ABAS Law Foundation's Winetasting and Silent Auction a Memorable Occasion
By Yoshinori H.T. Himel, ABAS Law Foundation
Photos by Jane Takenouchi and Carole Chong

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If you weren't at the ABAS Law Foundation's inaugural benefit winetasting and silent auction on June 5, 2003, you missed a great party!

Pavilions Shopping Plaza provided its Courtyard and was the Foundation's host for the event. The Steve Homan Jazz Trio, which has performed at the Kennedy Center and has plans to play at the Hague, was there courtesy of Pavilions. The trio's music was pleasing to the ear, and did not fight with the conversation. The weather, after several days of 90s and 100s temperatures, was sunny but mild with a Delta breeze. The food and wine companies dispensed their wares from the shaded Pavilions archways, and guests relaxed at tables shaded by umbrellas.

Over 100 people attended; celebrities included Judges Trena Burger-Plavan, Russell Hom, James Mize, Brian Van Camp, and Michael Virga, as well as Sacramento Asian Sports Foundation chair Karen Cotton and executive director Karen Tomine, County Supervisor Roger Dickinson, former U.S. Marshal Jerry Enomoto and his wife Dorothy, Yolo County chief deputy public defender Jessie Morris, and Department of Finance chief counsel Floyd Shimomura. Also attending was threefold celeb Robert King Fong, who heads ABAS, the Sacramento Asian/Pacific Chamber of Commerce, and the Board of Education of the Sacramento City Unified School District.

The wines came from seven boutique Northern California wineries: Alzante (Pooch pouring), Bogle Winery, CasCande-Pitto Wines (Lorenzo pouring), Michael-David Vineyards (Kathe Barnett pouring), Domaine de la Terre Rouge & Easton, Sogno Winery (Summer Davis pouring), and Wilson Vineyards (Mark Wilson pouring). Geoff Wong, partner in Chanterelle restaurant, dispensed the Bogle wines with his inimitable sense of humor. Extra touches included tasting notes at the wine tables.

Food included delicious hors d'oeuvres from the Supper Club (a duck confit on scoop-like endive, calamari cakes, and eggplant caviar on crostini), a sushi boat from Taka Sushi, smoked salmon, quesadillas, chicken strips, cheese and fruit from Rio City Cafe, calamari tempura from Seoul Restaurant, rice crackers from Oriental Food Market, watermelon from Nam's Food Market, potstickers from Korea House Restaurant, teriyaki chicken from Asia Food Market, and cheese-and-crackers and cookies from Trader Joe's.

At the silent auction, guests bid on a Wine Savvy class, a cooking class from Natural Foods Co-op, a traditional Thai massage, magnums of cabernet sauvignon from Flora Springs Winery and Caymus Vineyards, a River Cats behind-the-scenes tour, a stay at the Napa River Inn, and signature Tea and Chinese Steamer gift baskets by Carole Chong, among many other items of interest.

This first-time fundraiser was a financial success; it made $10,000. The main goal is to provide scholarship assistance to community-spirited law students who, it is hoped, will be motivated to give back in volunteer and other public interest work as lawyers.

The ABAS Law Foundation is planning the next iteration of this annual event for Wednesday, May 26, 2004. Save the date!