I recently traveled to the quaint and charming American Club in Kohler, Wisconsin for the Kohler Food and Wine Experience from Oct 20-23. The weekend was packed with delicious wine, chocolate and beer tastings. (I must confess I am now on a juice detox cleanse as a result!) And, of course a visit to the beautiful Kohler Waters Spa was well worth the trip. See the video clip for images from the weekend…
If you haven’t been to Kohler, it’s a lovely little town with a warm and friendly mid-west kind of vibe. The Food & Wine Experience attracted many from the local area to experience some of the top wines and celebrity chefs right in their own backyard. Celeb chefs and presenters included: Alex Guarnaschelli, Executive Chef of Butter and the Darby; chocolatier and pastry chef Jacques Torres; Jon Ashton of CW’s The Daily Buzz; Emmi-Roth Kase USA’s Regi Hise; Stefano Viglietti of Trattoria Stefano; Bart Vandaele of Belga Cafe; Charlie Trotter; Travel Channel’s Andrew Zimmern. If you’re a golfer, you surely know Kohler is home to Whistling Straits and Blackwolf Run – two beautiful world class golf courses that have hosted PGA Championships, U.S. Women’s Open, among other tournaments.
Some of the highlights from the weekend? My favorite event was Taste of the Vine at the Kohler Design Center on Friday evening, hosted by Wirtz Beverage Wisconsin. Guests nibbled on Wisconsin cheeses and Kohler chocolates while tasting wines from numerous vintners, including Domaine Serene, Ste Michelle Wine Estates, Caymus, Charles Krug, Joseph Phelps Insignia, Duckhorn, Rodney Strong, Trinchero Napa Meritage, Twenty Four Wines, among many others. The venue was ideal – who wouldn’t love viewing all the fabulous products and designs at the Kohler Design Center? And, let’s face it, where else can you have an amazing night surrounded by 100+ toilets?
I learned how to pair up chocolate, cheese and beer at the lovely Craverie Chocolatier Cafe – the Kohler chocolates are so yummy! A refresher seminar on Rioja wines with Dominic Guerrieri of FOLIO Fine Wine Partners where we tasted different blends of tempranillo, garnacha, mazuelo and graciano grapes brought back fond memories of living in Barcelona and Seville. At the Grand Tasting event, there were, once again, many different wines to try. Two of my favorites were from Duckhorn Vineyards – the 2007 Paraduxx Napa Valley Red and the 2008 Napa Valley Merlot were both delicious!
Kohler Waters Spa was certainly a fantastic highlight from the weekend! I pampered myself with two treatments – a 50-minute massage (which was delightful) and an 80-minute Complete Harmony Treatment – incredible! It’s one of Kohler’s newest treatments, and I was pleasantly surprised. The treatment started with a wonderful facial cleansing and exfoliation in the Stillness room. I then entered the Harmony Wet Treatment room for a full-body hydrotherapy exfoliation using Kerstin Florian’s Aromatherapy Turkish Body Scrub under the KOHLER Custom Vichy shower. The Vichy shower was absolutely amazing, and it was also specifically designed by Kohler. Next, I took a 10-minute relaxing bubble bath with Olaive Chardonnay Bubble Bath. And last, but not least, a full body moisturizing treatment was applied in the Stillness room, concluding this luxurious treatment. What a treat! I highly recommend the Complete Harmony Treatment the next time you are in Kohler.
although i was not able to make it there in time, i was very thrilled with the phenominal work that wendy has done. just match the pace with the quality levels of each future atricle. simple success.