VBJ June 2019

THE VALLEY BUSINESS JOURNAL
28 www.TheValleyBusinessJournal.com
June 2019
31 Years of Concerts at Thornton Winery
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
City of Temecula Hosts Six Free Summer
Sunset Concerts in the Temecula Amphitheater
The City of Temecula will host
the 2019 Temecula Art & Street
Painting Festival on Saturday, June
8th from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm and
Sunday, June 9th from 10:00 am
to 4:00 pm on Main and Mercedes
Streets in Old Town Temecula.
The Festival will have a Free
Kid’s Zone located at Town Square
Park. Families and friends are encouraged
to come out and support your
local arts. Temecula’s Art & Street
Painting Festival always turns out to
be an inspiring, informational, and
creative, family friendly weekend.
Stroll throughout Old Town and
marvel at the many masterpieces
evolving right before your eyes. In
addition to the Chalk Art, unique artisans
and vendors will display paintings,
ceramics, jewelry, photography,
and more during this two-day fest.
The Best of Show winner receives
a $100 Prize! The City is still
accepting applications for Chalk
Artists only at this time. It is free to
apply, pastels will be provided to artists,
and the deadline is Friday, May
31, 2019. Space is limited and all ages
are welcome to apply. All artwork
must be appropriate for family and
public viewing. Chalk Artist applications
are available online at www.
TemeculaCA.gov/ArtFest.
31 years ago, Thornton Winery
launched what was then called the
Champagne Jazz concert series.
A few years back, the series was
renamed Champagne Concerts, a
nod to some of the notable non jazz
artists who have graced Thornton’s
stage, such as Melissa Etheridge,
Chris Isaak and America.
I sat down with General Manager
Tonya Wake recently and she told
me about this year’s concert series,
kicking off July 20 with The Brian
McKnight 4 making their Thornton
Winery debut. Chris Botti, Brain
Culbertson, Keiko Matsui and Sax
to the Max and Euge Groove will
all be returning this summer. Dave
Koz and Summer Horns will make
a two-night appearance.
“It’s going to be a fun year, a
very solid year”, Tonya told me.
“Well be spicing things up a bit” with
better music and more personable
service. “Next year should be even
better!” Gradual changes continue
following the total renovation of
Café Champagne two years ago.
New lights and a lot of outside improvements
are planned. They have
planted several flowers.
David Vergari continues making
award –winning wines and now has
a new assistant winemaker, Tom
Stolzer with an extensive resumé
and years of experience working
alongside Jon McPherson and
Javier Flores. He has also been
honing the winery’s exceptional
sparkling wines. Thornton is open
late for wine tasting until 7pm
Sunday through Thursday and until
9 Fridays and Saturdays in Café
Champagne.
Executive Chef Ceasar Solarzano
oversees the kitchen and has
begun offering cooking classes. The
first one sold out in four hours. He’ll
offer a barbecue cooking class in
June and later a class on stews and
soups, appetizers, and Thanksgiving
leftovers. There will be a spooky
desserts class for Halloween and
cooking tamales in December.
For the full concert series schedule,
visit https://www.thorntonwine.com/
champagne-jazz-series/artist-lineup-and-schedule/
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