Wednesday, April 26, 2023 April 26, 2023 Waldorf Astoria Monarch Beach Resort & Club
6:00 pm
One Winemaker, Two Wineries
featuring Sam Kaplan and Hayes Drumwright of MAXEM and Memento Mori Wines
Elevate your evening with an exquisite winemaker dinner at Bourbon Steak, featuring a savory five-course menu paired with wines from two refined wineries—MAXEM and Memento Mori. Bourbon Steak Executive Chef Chris Sanchez will co-host the evening with Sam Kaplan, winemaker for MAXEM and Memento Mori, and Hayes Drumwright, proprietor & co-founder of Memento Mori. Explore five courses of culinary innovation from Bourbon Steak, as Kaplan and Drumwright highlight curated pairings to complement the flavor profiles of each dish. In this intimate and exclusive experience, guests will enjoy exploring blends from two different wineries, while learning more about the storied careers of Kaplan and Drumwright, as well as the inspiration behind each bottle.
$515 per person, excluding tax and gratuity
To reserve please email paul.cabrera@waldorfastoria.com.
ABOUT THE CO-HOSTS
SAM KAPLAN
Winemaker, Proprietor & co-founder of MAXEM; Winemaker for Memento Mori
Sam Kaplan has been making wine for over two decades in Napa Valley, where all roads have led since his childhood in Oklahoma. His physician father made wine in the family garage, with fruit from their home vineyard, and grapes from the Napa Valley via train, with Sam stomping grapes and sampling the finished product at meals. Sam went to Lewis and Clark College in Portland thinking he was going to become a doctor, but a stint living with a wine-loving family while studying abroad in Spain gave him second thoughts. Sam grew captivated by wine culture and its powerful ability to bring people together.
A pivotal point in Sam’s life came while visiting a winery in the Willamette Valley. Walking into the winery cellar that day, the smell of fermentation overwhelmed him, sending chills down his spine. It was a pivotal moment, and the intensity of aromas brought him back to his childhood, made him feel instantly at home, and cemented the realization that he was destined to pursue a career in wine.
Sam’s first full time role was at ZD Wines, where he learned the ropes and worked his way from the bottom up. He met his wife Nancy there, who worked on her off days to expand her palate as a Michelin star chef. After seven years, the opportunity of a lifetime came knocking in the form of a winemaker role at what would become Arkenstone Estate. His wines quickly became legendary for their depth, complexity, and balance, attracting the founders of Memento Mori.
Sam made headlines in 2016, when a pair of wines he made from the acclaimed 2014 harvest earned two of the top three bids (at $130,000 each) at Napa Valley Vintners’ annual Premiere Napa Valley futures auction for the trade – one of them being a Memento Mori, which helped put the winery on the international connoisseurs’ map. The other wine from that superstar-making day was from Nine Suns, a project Sam started on Pritchard Hill in 2011, designing the production side of the winery and collaborating with viticulturist David Abreu managing the vineyards. In 2015, he and Nancy started a wine label called MAXEM, in tribute to their kids, Max and Emma. A Burgundian wine project from the renowned UV Vineyard on the Sonoma Coast, MAXEM is a terroir-driven set of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir farmed by the Ulises Valdez family.
Over ten years, a #1 bid at Premiere Napa Valley, and a 100-point score later, Sam is a critical part of Memento Mori’s story. When he isn’t making iconic wine, he’s traveling, fly fishing with Max and Emma, exploring new recipes with Nancy, farming their garden, or blending artisan gins for his famous martinis.
ABOUT HAYES DRUMWRIGHT
Memento Mori Proprietor & Co-Founder
Hayes Drumwright’s story is largely what inspired the Memento Mori name and its intrepid ethos – Remember to Live. A talented swimmer growing up, Hayes met Adriel Lares as a teenager in the pool after moving to Alvin, Texas. Hayes attended Boston University to study Business Administration, where he met Adam Craun while both were on the swim team. All three became very close friends.
While at college and only 20 years old, Hayes was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor. After five years of regular blood tests, chest x-rays and CAT scans, his doctor gave him a clean bill of health. Coming face to face with his own mortality at such a young age had a profound effect. His miraculous survival ensured he’d take nothing for granted for the rest of his life and gave him the clarity to move forward. He launched a new company called Trace3 with one hundred dollars and an unflappable spirit. His fearlessness paid off when he grew that tiny investment to over $500 million in revenue.
A love of wine was a natural consequence of that success and – along with Adriel and Adam – Hayes found himself spending almost all his free time in Napa, immersing himself more and more in the people and stories behind his favorite bottles. Still young and deeply involved in the businesses he founded, Hayes didn’t want to wait until retirement to build the wine brand of his dreams.
At 36 years old, he arranged a meeting with Adriel and Adam where they all made an agreement that regardless of life’s direction, they would embrace their time on Earth to the fullest and pursue their wildest goals. Memento Mori in Latin translates to “remember that you have to die,” but the trio have since used it as a daily reminder to remember to live – as ardently as possible.
Among the first to discover the complex, sophisticated wines of rising star Sam Kaplan, the team recognized the perfect winemaking partner for what would become their Memento Mori wine label. Over 10 years, a #1 bid at Premiere Napa Valley, and a 100-point score later, Hayes has applied the same single-minded focus to Memento Mori that helped build his career.