GSO Wine and Cheese Festival

The Greenwich Symphony Wine & Cheese Festival gathered a happy crowd of nearly 200 to Richards of Greenwich on October 16. The 2009 Festival marked the fifth time that Scott Mitchell, once a cellist, has arranged for Richards to host the event and provide items for the Silent Auction. And for the sixth year, Terry Rogers of Horseneck Wine & Liquor brought in the wines, this year more than 60, to be sampled. She also donated Silent Auction items and contributed a portion of wine sales to benefit the GSO's Young People's Concerts and the annual Dorothy Gluckmann Music Award.

The event featured cheeses from around the world donated by local cheese merchants, and delectable hors d'oeuvres. There was also a table of home vintners' wines to try, arranged by David Renton, a home winemaker and member of the Fairfield County chapter of the American Wine Society and the Symphony Board and Festival committee.

Noted wine author George M. Taber was there with his new book, In Search of Bacchus: Wanderings in the Wonderful World of Wine Tourism. Just Books of Old Greenwich donated a portion of its sales of that book as well as those of his earlier books, Judgment of Paris and To Cork or Not to Cork, to the event.

For the second year, the Benefit featured the cool sounds of vibist Larry Spivack and his ''Lucky 37'' Jazz Quartet. ''It was great fun that Larry Spivack, the orchestra's percussionist, showed us another side of his musical talent – and donated his own performance in order to support the classical concerts for students in our schools,'' said Lu Morris, chair of the event with her husband, Jack.

The committee is already planning to make next year's event even more fun and successful to support the GSO's educational programs.