Best of Cheer Flowed at Day of Wine, Roses

The best place in town to buy fine vintage wines Saturday was the University of San Diego, which was so overstocked with the stuff that, had an earthquake shattered all the bottles, the campus might have come floating down off its hilltop.

About 300 California wineries, which together garnered 500 bronze, silver and gold medals in the San Diego National Wine Competition held in May, donated a case of each winner to be sold at the seventh annual Wine & Roses Charity Tasting, co-hosted at USD by the Juniors of Social Service and the local chapter of the California Assn. of Nurserymen. More than 60 of the wineries also poured at the afternoon “debut” tasting of competition winners and the follow-up evening event; between them, the two tastings attracted more than 800 accomplished or budding oenophiles.

The proceeds from the event, which co-chairwoman Vera Campbell estimated will exceed $40,000, will be shared by the two host organizations and will benefit Camp Oliver in Descanso and the nurserymen’s scholarship program.

“Putting ‘Wine & Roses’ together was like having a baby, since I’ve been working on it for nine months,” said Campbell. “But we all believe strongly in our charity, which makes the work enjoyable for us all.”

The work certainly looked enjoyable for the hundreds who strolled through the university’s Camino Patio during the debut tasting, nibbling on cheese and pates between nips of wines from such vintners as Rabbit Ridge, Hart, Trefethen and Culbertson. Few braved the insistent sun to dance in the open to a band called Passions, but most did stop to smell the flowers--25 nurseries donated more than 2,000 potted flowering plants and shrubs.

The university also will come up smelling like roses from the event because the nurseries planted dozens of these around the courtyard, where they will remain until Wine & Roses ‘91, at which time they will be replaced with new plantings.

The committee included Donna Vance, Roseanne Lindsay, Lorie White, Jan Kincannon, Carolyn Robbins, Pam Palisoul, Erminia Taranto, Suzanne Koch, Pat MacLaggan, Toni Welk, Julee Ault, Wendy David, Marion Jacobs, Camille Nielsen, Sherry Lichty and Jane Pentelei-Molnar.

At the close of the opening-night performance of the Mainly Mozart Festival, the several hundred patrons were, in the main, enthusiastic but also mostly hungry.

The festival directors had anticipated just such an occurrence at Thursday’s benefit performance and arranged for several leading restaurateurs to donate sufficient elegant snacks and pastries to load down a circle of buffets arranged around the lawn of the Sculpture Garden at the San Diego Museum of Art.

Guests picked up glasses of champagne en route to tables featuring such things as the chocolate pate brought by chef Doug Organ of the Brasserie, and the rather unusual pastry-wrapped mix of braised skate wings and black beans whipped up by Ernest Wally of Chef Wally’s Bistro.

If the guests feasted on tidbits and cakes, conductor David Atherton and the musicians feasted on compliments as well as more solid rations. One of the more lionized musicians was concertmaster William Preucil, whose violin solo in Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 3 had quieted even the birds that earlier had chattered out of time to Atherton’s baton.

Veryl Mortenson organized the open-air reception and declared herself delighted with the turnout, although she added that she was amazed there had been any empty seats in the Old Globe Theatre’s Lowell Davies Festival Stage.

“I thought there would be people standing in the streets. Even the local restaurateurs showed their faith in us by donating all this food,” she said.

Donald Worley and Blaine Quick, president and chairman of the Mainly Mozart board, both expressed the belief that the festival will become a San Diego cultural fixture.

“After all the anticipation and waiting, tonight’s performance seemed to be over so quickly,” said Worley. “But it was wonderful and so gratifying to see so big a crowd--the crowd is what we’ve all worked for--and I think we’re an established part of the performing arts scene now that we’re in our second year.”

“This festival absolutely adds to the cultural dimensions of San Diego, and it will more and more in years to come,” said Quick.

Most major festival patrons attended the opening-night performance and reception, including Lee Julien and Robert McDaniel of the festival’s title sponsor, the Kingston Hotel; the pair made a brief appearance at the reception before returning to their hotel, which declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy the following day.

Among others in attendance were Hermann and Trude Zillgens, Damon and Carolyn Siskin, Joyce Dennis with Joe Abrahamson, Joe Merante, Don Capener, D’Neane Wilkinson, Robert and Bea Epsten, Donald McVay, Gary and Nancy Laturno, Chuck Weghorst, Erich Steinbock, Connie Smith, Eleanor Roth, Jeffry and Sandra Schafer, and Marsha Sewell and Mike Shea.

Harry Connick Jr., the 23 year-old pianist and crooner who has been discussed as the next Frank Sinatra (Sinatra’s opinion is unknown), was announced Friday as the star of the second annual “Monday Night Live” gala benefit for the La Jolla Playhouse, to be given July 16 at the playhouse’s quarters on the UC San Diego campus.

Charmaine and Maurice Kaplan hosted an underwriters dinner Friday at the new Canes bistro in Hillcrest at which “Monday Night” chair Judith Harris announced that Connick and his 21-piece orchestra will entertain after a backstage dinner. According to Harris, Connick has promised to engage in post-performance mingling with guests at the $250- and $350-per-person fund-raiser, a major league soiree that last year managed to handily muscle its way onto the already jammed summer calendar.

Among those downing baked salmon and berry tartlettes at Friday’s dinner were Peter and Peggy Preuss (Peggy shared chairwomanship duties with Charmaine Kaplan at the inaugural “Monday Night” last year); playhouse artistic director Des McAnuff and his wife, Susan Berman; theater angel Mandell Weiss; Robert Singer; Willard and Eileen VanderLaan; Ivor and Colette Royston; Audrey Geisel; Sandra Pay; Kate Adams with David Copley; Neil and Barbara Kjos; Rita Bronowski; Larry and Junko Cushman; George and Martha Gafford and Rita Gittes with Bill Woods.