Winemakers, chefs and health professionals are donating wine, special events, meals and more to help support longtime Central Coast winemaker Clarissa Nagy, who is battling breast cancer.
The “Crush Cancer” event, featuring a silent auction, food and wine tasting, will take place from 3 to 7 p.m. on Saturday at the Wine Sneak, 4468 Broad St., San Luis Obispo, and was organized to fundraise toward Nagy’s cost of cancer treatment.
In addition, monetary donations can be made to the “Clarissa Nagy Benefit Account” at the Community Bank of Santa Maria.
Winemakers up and down the Central Coast are rallying around Nagy via their donations of wine bottles (standard and magnums); wine club memberships; wines for tasting or a “wine pull” scheduled during the event; winemaker dinners and more.
Among the winemakers who have donated to date are Au Bon Climat, Loring, Deovlet, Chamisal, Sans Liege, Rancho Boa Vista, Byron, Say When, Tin City Cider, Carhartt, Levo, Zaca Mesa, Carlson, Herman Story, Serenity Farm & Winery, Storm, A Tribute to Grace, Hitching Post, Bedford, Fiddlehead, Riverbench, Ken Brown, Longoria, Union Sacre, Presqu’ile and Melville, said Los Alamos resident Lisa Morgan, a longtime friend and colleague of Nagy.
A complete and updated list of wine donors is listed at https://www.facebook.com/events/1370545089762417/.
In addition, chefs and restaurants, among them Plenty on Bell, Pico, Flatbread and Cisko Kid, have given gift certificates for dinners.
The Garagiste Festival donated event tickets, and the owners of Casa de Terpenos Airbnb in Los Alamos have shared a two-night stay.
“It’s been an incredible outpouring of community support to raise funds for a very special lady,” Morgan said.
She and her son, James Piper, who works in Nagy’s Orcutt tasting room, have been the driving force behind the collection of various donations.
Nagy, who graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a degree in food science, segued into winemaking, and has worked at Firestone Vineyard, Curtis Winery, Bryon Vineyard & Winery, Longoria Wines, Rancho Arroyo Grande Winery and Bonaccorsi Wine Company.
For many vintages, Nagy been the winemaker for Riverbench Vineyard & Winery in the Santa Maria Valley, as well as for her own label, C Nagy Wines, which has a tasting room in Orcutt.
Her husband, Jonathan, is the longtime winemaker for Byron Vineyard & Winery.
Laurie Jervis tweets at @lauriejervis and can be reached via winecountrywriter@gmail.com. The opinions expressed are her own.