A Taste of Intrigue: The House of Mondavi: The Rise and Fall of an American Wine Dynasty
The Luxury Marketing Council -
Upcoming Evening Social Event
Date: Wednesday June 11
Time: 6.00pm - 8.00pm
Location: GE Monogram Design Center, A&D Building, 10th Floor, 150 East 58th Street, (Between Lexington and 3rd Avenues)
A Taste of Intrigue:
The House of Mondavi: The Rise and Fall of an American Wine Dynasty
Generously Hosted by GE Monogram Design Center
With Julia Flynn Siler, best-selling author of The House of Mondavi: The Rise and Fall of an American Wine Dynasty
The Luxury Marketing Council and GE Monogram invite you to enjoy "A Taste of Intrigue" with special guest author Julia Flynn Siler and serving temptations from GE Monogram's executive chef, Chef Tageré Southwell.
Wall Street Journal writer Julia Flynn Siler will be joining us after accolades from our San Francisco chapter's event speaking on her James Beard nominated book The House of Mondavi: The Rise and Fall of an American Wine Dynasty. Wines discussed in the book will be served for your enjoyment on the evening along with a selection of hors d'oeuvres and a cooking demonstration with Chef Tageré Southwell featuring a delicious wine-infused fig appetizer.
BusinessWeek named The House of Mondavi one of the top ten business books of 2007. In her book Flynn Siler chronicles the turbulence that has roiled four generations of Mondavis and the family business they built into an empire. Based on meticulous research and over five hundred hours of interviews, The House of Mondavi is a fascinating behind-the-scenes portrait of a family that has produced as many sensational headlines as exceptional wines. The House of Mondavi is both a complex, cautionary business story and a compelling family drama.
We hope you are able to join us on June 11th to toast the arrival of summer and celebrate in the vineyards of California. Space is limited so please reply promptly to avoid disappointment.
Praise for The House of Mondavi
"With stellar reporting and clear, enjoyable writing Julia Flynn Siler... describes the long rise and sharp descent of California's most iconic vintner," writes W. Blake Gray. "...her research is simply outstanding. She captures the scope of Mondavi's story, which amounts to King Lear in wine country." -Vinography, April 14, 2008
"A fascinating chronicle" and "a twisted tale filled with big egos, beautiful backdrops, and charismatic-yet-flawed characters who pull off towering feats and then throw them all away..."
-BusinessWeek, August 13, 2007
"(The House of Mondavi) provides an epic overview of every entrepreneur's nightmare-and demonstrates just how vulnerable even the most "takeoverproof" company can be." - U.S. News and World Report, July 17, 2007
"A compelling story about what works and does not at a family-run, publicly-traded business, whether the product is wine or widgets." - International Herald Tribune, February 23, 2008
"Each page is packed with facts and footnotes which, by dint of superb writing, manage to engage the reader and avoid the data brain-lock that would have plagued a less-talented journalist."
- Barron's, September 3, 2007
"A meticulously reported account...that is an eye-opener, even for people like me who follow the wine industry....Flynn Siler's reporting is impeccable and extensive..."
- The Mercury News, June 20, 2007
"(Julia Flynn Siler) does for winemakers what Laura Hillenbrand did for horseracing in her bestseller Seabiscuit. Her engaging, descriptive style envelops readers into the unfamiliar world of Napa Valley vintners." - Bookopinion.com, Oct. 2, 2007
"The summer's juiciest wine read," "meticulously researched," "riveting," and with "more layers than a complex cabernet." - Bloomberg News, August 28, 2007
About Julia Flynn Siler
Julia Flynn Siler is the best-selling author of The House of Mondavi:
The Rise and Fall of an American Wine Dynasty, which BusinessWeek named one of the top ten business books of 2007. The book is currently a nominee for the James Beard award in the category of wine and spirits.
A graduate of Brown University and Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, Ms. Flynn Siler began her career as a staff correspondent for BusinessWeek, working in the magazine's Los Angeles and Chicago bureaus. She wrote about Midwestern businesses for The New York Times and earned an MBA from Northwestern's Kellogg Graduate School of Management.
In 1993, she won a fellowship to teach business journalism in Prague.
Based out of the Center for Independent Journalism, a not-for-profit organization supported, in part, by The New York Times Foundation, Ms. Flynn Siler then went on to serve as a London-based foreign correspondent, first for BusinessWeek and then for The Wall Street Journal. She wrote about everything from Dolly the cloned sheep to Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin Airways.
In 2000, she moved back to the U.S. to join a family business in San Francisco and returned to writing for The Wall Street Journal. One of her first stories was about the turmoil within the Mondavi family's wine empire, which ran as a front page story in June of 2004.
That story led to her book The House of Mondavi, which involved more than 500 hours of interviews and examination of tens of thousands of pages of documents. Ms. Flynn Siler is a member of Investigative Reporters and Editors and continues to write for The Wall Street Journal out of its San Francisco bureau, focusing on family businesses, wine, and philanthropy.
http://www.juliaflynnsiler.com/siler-media.htm
About the GE Monogram Design Center
In a city that boasts the best of everything, New York's Architects & Designers Building has emerged as an epicenter for luxury home design. Making its debut on the tenth floor of the Midtown East building is the GE Monogram Design Center, a 4,000-square-foot appliance showroom open to kitchen designers, architects, contract remodelers, and the general public.
Throughout the center, a host of Manhattan-inspired details create a sense of movement and provide a dynamic environment for the complete line of Monogram appliances. The city motif, which is more artful than literal, tells visitors that they have not only arrived, but they have also been transported into the realm of the extraordinary.
"The concept is to create an environment that's familiar and surprisingly original at the same time," says Paula Cecere, manager of the center. "We wanted to showcase Monogram appliances against a backdrop that beckons visitors to explore."
At the entrance of the center, a terrazzo floor with a distinct street-grid pattern subtly leads visitors from the reception area to a series of kitchens and appliance vignettes. Along the way, visitors are greeted with building-like towers that use stylized cityscape reflections to highlight Monogram wall ovens. Elsewhere in the center, subway-station wall tiles enticingly frame an array of Monogram refrigerators in custom, integrated and professional styles.
Other appliances that fit into the overall scheme are state-of-the-art wine storage systems, powerful professional appliances with coordinating ventilation hoods, fully integrated dishwashers and under-counter refrigeration modules. New product innovations, such as induction cooktops, also occupy a prominent place in the center, bringing to light the exceptional design and performance possibilities of Monogram appliances.
For information on the entire GE Monogram Collection, please visit www.monogram.com
