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History of vinNEBRASKA

By 1989, a wine scene had emerged in the United States to rival those of Burgundy, Bordeaux, Tuscany, and the rest of the world’s most famous wine producing regions. Thirteen years earlier, a Paris-based Englishman named Steve Spurrier had traveled through Northern California, sampling wine. He took several cases of wine back with him to France, and in front of some of the most reputable experts and sommeliers of the time, put them up against French First-Growths in a blind tasting. The winner of the red wine category was a 1973 Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon made by Warren Winiarski, while the winner of the white wine category was a 1973 Chateau Montelena Chardonnay made by Miljenko Grgich. Both wines hailed from California’s Napa Valley. Any doubt about the potential to make world class wine in the United States vanished instantly. Over time, this event has come to be known among wine lovers as “The Judgement of Paris.” The American viticultural scene was on the rise.

In the years that followed the Judgement of Paris, the American wine industry would experience unprecedented growth. Wineries had existed in the Napa Valley since the mid-nineteenth century, and brave pioneers like Stu and Charlie Smith, the Mondavis, the Eiseles, the Davies, and others had planted vines and established or reestablished wineries in the post-prohibition era long before the boom that came with the American “victory” in Paris in 1976. Soon, valleys and wine regions up and down the west coast, from Paso Robles to the Napa Valley, Sonoma to Willamette, Columbia and others, were playing host to thousands of wineries producing tens of millions of gallons of wine each year, while around the nation, appreciation for fine wine was on the rise. In 1989 a group of dedicated and knowledgeable wine lovers gathered in Omaha to celebrate their love of viticulture and raise money for important causes in the process. Art Meyer, David Deao, Steve Seidel, Claudia Moseley, and others combined a love of wine and a heart for supporting local charities, and vinOMAHA was born.

The first vinOMAHA event took place on June 16, 1990, and was held in the atrium of the Omaha Public Power District. The event was a fundraiser for a local chapter of the American Cancer Society, and included a wine tasting with twenty-six premier wineries and a live auction of various wine-related lots.

The wineries in attendance were represented by their winemakers, owners, or both, and included such esteemed producers as Beringer, Chateau Souverain, Domaine Mumm, Freemark Abbey, Pine Ridge, Smith-Madrone, Steltzner, Sterling, and Trefethen from the Napa Valley, Buena Vista, Gloria Ferrer, Kenwood, La Crema, and St. Francis from the Sonoma Valley, Chateau St. Michelle from the budding Columbia Valley, as well Bersano Winery and Brolio Winery from Italy, Barton & Gustier from Bordeaux, and Joseph Drouhin from Burgundy.

The first lot auctioned was a magnum of 1987 Jekel Chardonnay, and the second was a three-liter bottle of 1986 Cabernet Sauvignon from Chateau St. Michelle. Both were sold for a mere $50. Early in the auction, it became apparent that the fast-talking, traditional-style of the auctioneer was ineffective in this setting. With a nod from his friend Dave Deao, winemaker Stu Smith of Smith Madrone soon stepped up to the microphone. He slowed the pace of the bidding, and spoke knowledgeably about each winery, each auction lot, and what made it special. By the end of the bidding, lot 27e, which contained Grace Family Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignons vintages 1981, 1982 1983, 1984, 1985, and 1987, had sold for a whopping $1,050. The first vinOMAHA event raised more than twenty-thousand dollars, and was deemed a great success. Stu Smith returned to his Spring Mountain winery and continued to make phenomenal Cabernet, Riesling, and Chardonnay, and has returned to serve as the auctioneer for the event every year since.

vinOMAHA continued for four more years, through 1994. In 1995, the committee took a break and reorganized. When the event returned in 1996, it was renamed vinNEBRASKA and had grown into a two-night event. On Friday, April 26, a winemaker dinner was held at the Omaha Country Club. Saturday, April 27, the live auction was held at the Mutual of Omaha dome in Midtown. Stu Smith again served as auctioneer. The event maintained the format for the years to come. From 2002 to 2004, the vinNEBRASKA Foundation partnered with the Easter Seals, and the event became known as “A Taste for Independence”. In 2005, All Our Kids assumed the role of the foundation’s charity partner, and vinNEBRASKA continued to raise more and more money to support important local causes.

Since the conception of the event, there have been a number of wineries and winemakers who have been especially devoted to the event, and to whom much thanks is owed. “Geoff Gorsuch of Goosecross Cellars was a staple of the event for many years,” recalled an original board member. Other wineries to attend the event more than ten times since 1990 include Flora Springs, Fourth Estate, Hahn Family, Landmark, Michael David, Mill Creek, Optima, Quady, Seghesio, Silver Oak, and Trentadue, and to each of these producers we are forever grateful for their sustained commitment to our event over the years. Of course, no one has been more generous to the event with their time and their wine than Stu Smith of Smith-Madrone, who has attended every year the event has been held since 1990.

Over the past thirty years, vinNEBRASKA has raised more than six million dollars for charities including the Ronald McDonald House, Partnership 4 Kids, Easter Seals, Girls Inc., the Omaha Public Library Foundation, Omaha Hearing School for Children, Inc., All Our Kids, KVNO Public Radio, and the Omaha Public Schools Foundation. In 2021, the vinNEBRASKA Dave Deao Memorial Scholarship was established in the culinary arts program at Metropolitan Community College, and offered a full ride scholarship to aid one Nebraska Youth in pursuing a culinary arts degree. Beginning in 2022, vinNEBRASKA is excited to partner with the Stephen Center to help raise money for their important work. We thank you for supporting our charity partners with your time and generosity. Let’s raise a glass to thirty more years of charitable giving in Nebraska!

Cheers,

The vinNEBRASKA Committee