The Central Coast Wine Classic Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation. Foundation Board members are Stephanie Harkness of Santa Cruz, James Hathaway of San Luis Obispo, Alfred Griffith of San Luis Obispo, Carissa Chappellet of Big Sur and Archie McLaren of Avila Beach. The Foundation awards monies from the Central Coast Wine Classic to fund grants on specific projects for non-profits from San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties whose purposes and missions involve the studio arts, the performing arts and the healing arts. Grants are awarded in the Fall following that year's Wine Classic. Beneficiaries are determined by early January preceding that year's Wine Classic.

Thanks to the generous support of our donors and auction patrons, under the auspices of the Central Coast Wine Classic Foundation, formed in 2004, the Wine Classic has been able to provide substantive grants in 2004 to the San Luis Obispo Aids Support Network; San Luis Obispo Special Olympics; the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara; San Luis Obispo & Santa Barbara Public Radio KCBX and the Rhythmic Arts Project, centered in Ventura. Grants conferred in the first year of the new Foundation totaled $126,500.

In 2005, grants were conferred upon Hospice of San Luis Obispo County; the Santa Barbara County Bowl Foundation; Partnership for the Children of San Luis Obispo County; the Clark Center Association in Arroyo Grande; the San Luis Obispo County Arts Council; the San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival, Surgical Eye Expeditions in Santa Barbara and the Fund for Vineyard & Farm Workers, founded by Brian and Johnine Talley of Talley Vineyards in Arroyo Grande. Grants conferred during the Foundation's second year of granting totaled $195,000.

The Central Coast Wine Classic Foundation's Board of Directors chose as the beneficiaries of the 2006 Wine Classic, the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival; the San Luis Obispo Art Center; the Foundation for the Performing Arts Center in San Luis Obispo; Big Brothers & Big Sisters of San Luis Obispo County; Tree of Life Pregnancy Support Center of San Luis Obispo County; Hospice Partners of the Central Coast; Pacific Repertory Opera; the John E. Profant Foundation for the Arts in Santa Barbara; Community Counseling Center of San Luis Obispo, Caring Callers of San Luis Obispo County and the Wellness Community of the Central Coast, founded by Justin & Deborah Baldwin of Justin Vineyards & Winery in Paso Robles. Foundation grants for 2006 totaled $203,000.

The Central Coast Wine Classic Foundation chose as beneficiaries of the 2007 Wine Classic Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Central Coast Center for Arts Education, Central Coast Commission for Senior Citizens, Children's Health Initiative, Civic Ballet of San Luis Obispo, Enhancement Health & Wellness, Opera Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo Chamber Orchestra, San Luis Obispo Vocal Arts/International Choral Festival, University of California at Santa Barbara Arts & Lectures, San Luis Obispo Children's Museum, San Luis Obispo Symphony Orchestra and Transitional Food & Shelter. The 2007 Wine Classic Fund-A-Need Auction Lot benefitted Options Family of Services. Grants totaling $315,000 were awarded.

The total amount of grant funds conferred from the past four years has totaled $839,500.

For 2008, the Central Coast Wine Classic Foundation Board of Directors has chosen the following beneficiaries:

Assistance League of San Luis Obispo County, Atascadero Loaves & Fishes, Cal Poly Arts, El Camino Homeless Organization, PCPA Theaterfest, Project Angels Bearing Gifts, San Luis Obispo Wind Orchestra, San Luis Obispo YMCA, Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Santa Barbara Center for the Performing Arts, & Tierra Sagrada, The Sacred Earth Foundation. The Annual Fund-A-Need Auction Lot will inure to the benefit of French Hospital Medical Center's Hearst Cancer Resource Center.

"The Foundation Board is very gratified with the breadth of beneficiaries for this year's Wine Classic," indicates Chairman Archie McLaren. "This is the most diverse array of beneficiaries that we have attempted to gift, and we are very excited about the prospect of working with such extraordinarily worthwhile organizations to assist them in making their goals a reality."

Archie McLaren is no stranger to the world of fine cuisine and rare wine. He is the founding Bailli of the Central Coast Chapter of the Confrerie de la Chaine des Rotisseurs, a member of the Wine & Food Society of San Francisco, the San Francisco Chapter of the Confrerie des Chevaliers du Tastevin and the Marin County Chapter of the International Wine & Food Society. He is the former Cellarmaster of the Avila Bay Wine Society, and the former President of the Central Coast Wine Society.

He has served as Chairman/Executive Director of both the San Luis Obispo Vintners & Growers Association and the Paso Robles Westside Grand Crew. He is one of only two Americans inducted into the Austrian Wine Brotherhood, and one of the few Americans inducted into the Commanderie des Bontemps - Medoc et Graves & Sauternes et Barsac of Bordeaux in France. He has recently joined the Wine Committee of COPIA, the American Center for Wine Food & the Arts.

Archie has long been associated with charitable wine auctions. Not only did he serve for many years as the American Institute of Wine & Food's Rare & Fine Wine and Auction Consultant, he also served as a Director on its National Board. He is the Founder & Chairman of the Central Coast Wine Classic, a prestigious and comprehensive food and wine event, held each year in July and in its twenty-third year, which boasts Wine Spectator among its many significant sponsors. With auction proceeds often approaching or exceeding $1,000,000, the Central Coast Wine Classic is one of America's most successful charity wine auctions.

The Central Coast Wine Classic not only promotes the wine, culinary and hospitality industries, it also confers substantive proceeds upon a continually expanding number of healing, performing and studio arts organizations on the Central Coast of California.

Archie has assisted in launching charity auctions in Washington, D.C., Honolulu, Santa Monica, Los Angeles, Mendocino, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Ynez and Santa Barbara. His partner in life, Carissa Chappellet, an owner of Chappellet Winery in the Napa Valley and the winery's ambassador, and he have served as Chairs of the WYES Public Television Auction in New Orleans and are frequent donors to charitable wine auctions throughout the United States.

Archie is frequently invited to attend tastings of rare and collectible wines throughout the country and has participated in comprehensive vertical tastings of Chateaux d'Yquem, Latour, Cos d'Estournel, Leoville Las Cases and Cheval Blanc, as well as La Tache, Hermitage La Chapelle, Penfolds Grange, Vega Sicilia Unico, and Beaulieu Vineyards Georges de Latour Private Reserve, among a number of others. A long-time Champagne aficionado who has attended many tastings of rare Champagnes, Archie was Founder and Director of the International Festival of Methode Champenoise.

On San Luis Obispo & Santa Barbara Public Radio KCBX, Archie has hosted a fine wine program, the Wine Drinker's Guide to Indulgence, for twenty-three years, and has been a writer on fine wine for Adventure's in Dining, the San Luis Obispo Telegram-Tribune, New Times and Santa Barbara Magazine.

His education includes a Bachelor of Arts degree from Vanderbilt University, a Juris Doctor of Law degree from the University of Memphis, and post-graduate studies in Humanities, English Literature and International Marketing at various universities.

Archie McLaren is involved in an array of civic activities, both in the arts and in the community in general. He has received the San Luis Obispo Visitors & Convention Bureau's Annual Tourism Award. He has twice served as the President of the Board of Directors of the San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival, and as a member of the Board of the San Luis Obispo County Arts Council. He was the Chairman of the Avila Beach Front Street Enhancement Committee that designed the promenade and park for the rejuvenation of the community of Avila Beach and is now the Chair of the committee that approves new projects for Avila Beach prior to their being approved at the county level.

His many accomplishments have resulted in his continuing inclusion in Who's Who in Media & Communications, Who's Who in the West, Who's Who in America and Who's Who in the World.

Archie McLaren and writer, painter, photographer, musician, adventurer, Carissa Chappellet, live in Avila Beach, Big Sur, and Napa, California, where they enjoy hiking, bicycling and a variety of water and court sports, as well as raiding their wine cellar for special occasions with family and friends.