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Flavors Moment: ZONTA Sip and Savor – Women Chefs Women Made Wines

Stella Fong

Women chefs. Women produced wines. Chef Megan Jessee, Programs Manager for the Montana Restaurant Association Education Foundation is one of the chefs participating in the 2nd Annual ZONTA Sip and Savor. Jessee shared about the event, “I think it is the perfect partnership – female chefs female winemakers and ZONTA since their goal is to empower leaders, female leaders in our community.”   

ZONTA Sip and Savor will bring together women chefs who prepare food to pair with wines. Wines created by female winemakers or produced by women owned wineries were procured at Simply Wine through Melinda Winegardner owner of wholesaler Winegardner’s Wines. Each chef is assigned a specific wine to pair with her food. Jessee who is teaming up with Chef Sarah Wilson of the Doubletree Hotel has already put in hours of thought to the wine and food match.

Along with Jessee and Wilson other women chefs include: Wendi Reed - Wildflower Kitchen in Fishtail, Katie Resmondo - Simply Wine, Christine Helmers - Northern Hotel, Coralee Warner - Pollard Hotel, Sheila Poklemba – Food Consultant and Hope Barr Smith – Private Chef.

Credit Stella Fong
From left to right: Zontians Renee Coppock, Debbie Sunberg, Jane Krizek of Simply Wine and Virginia Burgess team up to toast the 2nd Annual ZONTA Sip and Savor.

Debbie Sunberg, ZONTA of Billings President, emphasized the importance of this fundraising event, enabling the organization to do needed service work. Sunberg described, “The ZONTA Club is an international women’s organization that works to empower women and children worldwide.” The Billings branch focuses on domestic violence awareness and human trafficking. The organization also provides college scholarships to students in Billings and across the state of Montana.

Women chefs will highlight women made wines at the 2nd Annual ZONTA Sip and Savor taking place on October 15 from 4 to 7 p.m. at Beyond the Box (724 1st Ave N, Billings). Tickets are $75 (Contact Renee Coppock at 406-255-7287, rcoppock@crowleyfleck.com or purchase online at Eventbrite).

 

Stella Fong shares her personal love of food and wine through her cooking classes and wine seminars as well as through her contributions to Yellowstone Valley Woman, and Last Best News and The Last Best Plates blogs. Her first book, Historic Restaurants of Billings hit the shelves in November of 2015 with Billings Food available in the summer of 2016. After receiving her Certified Wine Professional certification from the Culinary Institute of America with the assistance of a Robert Parker Scholarship for continuing studies, she has taught the Wine Studies programs for Montana State University Billings Wine and Food Festival since 2008. She has instructed on the West Coast for cooking schools such as Sur La Table, Williams-Sonoma, Macy’s Cellars, and Gelsons, and in Billings, at the Billings Depot, Copper Colander, Wellness Center, the YMCA and the YWCA. Locally she has collaborated with Raghavan Iyer and Christy Rost in teaching classes.