The Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF), in partnership with Sotheby’s, hosted it’s second annual Connoisseur’s Dinner: An Evening of Wine and Art on Thursday, May 1, 2008.  The event attracted 228 guests who mingled for 6:30 pm cocktails in the entry to Sotheby’s 10th floor galleries and previewed some of the most extraordinary Contemporary Art by names such as Bacon, Calder, Koons, Richter and Warhol.

At 7:30 pm guests proceeded into the main galleries for the dinner and auction portion of the evening where they dined amidst a stellar array of Impressionist and Modern Art. Tables were arranged adjacent to the Cézannes, Chagalls, Giacomettis, Legers, Matisses Picassos, Rodins Schieles, and more, which were hung in preview of the upcoming Sotheby’s auction.   

Leonard Lauder (ADDF Chairman) and Nancy Corzine (ADDF President of the Board) served as dinner chairs. Honorary Chairs included Cece Cord and Dr. John Baldwin, James and Lee Niven, Thomas Quick, and Bill and Betsey Ruprecht.  Guests included Dennis Basso and Michael Cominotto, Christine Keuhbeck and Carl Bernstein, Cornelia and Martin Bregman, Tory Burch, John Cooney and daughter Victoria, Roberto and Joanne de Guardiola, Lisa Dennison,  Danielle and David Ganek, Marjorie Gubelmann, Bonnie Englebardt Lautenberg, Mark Locks, Eliza Osborne, Kate Furman Pasik and Timothy Pasik, Connie Anne Phillips, Hilary Geary and Wilbur Ross, Sir and Lady Evelyn de Rothschild, Ophelia and Bill Rudin, Liz and Randal Sandler, Amy Treitel,  Peggy and Cyrus Vance Jr.,  Harriet and Ronald Weintraub, and ADDF’s Executive Director Dr. Howard Fillit and his wife Dr. Janet Werkmeister.

A special spring menu, created by Great Performances, included a first course of poached Maine lobster, accompanied by Jean Noel Gagnard, Chassagne-Montrachet, Les Masures, 2005. The main course featured a Southern-style rack of lamb,  accompanied by a delightful pairing of red wines selected by Leonard Lauder that included Cos d’Estournel, (Saint–Estèphe), 2001 versus Trotanoy, (Pomerol), 2001.  Dessert was an alternating presentation of a white chocolate passion fruit treasure box and a chocolate blaze, served with Graham Beck Brut Rosé, 2006, generously provided by Graham Beck.

Jamie Niven, Sotheby’s Chairman, North and South America,  led the auction that included rare wines such as 1970 Pétrus(closing bid $28,000), 2001-2004 Ornellaia Vertical Tasting Case (closing bid $6,000), and 1990 and 2000 Château Lafite Rothschild Double Magnum Pair (closing bid $22,000); plus a Ten-Day South African Safari with deluxe accommodations, airfare provided by Delta (closing bid $40,000), a Parisian Couture Adventure for four with six nights at the Hôtel de Crillon and tickets to the Chanel, Givenchy, Jean Paul Gaultier and Christian Lacroix haute couture fashion shows (closing bid $28,000). ADDF also debuted the Fund a Scientist program, where guests bid to support a specially-chosen research project aimed at drug discovery with immediate impact; this program grossed over $200,000. With ticket sales, auction and Fund a Scientist, as well as generous donations, ADDF raised over $1 million dollars (up from over $700,000 in 2007). Ninety percent of all money raised by ADDF goes directly toward accelerating drug discovery for scientific research.