A Unique Week of Cooking in Vietnam with Patricia and Walter Wells
Patricia and Walter Wells are especially pleased to announce an exceptional new culinary experience, a weeklong event at Vietnam’s most luxurious resort, The Nam Hai. This special TASTES OF VIETNAM week – May 9th to 14th 2010 – will focus on the best foods that Vietnam has to offer in an extraordinary setting.
Guests will stay at the exclusive oceanfront resort on the famous “China Beach,” just outside the storybook village of Hoi An. Patricia and Walter returned recently from a 10-day scouting trip that took them all over Vietnam, sampling the country’s spectacularly light and elegant cuisine.
Poolside Lighted The grand pool at the Nam Hai at sunset. (Download the Nam Hai Factsheet)
ABOUT THE COOKING CLASSES
The week will include four full-participation classes with simple Vietnamese menus taught by Patricia and Walter, followed by lunch; daily wine pairings; two afternoon demonstrations by local Vietnamese chefs; two restaurant dinners in the village of Hoi An; a wine tasting with a leading importer; a gala opening dinner and a special beach barbecue dinner at the resort. On one of the days we will travel by boat from Hoi An to the misty Cham Islands, where we will enjoy a beach picnic, featuring produce grown on the islands, as well as freshly grilled fish and shellfish from the South China Sea.
Patricia and Walter have selected the premier luxury wine company Goelet Wine Estates as their exclusive wine partner for the week. GWE owns winegrowing properties in Napa Valley (Clos du Val), Victoria, Australia (Taltarni) and the Languedoc, in Southern France (Domaine de Nizas).
All of these domains are known for producing extraordinary and balanced wines that express the terroir of their unique sites and are produced specifically to be savored with food.
Sylvain Bournigault from Les Celliers d'Asie, one of the foremost wine experts in Indochina will be our host for the wine tastings, which will include a presentation of rare older Cabernet Sauvignon vintages from the library at Clos du Val. The Clos du Val’s inaugural Cabernet Sauvignon vintage, 1973, was among the wines poured at the famous 1976 Judgment of Paris tasting. This vintage, along with Patricia’s reflections on the event that rocked the wine world, will be an unforgettable experience.
ABOUT THE SETTING
When guests are not cooking or dining, there is plenty to do at The Nam Hai (www.ghmhotels.com). The resort, opened in 2007, has established a reputation as one of the hottest resorts anywhere. It was singled out by two of the most influential travel publications in the world – Travel + Leisure (USA) and Gourmet Traveller (Australia). The former named it “Best Resort” in its annual design competition; the latter voted it the “Best New Hotel” in 2008.
The all-villa resort consists of 35 acres of impeccably landscaped tropical gardens overlooking the South China Sea, 30 kilometers south of Da Nang. We will all be staying in the hotel's pool villas each of which features a private, temperature-controlled pool.
Along with a luxurious spa, the Nam Hai includes three swimming pools, four tennis courts, a basketball and badminton court and an adjacent 18-hole golf course, Montgomerie Links www.montgomerielinks.com, designed by Colin Mongomerie. In 2009, Montgomerie Links Vietnam joined the Ho Chi Minh Trail, Asia’s most talked about golfing itinerary. If you are interested in adding a world class golf component as a complement to the course, please let us know.
MORE ABOUT THE WEEK
All instruction is in English. Recipes are geared to the recreational cook. Guests are supplied with aprons, a special kit of Vietnamese cooking tools, as well as detailed recipe booklets that are theirs to keep.
The class is limited to 20 participants. The week begins with dinner on Sunday night May 9th, 2010, and ends after lunch on Friday, May 14th, 2010. The fee is $6,750 per person for single occupancy and $5,750 per person for double occupancy. The price includes luxury lodging from Sunday night to Saturday morning, all breakfasts, a gala Sunday night dinner, Monday full-participation cooking class and lunch, afternoon demonstration, Monday dinner, Tuesday full-participation cooking class and lunch, afternoon demonstration, Tuesday dinner, Wednesday trip to Cham Islands with lunch, Thursday full-participation cooking class and lunch, wine tastings, Thursday Nam Hai beach dinner, Friday full-participation cooking class and lunch. The fee includes all local transportation and transportation from the Da Nang airport to the Nam Hai. Guests who would like to be accompanied by a spouse/partner who will not participate in the cooking classes can attend for the price of $5,250.
DEPOSIT: A non-refundable deposit of $2,000 per person is required to confirm enrollment.
FINAL PAYMENT: The final payment must be received no later than January 10, 2010. If the balance is not paid on time, we reserve the right to regard your reservation as cancelled and retain your deposit. Please refer to FAQ’s for information on the cancelation policy, trip insurance, etc.
In the event that Patricia Wells must cancel for any reason, all fees, including deposits, will be returned in full. The costs of any travel arrangements you may have made will however not be reimbursed.
Making Spring rolls in Open Market
Only direct bookings are valid. A reservation that is resold to a third party will be invalid and all fees forfeited.
The class is designed for adults only. Therefore, students must be at least 21 years old.
TRANSPORTATION NOTES:
Most major airlines fly to or have code share agreements to Ho Chi Minh City or Hanoi including Air France, American, Asiana, Cathay Pacific, China Airlines, Emirates, Eva Air, Japan Air, Korean Air, Lufthansa, Qantas, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airlines, United Airlines and Vietnam Airlines.
It is a short flight to Da Nang from either Ho Chi Minh City or Hanoi. Interior flights in Vietnam are plentiful. They can be booked on line through Vietnam Airlines or Jet Star, a low cost carrier.
If you want to splurge the best routing from the US is LA/New York-Singapore, Singapore-Da Nang on Singapore Air All Business.
Fisherman in Hoi An
Please note that you will need a visa, easily obtained through the Vietnamese Embassy/consulates or on-line. It is possible to get one upon arrival but it must be arranged in advance for pick-up.
John at Trails of Indochina www.trailsofindochina.com and info@trailsofindochina.com can help with your travel arrangements. They are one of the best travel operators in the region. The course/hotel reservations will need to be purchased directly through www.patriciawells.com .
About Clos Du Val Wine Co., Ltd.
French-born winemaker Bernard Portet and American businessman John Goelet founded Clos Du Val in 1972. After traveling the world for two years in search of winegrowing regions of great potential, Portet selected two sites in Napa Valley—150 acres in the Stags Leap District for growing Bordeaux varieties and 180 acres in the cooler Carneros region for Clos Du Val Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Today, winemaker John Clews joins Portet to craft wines of balance, complexity and elegance.
About Goelet Wine Estates (GWE)
Goelet Wine Estates (GWE) is a portfolio of exceptional estate and reserve wines that express the terroir of the world’s finest winegrowing regions. GWE was established in 2007 to unite the five Goelet family wineries as one global fine wine alliance. The company produces and markets the wines of Clos du Val (Napa Valley, California), Taltarni Vineyards (Victoria, Australia), Clover Hill and Lalla Gully (Tasmania, Australia), Domaine de Nizas (Languedoc, France) and Kato (Marlborough, New Zealand). For more information about Goelet Wine Estates, visit www.goeletwineestates.com