Josh DeCarolis of Mother & Sons.
The wines, coupled with the food made for a very, very special evening. What really seemed to help was having Rick Toyota, director of hospitality for Coppola Wines on hand to tell the story behind the various wines.
All the wines were themed around the tales of the Lost Colony, including a chardonnay, the 1587, that had not even been officially released yet. The wine was excellent.
There is no way to pick out one dish, or even wine that stood out over others—they were all that good.
And as a fundraiser and a way to help a great organization—well, it all went to a good cause.
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