Sonoma Valley wines featured with cooking of great chefs in Williams Sonoma dinner series

The culinary specialty chain and the local vintners association already share the name “Sonoma.” Now they are partnering in a coast-to-coast food and wine adventure.

Sonoma Valley Vintners & Growers Alliance (SVVGA) and Williams Sonoma launched the World of Williams Sonoma, a five-city dinner series that kicks off July 15 in Chicago.

“This is a very exciting partnership for us,” said Maureen Cottingham, executive director of SVVGA.

Each stop will feature two Sonoma Valley wineries paired with star chefs and popular restaurants.

For example, the first stop in Chicago features Ordaz Family Wines and Ram’s Gate Winery at Monteverde, an Italian restaurant in Chicago’s West Loop neighborhood. Monteverde partner and chef Sarah Grueneberg received her first James Beard Foundation Award for “Best Chef: Great Lakes.” She was a competitor and finalist on Bravo’s “Top Chef: Texas” and the Food Network’s “Iron Chef Gauntlet.”

When the World of Williams Sonoma series travels next to Houston on Aug. 22, St. Francis Winery and Sangiacomo Wines will be shown off at UB Preserv, with another James Beard Award winner, Chris Shepherd, cooking with Nick Wong.

On Oct. 24, the dinner series comes closer to home with Auteur Wines and Gehricke Wines taking center stage at Central Kitchen in San Francisco. Chef Thomas McNaughton, also of Flour & Water and Salumeria in San Francisco.

Talisman Wine and Landmark Vineyards get the salute on Nov. 7 at Bloomsbury Farm in Nashville where the featured chef is Philip Krajeck.

Dec. 4 closes out the series with Gloria Ferrer Wines and Laurel Glen Vineyard paired up with chefs Clare de Boer and Jess Shadbolt of King in New York City.

All dinners start at 6:30 p.m., and cost $175 per person for a family style dinner with wine pairings. Special pricing is available for Williams Sonoma Visa card holders.

More information can be found at Williams-Sonoma.com/pages/store-events/world-of-williams-sonoma/.