San Francisco Social Diary 11/15/04 - Napa Valley and lots more

Catching up with San Francisco's summer social season

Welcome to Napa

Jeanne Lawrence for NYSD

Much of the summer social season is in Napa Valley and Sonoma (a little over an hour away), and I spend many a weekend there.

One weekend I was houseguest of Florentine-born businesswoman and opera lover Maria Manetti Farrow at her 60-acre Tuscan estate, Villa Mille Rose (a thousand roses) in Oakville, in the heart of Napa Valley
With her Italian love of life and a flair for entertaining, Maria has hosted parties for the likes our Ambassador to France Howard Leach and his wife Gretchen as well as opera luminaries Valery Gergiev and Placido Domingo.

Maria's family and friends

This particular weekend, Maria had an al fresco luncheon for San Francisco’s top owner/chef Gary Danko. Now that’s real self-confidence. Maria’s guests sipped Bellinis made with fresh peaches from the orchard, while gazing out over her vineyards of Chardonnay and Cabernet grapes with Mount St. Helena as a backdrop.

The luncheon included organic vegetables from her garden, fruits from her orchard and her prize-winning olive oil and balsamic vinegar which she also produces on the estate. Of course, roses from her garden graced every room and table. “I have created my former Tuscan life in Chianti Classico here in Napa,” she told me.

Afterwards guests went on to swim, hike, bicycle, visit the wineries, read or just relax. Guests included Pamela Morgan, of the catering company Flavors, Bulgari’s Robert Butler, interior designer Stephen Volpe, and Greg Lopez, concierge of the newly opened Four Seasons Hotel.

Villa Mille Rose

Maria's vineyards of Chardonnay and Cabernet grapes

Amb Howard Leach, Maria Manetti Farrow, and Gretchen Leach

Margrit Mondavi, Maria Manetti Farrow, and Robert Mondavi

Maria Manetti Farrow with Chief Justice Ron and Barbara Geo

Paul Pelosi, Brunno Ristow, Howard Leach, and Don Stephens

Natalie Alexander and Greg Lopez

Steven Volpe, Pamela Morgan, Gary Danko, and Maria Manetti Farrow

The luncheon for Gary Danko in the garden

Pamela Morgan

Beth Nickel

Valery Gergiev, Marchese Piero Antinori, Maria Manetti Farrow, and Margrit and Robert Mondavi

Contemporary art collectors Pam and Dick Kramlich (listed in ART News as one of the top 200 collectors in America), love entertaining at their Oakville estate. Dick is one of the top venture capitalists in the country.

On a beautiful Saturday, they hosted a luncheon at their Provencal garden, which artistic Pam created, for visiting family and friends. What was especially endearing was the mixture of guests which included three generations, babies, parents and grandparents.

Guests included Gretchen and Andre de Baubigny. Their son Andre Jr. and his wife Juliet recently returned to the Bay area from Manhattan. Juliet is a partner in the venture capital firm of Kleiner, Perkins, and Andre established Vintrust.

The Kramlichs have recently purchased an apartment in the Time-Warner complex on Columbus Circle in Manhattan where they can be only one elevator ride away from their favorite restaurant Per Se where their good friend Thomas Keller (French Laundry in Yountville) is chef and owner.

Dick and Pam Kramlich

The Kramlich Garden

Teenagers want and get their own table

Laura Ellison visiting from Virginia

Celebrating With Margrit and Bob Mondavi In Napa Valley

On a Sunday night, we headed to the Robert Mondavi Winery (along with 700 others) where the Mondavi Family held a tribute to Margrit Biever Mondavi for her 37 years in wine, food and the arts, at the winery.

Margrit, who has been married to Robert Mondavi for more than 20 years, founded the popular outdoor Summer Music Festival, the Great Chefs program, and has exhibited the art of Wayne Thiebaud, Helen Frankenthaler and Richard Diebenkorn at the winery.

The festivities took place on the lawn and featured music, a buffet supper paired with Mondavi wine, and concluded with a special concert under the stars featuring musician Boz Scaggs.

Last year Robert Mondavi celebrated his 90th birthday with a party and a cast of a thousand of his friends. I couldn’t resist a few photos of that once in a lifetime event.

Dave Brubeck helped celebrate Robert Mondavi's 90th birthday last year

The Mondavis’ philanthropy includes COPIA: The American Center For Wine Good and the Arts; the Oxbow School for young artists, the 19th century Napa Valley Opera House, the Napa Valley Symphony and the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts at UC Davis.

Robert Mondavi Winery in Oakville, Napa Valley

Robert and Margrit Mondavi

Adria and Dante Bini

Joe and Barby Albritton of Washington, DC

Artist Ira Yeager

Michael Mondavi and Maria Manetti Farrow

Carissa Mondavi and Richard Redding

Garen Staglin, Robert Mondavi, and Shari Staglin

Gayle Wilson, Margrit Mondavi, and Pete Wilson

Karen and Paul Thiebaud

Margrit Mondavi and Congressman Mike Thompson

Margrit with Jeanette and Tom Hsieh

Amy Wend with Paul and Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi

Molly Chappellet

Sisters Holly and Heidi Peterson

Valeria and Augustin Huneeus Sr.

The Concert under the stars where Boz Scaggs entertained, concluding the festivities

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Ann Getty held a cocktail party launching San Francisco Style; Design, Décor and Architecture, the newest book of her friend Diane Dorrans Saeks, writer, editor and lecturer in the fields of interior design, gardens, travel and fashion. Ms. Saeks is the California editor of Metropolitan Home, interior design editor for Paper City as well as San Francisco correspondent for W and Women's Wear Daily. She is the author of fourteen books including California Wine Country, and lives in San Francisco.

L. to r.: Diane Dorrans Saeks; San Francisco Style; Design, Décor and Architecture. Click book cover to order.

Her collaborator on San Francisco Style, David Duncan Livingston has twenty eyars experience as professional interiors photographer and is a former interior designer. His work has appeared in numerous books as well as national and regional publications. He lives in Mill Valley and recently built a house in Hawaii.