Winemakers, community leaders, and friends of Lasallian education will gather on May 17 in the Napa Valley for The Brother Timothy Jubilee. The dinner will honor Brother Timothy Diener, FSC, on his 75th anniversary as a De La Salle Christian Brother, and will raise funds for the Lasallian Education Foundation, of which Brother Timothy is an honorary founding board member. Members of the public are welcome to attend.

Brother Timothy Diener, FSC, who turns 93 this year, was cellarmaster of Mont La Salle Vineyards for more than fifty years. The high quality and successful distribution of Christian Brothers' wines and brandy put Mont La Salle Vineyards in the forefront of the rebirth of the Napa Valley as a premier winemaking region. The winery business provided crucial funding for Lasallian education for several decades, before the business was sold in 1989.

Brother Timothy, now retired at Mont La Salle, is treasured by generations of Californians as a master vintner, an industry pioneer, a mentor, and a friend. "We all owe Brother Tim a great debt," says Robert Mondavi, chairman emeritus of Robert Mondavi Winery. Mondavi is honorary chairman for the Brother Timothy Jubilee, along with Bob Trinchero, chairman and CEO of Trinchero Family Estates. Richard Maher of Maher & Associates and Su Hua Newton of Newton Vineyard are co-chairs. The dinner committee members include Marvin Shanken, Editor and Publisher of Wine Spectator, Ernest Gallo, Chairman of E & J Gallo Winery, and John DeLuca, President of the Wine Institute. Robin Lail of Lail Vineyards will produce the event.

The Lasallian Education Fund is a new initiative intended to help meet the educational needs of poor and at-risk young people on the West Coast and ultimately throughout the world, by creating an endowment that will provide scholarships so that more young people can get the benefits of Lasallian education.

The Brother Timothy Jubilee is on Saturday, May 17, at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena, California. A wine reception at 6:00 p.m. will be followed by dinner with Brother Timothy at 7:00 p.m. All proceeds benefit the Lasallian Education Fund. Seats are limited at $1,000 per person. The dinner is black-tie optional. Valet parking is provided.

For reservations and more information, call Jeannie Adams at (707) 252-3870.