Quiet Lunch Publisher Gregory de la Haba hosted the Swiss fête of the season Thursday evening at Castle Fitzjohns Gallery on the Lower East Side where luminaries of food and wine gathered en masse to frolic with art world denizens and celebrate the tastes of Switzerland and the unveiling of the new, artist-designed labels for Les Vins Du Valais. Swiss Ambassador André Schaller gave opening remarks as Patrick McMullan photographed the gallery scene packed with Swiss VIPs including Swiss Wine Valais CEO, Gérard-Philippe Mabillard, former VP of Swatch, Pete Mager, Head of Cultural Affairs at the Consulate General of Switzerland in New York, Matthias Dettling, Brigitte Schaller-Schoepf (wife of the Ambassador), Sommelier Helena Jordan and Chef André Kneubühler direct from Schauenstein Castle, designer/artist Harry Bertschmann and his wife Mary, the young Swiss artists selected to design the new wine labels: Marco Heer, Julien Cortey, Sébastien Delabays, Camille Pasquier, kol, and Loris Briguet, Sopranos actor Federico Castelluccio, art historian Peter Hastings Falk, art dealer Donnalynn Patakos, tribal art dealer Tim Hunt, 80’s art darling Judy Rifka, Harlem’s Flux Fair founder Leanne Stella, DJ Neil Armstrong, DJs Oliver Stumm and Dominique Clausen who, along with Serge Becker, own Swiss bistro, Café Select, which provided the Chäschüechile and other Swiss delectables that paired beautifully with the much cherished vins du Valais. Co-hosts Anthony Haden-Guest, curator Raul Zamudio and Billy The Artist made sure plenty of wine went round as Swiss DJ Greg XL set the vibe that transported all to those magical, music-filled hills of Switzerland.
Quiet Lunch is a grassroot online publication that seeks to promote various aspects of life and culture with a loving, but brute, educational tinge. When we say, “Creative Sustenance Daily,” we mean it.