Come Celebrate Fall with Friends and Family at Kendall-Jackson's 18th Annual Heirloom Tomato Festival

SONOMA COUNTY, Calif., July 15, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The annual Kendall-Jackson^® Heirloom Tomato Festival returns on Saturday, September 27, for the season's most anticipated event showcasing Sonoma County's seasonal bounty. Now in its 18th year, the Kendall-Jackson Heirloom Tomato Festival is a full-day event featuring more than 150 varieties of heirloom tomatoes (grown in the Kendall-Jackson culinary gardens); a chef competition featuring Bravo's Top Chef^® contenders; and tomato-inspired dishes from nearly 50 prominent wine country and Bay Area restaurant chefs and food purveyors. Guests will also enjoy wine tasting, live music, and educational wine and garden seminars.

The popular Chef Challenge includes: Executive Chef, Kendall-Jackson Justin Wangler; Two Michelin Star Chef and Top Chef Master Season 5 winner, Douglas Keane; Former Top Chef Contestant, Author and Defending Chef Challenge Champion Kevin Gillespie; and  Chef and Former Top Chef Masters Season 5 Contestant Sang Yoon.  The chefs will be whipping up masterpieces featuring heirloom tomato varieties and a basket of mystery ingredients, all paired with Kendall-Jackson wines.

Ceres Community Project is the beneficiary of the event and will have representatives at the festival educating guests on its mission to build healthy communities by restoring fresh, whole and organic food as the foundation of wellness and healing. Key elements of the Ceres Community Project include:

• Supporting Sonoma and Marin county individuals dealing with serious illness with 88,000 free or low-cost, delivered and nutrient-rich prepared meals, nutrition education, and a community of caring in 2014.
• Involving young people as volunteer gardeners and chefs, giving them direct, hands-on experience of the difference that fresh, healthy foods and community make, and building life, work-ready and leadership skills.
• Educating the broader community, including health professionals, about the connection between fresh, healthy food, strong social networks, healing and wellness.

Guests at the 2014 Tomato Festival can discover the Kendall-Jackson Wine Estate and Gardens' recently expanded culinary and sensory gardens. Culinary gardener Tucker Taylor will lead educational tours throughout the day to reveal the captivating garden transformation, including an exploration of the garden's wide variety of specialty produce and beautiful design enhancements.

General admission tickets for the Heirloom Tomato Festival are $95 for the general public or $75 for wine club members and are available online at http://www.kj.com/visit-tomato-festival. The event will be held at the Kendall-Jackson Wine Estate and Gardens, 5007 Fulton Road, in Fulton, CA, just a few miles north of Santa Rosa.

About Kendall-Jackson Winery
Kendall-Jackson is one of America's most beloved family-owned and operated wineries. Founded by entrepreneur and visionary Jess Jackson and now led by his wife Barbara Banke and their children, Kendall-Jackson is based in Sonoma County and offers a range of acclaimed wines grown on the family's estate vineyards along the coastal ridges of California. A leader in sustainable vineyard and winery practices including solar cogeneration, water conservation, and natural pest control, 100% of Kendall-Jackson's vineyards in California are SIP Certified (Sustainability in Practice). Learn more online at www.kj.com, and follow KJ on Facebook. Engage in this year's Tomato Festival conversation on Twitter via @KJWines and #Kjtomfest.

About Ceres Community Project
Ceres Community Project provides free and low-cost nourishing whole foods meals to community residents dealing with cancer or another serious illness. The meals provide vital foundational support that increases clients' ability to heal, helps them feel cared for by the community, and gives them direct experience of the benefits of healthy eating. All of the meals are prepared by 14 – 19 year olds who volunteer as the program's gardeners and chefs. Teens learn to grow, cook and eat healthy foods, gain life and work-ready skills, develop team and leadership abilities, and discover their capacity to make a difference in the world.  Founded in Sebastopol, California in 2007, Ceres has now provided nearly 250,000 meals for 1,500 client families across Sonoma and Marin counties, and trained 10 groups to replicate the Ceres model in their own communities across the country.

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SOURCE Kendall-Jackson Winery