Santa Margherita Wine

Saturday, September 25th, 2010; it was a beautiful day at Millennium Park in Chicago and thousands of people gathered at one of the nation’s premier food and wine events – the Chicago Gourmet Festival. The Festival served as host to the Santa Margherita Great Taste Challenge Finale. The Finale took place on the main stage where 3 finalists fought for the cooking crown, explaining their dish and inspiration to the judges in front of an enthusiastic audience! Laurie Lufkin traveled from Essex, MA; Fred Piccinni from Lynnfield, MA; and Paul Phanthalangsy from Torrington, CT. Their excitement and nerves were at their highest Saturday as they were photographed, interviewed, and adored.

Congratulations to Fred, the GTC winner. And congrats to Laurie, the fan favorite. This year’s GTC has been so exciting and we’re looking forward to making next year even better! We are very thankful to have had such wonderful contestants and incredible support and encouragement from our judges: Chef Fabio Viviani, Bon Appétit Restaurant Editor Andrew Knowlton, and the Terlato family!

Stay tuned on our Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/SantaMargherita) for additions to our GTC photo album and videos from the event!

Winner Fred Piccinni and Tony Terlato

After hearing from Fred Monday and Paul yesterday, we now have some words from Laurie!

“Hi Everyone! I am so excited to be coming to Chicago this weekend. The people at Santa Margherita have been wonderful and I am thrilled to be part of this experience – and really hope my recipe comes out on top! I made my recipe again last night for dinner, a huge batch, and shared it with family and friends to get their thoughts on my flavor combinations and wine pairing. I used all of the seasonal ingredients I could get my hands on and used some artistic license to make the dish – I love using what is local and in season! Looking forward to meeting Fred and Paul and being part of such a terrific event.”

So for everyone attending the Festival, be sure to watch our GTC finale at 2pm. Then walk over to the Bon Appétit tent to taste all 3 dishes with some Santa Margherita wine.

For those outside of Chicago, we’ll have updates via Facebook (http://bit.ly/d3pjcV) & Twitter (SMPinotGrigio) throughout the day this weekend so all can share the excitement.