Congrats to two of our sponsors
• Stater Bros. Charities announced that its 16th annual Jack H. Brown Heroes Challenge golf tournament raised a record $1 million for charities on March 7 at the Renaissance Esmeralda Resort & Spa in Indian Wells, Calif.
The charity event, which hosted 350 sponsors and special guests, was staged for the first time by Jeff Sanders Entertainment of Beaverton. Stater Bros. runs a chain of 175 grocery stores in Southern California. Brown was CEO and chairman before his death. The tournament is played for military charities.
Among the pro golfers who participated were Lee Trevino, Donna Caponi-Byrnes, Dave Stockton and Gary McCord.
“It was an amazing event,” Sanders says. “I wasn’t aware of how humbling it would be to be amongst the seven Medal of Honor recipients, who were guests of the event. (Stater Bros.) expectation was receive $500,000 for military charities, including the Medal of Honor Society. I was proud we were able to more than double that. It was extremely rewarding to raise all that money for military charities.”
Former Eagles guitarist Don Felder provided the post-event entertainment.
“Don did a great concert, played all the Eagles hits, and finished with Hotel California, which was unbelievable,” Sanders says. “Jack Brown was a patriot. They sang the national anthem, said the pledge of allegiance, and there was a military jet flyover. Everything was red, white and blue. In 36 years, we had never put on an event that had a military theme and a military beneficiary.”
• Bravuro Cellars’ 2020 Tempranillo received a pair of major awards awards in March.
The winery was awarded “Best in Show” by the Portland Seafood & Wine Festival March 3-4 at the Portland Expo Center, then received a double gold medal by the McMinnville Food and Wine Classic from March 10-12 at the Evergreen Air Museum.
“We never dreamed of winning a ‘Best in Show’ award,” says Bravuro Cellars co-owner Steve Saxton. “We need to dream bigger — lesson learned. Our 2020 Tempranillo is crazy good.”
Bravuro Cellars, with a tasting room in Newberg and vineyard in Amity, uses grapes grown in California.
“When wine judges examine wines, typically they know vintage (year produced), varietal (e.g., Tempranillo, Zinfandel, Pinot Noir) and AVA (where the grapes are grown,” Saxton says. “When judges know the AVA, we are a distinct disadvantage. We accept and understand that it is difficult for Oregon judges to give any award to win from California in an Oregon wine festival. We never expected to win such an award.”
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