The Berkeley Wine Festival Winemaker Dinner Series - Joseph Phelps Vineyards - May 5th and Closing Reception - May 7th!

The Berkeley Wine Festival Winemaker Dinner Series featuring :

Joseph Phelps Vineyards
May 5th, Wednesday
Seminar and Dinner, 6:30 pm, $185
Dinner only, 7:30 pm, $155

Founded in 1972, Joseph Phelps Vineyards is an independent, estate-based winery located outside St. Helena. Damian Parker, vice president and director of wine making for Joseph Phelps, will join us for a seminar featuring wines from their Freestone project. A four course dinner will follow with a full range of wines, including their famous Bordeaux blend, Insignia.

This dinner and seminar promises to be a very memorable evening for all!

The winemaker dinner will be held in the Meritage Private Dining Room.  Click here to purchase tickets.

CLOSING RECEPTION
Friday, May 7th

Concluding our First Annual Berkeley Wine Festival with a celebration of some of the year's favorite wines. There will also be a preview of wineries you can anticipate enjoying in 2011!

Click here to purchase tickets to the Closing Reception for Friday, May 7th.

Start a new wine tradition at the Claremont!

What are your Summer plans?

As children, we all looked forward to summer vacation with breathless anticipation.  Once Spring Break was over, we eagerly tracked how many school days were left before we were free to sleep in, play with friends and enjoy balmy evenings spent grilling in our back yards.  And, of course, the highlight of summer was the family vacation.  Where will we go this year?  What new adventure awaits and what stories would we have to share with friends when we returned?

What are your plans for summer this year?  Berkeley is perhaps the best place to stay in the Bay Area during summer.  We don’t get as hot as our inland neighbors, but the infamous San Francisco fog typically burns off in Berkeley by mid-morning, revealing bright blue skies and warm sunny days. Plus, the Claremont Hotel Club & Spa has several packages that will make your summer planning just a bit easier for you and your pocket book.  Here are just two examples to get your mind thinking in vacation mode!

• Beat the Heat at the Claremont! This package invites you to escape the sometimes oppressive heat of summer, without sacrificing your time in the sun.  Lounge by one of our three pools during the day, or book some time on our tennis courts and work on your serve!  The Beat the Heat package includes your room, a $20 food & beverage credit at Bayview Café (our poolside café!), access to all of the world-class facilities at the Club, including our fitness center and classes, ten tennis courts, and the pools, and you won’t have to worry about the facilities charges or parking charges, as they are also included in the package price.  Beat the Heat packages start at $179 per night and are available from May 21st through September 6th.  This is an outstanding summer value and perfect for that quick weekend getaway!

• The whole family will be thrilled with our Family Fun in the Sun package.  There are so many activities open to guests of the Claremont Hotel that you can fill an entire week and not know where the time went!  The Family Fun in the Sun package gives guests a chance to sample everything we have to offer.  With your room you have the choice of a $100 credit for either the Club or the Spa.  Take advantage of the Club with swimming or tennis lessons, or enroll your children for a week of fun at the Kid’s Club Adventure Day Camp.  If relaxation is more your speed, take advantage of Spa Claremont’s many body and skin care treatments and pair them with a yoga class or two at the Club.  This package also includes breakfast for two adults and two children at Meritage, an in-room movie with popcorn, plus parking and facilities charges.  Family Fun in the Sun packages start at $299 per night and are available from May 21st through September 6th.  Bring your family for a week of fun and togetherness!

The Claremont Hotel Club & Spa is much more than a place to stay.  We offer you and your family an experience that will create memories for years to come!

Celebrate Mom at the Claremont Hotel!

Mother’s Day is coming up and it will be here before you know it, which brings up the perennial question: How can I show Mom how much I love and appreciate her?  Jewelry, perfume and scarves can be great presents and your mom will love whatever you choose to give her, but often it is experiences that make the most memorable and meaningful gifts.

For some mothers, particularly new mothers, the greatest gift is having time to herself, a chance to focus on her own wellness for a few hours.  For other mothers the best possible day would involve being surrounded by her children, family and loved ones.  Being able share a special day with those most important to her will be a memory long cherished.  The Claremont Hotel Club & Spa offers you options that will satisfy any mother.

Spa Claremont will open its doors for extended hours on both Saturday, May 8th and Sunday, May 9th.  Treat her to the ultimate Spa Day.  She can arrive early to enjoy our pre-spa Hydrotherapy Ritual, then enjoy a wonderful massage or one of the best facials available in the East Bay, and perhaps follow it all up with a manicure or pedicure.  She will feel refreshed and relaxed, and will remember this Mother’s Day for years to come!

The Claremont Hotel’s outstanding culinary department will be hosting a special Mother’s Day version of our famous Sunday Brunch.  With expanded food offerings, this meal will take her breath away.  Mom will feel like a queen as she sips her sparkling wine and enjoys a wonderful meal with her favorite people.

If you have the perfect day planned, but still need a gift that will warm her heart, stop by Spa Claremont to purchase a gift certificate.  You can purchase a certificate for any dollar amount and Mom can decide how she wants to spend it, whether it is for a spa or salon treatment, exquisite skin care products from Spa Boutique, or a meal in Paragon or Meritage.

It is important to show moms how their love and support have been essential to our lives.  We should do it everyday!  But it is nice to make a special effort for the extraordinary women in our lives on Mother’s Day.

The Berkeley Wine Festival Winemaker Dinner Series - Cakebread Cellars - April 28th!

Hurry as there are only a couple of evenings left to indulge in the Berkeley First Annual Wine Festival!

Next Wednesday April 28th, Dennis Cakebread of Cakebread Cellars is hosting a dinner featuring a variety of their sauvignon blanc, merlot, and reserve wines from the Napa Valley. Thirty years after their first vintage, Cakebread Cellars continues its dedication to making the highest quality of wines. With Chef Thomsen creating dishes that flawlessly pair with these spectacular wines, it will be a night to remember.

Cakebread Cellars
Reception and Dinner
Wednesday April 28th, 6:30 pm, $130
Click here to purchase tickets.

The Festival runs through May 7th, so look for information on upcoming events on the calendar. Start a new wine tradition at the Claremont!

The Wedding Experience

Your wedding is the reason your friends and family will gather together.  They will be there to witness you publicly proclaim your love and commitment for each other, and they want to celebrate your joy!  When reading some of the wonderful wedding blogs out there, one thing that brides and grooms seem to have cherished is having the opportunity to spend time with their guests outside of the wedding day itself.  The events do not have to be elaborate or formal, just excuses for spending some quality time with the people you love.

When planning a wedding, it is easy to feel overwhelmed by the pressure to have the “perfect” wedding, to be the “perfect” hosts, and to create the “perfect” experience for your guests.  Well, we at the Claremont are here to let you in on a little secret: there is no formula for perfection.  What our wedding planners understand is that a wedding, or any related event, that is authentic to you as a couple will be far more memorable and meaningful for both you and your guests.

Before delving into that “how to plan a perfect wedding” checklist, take a step back and consider which events hold special meaning to you, and consider using one venue to host multiple events to keep things more sane.  The Claremont Hotel Club & Spa is the type of venue that can certainly help you create a wonderful wedding experience for you and your guests, with the bonus being they don’t have to drive all over town!

If your friends and family are scattered all over and have not spent much time together, then holding a fun, casual poolside barbecue at the Pool Arbor the day before your wedding might be the perfect way to facilitate some pre-wedding bonding among your two communities.  Throw in a few party games and by the end of the day your guests will have had the time of their lives and will be looking forward to spending even more time together at your wedding.

If you never get to see your best friends from college or high school, meeting up at a lounge like Paragon after the formalities of the rehearsal dinner will give you a chance to relax and catch-up in an intimate yet energetic environment.

If you want nothing more than to spend some time relaxing with those closest to you the day after the wedding, brunch at Meritage, or in one of Meritage’s private rooms, may be the best way to enjoy your guests for just a bit longer and to say your good-byes without feeling rushed.

Making your guests feel welcome, included and loved will help set the tone for your entire wedding experience.  Let us help create an experience that truly reflects you!

The Berkeley Wine Festival Winemaker Dinner Series - Silver Oak Cellars - April 21st!

On Wednesday, April 21st, join us at The Berkeley Wine Festival Winemaker Dinner Series with the Silver Oak Cellars!

Silver Oak has devoted their efforts towards the pursuit of a singe wine with a style all their own, cabernet sauvignon, since it's founding in 1972. Daniel Baron continues this commitment to excellence today. He will lead us through this dinner featuring service vintages of Silver Oak's Alexander Valley & Napa Valley cabernets, and their new venture Twomey Cellars and its pinor noirs and merlots.

To see the menu and wine selections in detail, visit www.berkeleywinefestival.com

Click here to purchase tickets. Reception & Dinner, 6:30 pm, $165 per person.

The Festival runs through May 7th, so look for information on upcoming events on the calendar. Start a new wine tradition at the Claremont!

Fresh Express Classic Comes to TPC Stonebrae, a Claremont Hotel Partner

Next week some of the best up-and-coming professional golf players arrive at TPC Stonebrae for the Fresh Express Classic, starting point for the Nationwide Tour.  With events starting on Monday, April 12th and running through Sunday, April 18th, the Fresh Express Classic promises to be a week of fun, family, and riveting golf.  For more information on the Nationwide Tour, take a look at this video.

One of the highlights of the Classic is Jerry Rice’s Celebrity Pro-Am tournament on April 14th, benefiting his wonderful 127 Foundation. The festivities start the evening before when the Claremont Hotel hosts his Red Carpet Pairings Party.  At this event each pro, celebrity and amateur pairing will be determined via drawing. Didn’t know Jerry Rice has moved from professional football to golf?  Click here to watch Jerry Rice discuss his latest foray into a new sport.  We can’t wait to see if he can do in golf what he did in football!

Later in the evening on the 13th, Phil Hellmuth hosts his Charity Poker Tournament, also at the Claremont Hotel!  This is a chance to play poker with the pros and with local celebrities like Jerry Rice, Tim Brown, and Mr. Hellmuth himself.  The winner of the evening will earn a seat at the World Series of Poker!  The true winners, however, are the many Bay Area Charities who will benefit from the evening’s proceeds.

The Fresh Express Classic, along with TPC Stonebrae and the Claremont Hotel are dedicated to ensuring our community benefits from this world class event.  That is why the event is using the innovative Tickets for Charity program, ensuring that 100% of tournament proceeds are distributed to participating organizations.

On Thursday, April 15th, the professionals get down to business as they play the first round of the Fresh Express Classic.  Watch as they work their way to the final round on Sunday, April 18th.  The top 25 finishers in the Nationwide Tour earn their credentials for the 2011 PGA Tour.  This is a chance to see golf’s future first hand.

For more information visit www.freshexpressclassic.com or click here to download the Fresh Express program.

The Berkeley Wine Festival Winemaker Dinner Series - Duckhorn Wine Company - April 14th!

On Wednesday, April 14th, join us at The Berkeley Wine Festival Winemaker Dinner Series with the Duckhorn Wine Company! Seminar & Dinner, 6:30 pm, $160 per person.

For over 30 years, Duckhorn Wine Company has been crafting fine Bordeaux varietals from the Napa Valley.The founder and chairman of the board, Dan Duckhorn, will unveil his newest red wine at the Berkeley Wine Festival. Don't miss an opportunity to savor the signature, dark, rich and tannic reds of Duckhorn Wine Company along with a four course dinner following the seminar.


Tickets can be purchased at http://www.berkeleywinefestival.com/

 The Festival runs through May 7th, so look for information on upcoming events on the calendar.  Start a new wine tradition at the Claremont!

A Star in Our Midst!

The Claremont Hotel Club & Spa has hosted celebrities and dignitaries throughout our 95 year history, but now we are able to say we have a star in residence!  Executive Chef Josh Thomsen joined us in May 2009 and has played an instrumental role in revamping our food offerings throughout the hotel, all while developing the new and innovative menu at Meritage, which opened in December 2009.  And it looks like people are beginning to sit up and take notice!

• StarChefs.com has put together a mouthwatering slideshow featuring Chef Thomsen and just a few of his signature creations.
• Outstanding in the Field selected Chef Thomsen to be the guest chef for their upcoming event at Tres Sabores winery on July 3rd.  This event sold out in one day.
• Chef Thomsen and the Claremont received mention in Wine Spectator magazine’s April 30th issue.  The magazine has a fantastic profile of Thomas Keller of the French Laundry.  Chef Thomsen spent two years working under Keller and he has credited Keller for being a major influence on his cuisine and career.
• Chef Thomsen took a turn at television when View from the Bay came to visit him at Meritage.  He demonstrates how to make his Striped Bass & Quinoa and generally charms the viewers.  You can view his clip here.

 

We always knew we had a gem in Chef Thomsen, and it makes us happy to see that others agree!  If you want to see what the buzz is about, come join us for dinner at Meritage, Tuesday through Saturday.  We guarantee you won’t be disappointed!

 

Visit www.meritageclaremont.com or call (510) 549-8510 for reservations.