Wente Vineyards in Livermore has the most picturesque property of any of the wineries in Livermore. During the summer months Wente takes advantage of the their beautiful grounds to hold large concerts, small concerts, and movie nights. At about 6:30 last Thursday night I was cleaning out my email box and came across an email from Wente advertising their movie nights. The Wizard of Oz just happened to be playing that night and the gates opened at 6:30. On the spur of the moment, my daughter Laina and I decided to go. We threw some chairs, jackets, and blankets in the car and headed out.
The entrance to Wente Vineyards
The movie nights are free. Wente has food and beverages available for purchase in their Reel Cafe. On this evening the Reel Cafe menu included pulled pork, grilled vegetable, and mesquite grilled sandwiches, hamburgers and hot dogs. They also had nuts, popcorn, caramel corn, cookies, and wicked witch cupcakes. Wine, beer, and ruby slippers (cosmopolitans) were available as well. Laina and I decided on the mesquite chicken sandwich and caramel corn. Oh yeah, I had a ruby slipper too.
The Reel Cafe
The Reel Cafe menu
The mesquite grilled chicken sandwich
The ruby slipper cosmo
The Wicked Witch cupcake
The weather was beautiful that night. Lots of families showed up to socialize with their friends. There were games and face painting for the kids and shortly before the movie started a costume contest was held for the kids that showed up in costume. The Wente staff handed out witch hats and tin man funnel hats to some of the kids that didn’t wear costumes. After the movie started, three little girls that were wearing the tin man funnel hats entertained us by running and hiding behind planters, walls, and garbage cans and we would see the three little funnels pop up randomly throughout the night. They sure looked like they were having a great time.
The screen before the movie started
The moviegoers socializing before the movie
The costume contest
Young Frankenstein and Dirty Dancing are the other movies that will be shown this summer at Wente. Check the Wente Vineyards website for the July and August dates: http://www.wentevineyards.com/news/events/the_cinema_at_wente_vineyards/. If you don’t like outdoor dining or prefer fine dining, you might want to try eating at their award winning restaurant before coming outside for the movie. One important thing to remember when going to any of Wente’s outdoor evening events is to bring jackets or sweatshirts and a blanket. It can get very cold out there at night–even during the summer.
And now I am off to see the Wizard . . . .
~merry~