Reflecting on Wines of the World Come to Knoxville 2025
I’ve been to a lot of dinners over the years, but few have stayed with me the way last year’s Wines of the World Come to Knoxville did. Behind that one evening was a year’s worth of planning by a small group of people, passionate in equal measure about the hospital and about wine, working quietly for twelve months to bring it all together. Walking into the room that night, you could feel every bit of that effort.
The banquet room at Bistro by the Tracks had been transformed. It’s a space I’d seen many times before, but that night it felt entirely new, elegant, warm, and full of anticipation. Just inside the door, a server pressed a glass of beautiful champagne into my hand, and as the bubbles caught the light, I looked around the room and saw familiar faces everywhere: friends and acquaintances, all wearing the same easy smile, all there for the same reason. There’s a particular kind of excitement that hangs in the air over a room full of people who know they’re about to experience something extraordinary together.
As the champagne worked its effervescent magic, a passed hors d’oeuvre made its way through the crowd — a bite of caviar, its salt and brininess playing beautifully against the wine. It was a small thing, but it set the tone for everything that followed: thoughtful, considered, and just a little bit indulgent.
“This isn’t an abstract cause. It’s real, it’s local, and it’s heavy.”
Soon we were seated, and Matt Schaefer, CEO of Dolly Parton Children’s Hospital, rose to welcome the room. He spoke with real gratitude, not the polished, obligatory kind, but something that felt genuine about what this small gathering of people meant for the care and well-being of children across East Tennessee. It was a good reminder, right at the start, of why we were all really there.
Then came the meal. Course after course arrived, each one paired with a wine so precisely matched it felt inevitable, as if the dish and the glass had been made for each other. The smells, the flavors, the textures — it all carried you somewhere else entirely, a kind of quiet bliss for the senses that’s hard to describe unless you’ve experienced it yourself.
Between courses, we heard from Adam Cook of Dolly Parton Children’s Hospital. He talked about the sheer scale of what the hospital does — the number of children served, the size of the budget it takes to simply keep the doors open for East Tennessee families. Listening to him, I felt the weight of it settle in a way that numbers on a page never quite manage. This isn’t an abstract cause. It’s real, it’s local, and it’s heavy.
That understanding stayed with me as the live auction began. Charlie Rollins went one by one through the auction lineup and it was staggering — bottles that felt almost mythical, a coveted First Growth Bordeaux château bottling from the 1950s, several all-inclusive Napa Valley escapes complete with concierge service and every detail arranged, magnums representing just a handful of what exists anywhere in the world for that vintage. Whatever you could imagine as a wine lover, a food lover, or a collector, it was there, within reach for the night.
By the end of the evening, I felt good in every sense. Good from the wines I’d been privileged to share, good from the new friendships made over the course of a meal, and good, most of all, from knowing that something I love so deeply was, that night, in direct service of something far more important: the end of the evening, I felt good in every sense. Good from the wines I’d been privileged to share, good from the new friendships made over the course of a meal, and good, most of all, from knowing that something I love so deeply was, that night, in direct service of something far more important: caring for children who, without this hospital and without evenings like this one, would struggle to find the care they need.
I’m already looking forward to seeing what this year’s dinner has in store. ◆
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