Wine Everywhere
Dallas wine buffs bid their hearts out at gourmet Cotes du Coeur gala
The wine flowed — and flowed and flowed — at the 2018 Dallas Côtes du Coeur, the annual fine wine auction and celebrity chef dinner on April 21 at the Omni Dallas Hotel, benefitting the American Heart Association.
This year's event raised $4.7 million and counting, including silent and live auctions for fine wines, travel packages, and other luxury items.
The sold-out event drew more than 1,200 guests, who had their pick of gourmet dishes from 15 Dallas chefs, spearheaded by chef chair Richard Chamberlain (Chamberlain’s Steak & Chop House, Chamberlain’s Fish Market).
Chefs manned stations were located on the periphery of the room, each partnered with a winery for what were designed as food-and-wine pairings. You could help yourself to as much food and wine as you wanted.
Highlights included black cod from Nobu, tacos from Fearing's, and braised beef cheek with black truffle-potato puree from Knife.
Tables were set with a fabulous arugula salad at each setting — that was unfortunately uneaten by probably half the attendees. Maybe next year organizers might consider doing a salad station, so there is not so much waste.
As charitable events go, Cotes du Coeur is among the most gourmand in nature, given its focus on wine. An ongoing silent auction featured more than 1,200 bottles of wine, including rare vintages such as a 1996 Château Lafite Rothschild, Pauillac, and four bottles of 1988 vintage Krug Champagne, each bottle valued at $3,000.
Attendees included Diane & Hal Brierley, Amy & Michael Meadows, Kim & Greg Hext, Carol & Matt Holmes, Amy Turner, Isabell Novakov, Andrea & John Weber, Krista Tankersley, Nancy Gopez, Kate Rose Marquez, Mary Parker, ESPN's Darren Woodson and Tiffany Woodson, Tyler Clutts, Shawn "The Matrix" Marion, Justin Baldwin, and Christopher & Stacie Martin.