I know, I know. It's August. But as is now traditional, this is the time of year when The Restaurant at Meadowood up in St. Helena finalizes their star chef lineup for their annual series of benefit holiday dinners, dubbed the Twelve Days of Christmas. This year, executive chef Christopher Kostow, with the help of globetrotting gourmand The Ulterior Epicure, selected the group of international chefs who will come to cook alongside Kostow for one night only in December, with some proceeds from the dinners going to benefit two local charities: Napa Emergency Women’s Services and the Holly Cranston Memorial Fund, which assists families of children with special needs.

This year's prestigious group includes newly Michelin three-starred San Francisco chef Joshua Skenes of Saison; Daniel Humm of Eleven Madison Park in New York and formerly of SF's Campton Place; Christian Puglisi of Relæ in Copenhagen; Matt Wilkinson of Pope Joan in Melbourne; and Kim Floresca and Daniel Ryan of [ONE] restaurant in Chapel Hill, NC. As Inside Scoop notes, Floresca and Ryan both formerly worked at Meadowood under Kostow, and Humm was once Kostow's mentor at Campton Place.

On his site, Ulterior Epicure Bonjwing Lee, who's been participating in and photographing the event for the past three years, says this year's roster of chefs "not only comprise[s] the most internationally diverse group of chefs in the event’s history (with seven countries represented), but, from what I know of them, they offer twelve very different styles of cooking."

Also, each night, the chefs are paired with local winemakers who provide the wine pairings for each night.

The dinners, which can be paired with packages to stay at the Meadowood resort, start at $495 per person, with a $750 chef's counter option also available. Overnight packages are $1600 for weekday events and $1675 for weekend events, and include dinner for two and one night's lodging, as well as a copy of Kostow's book, A New Napa Cuisine. Ten percent of each diner's check plus $2,000 on behalf of each visiting chef will be donated to the charities above.

Needless to say, it's a swank affair, nestled in the Napa woods, and great for a surprise holiday getaway gift.

Call (855) 304-8986 for reservations, and below, the full schedule.

  • Day 1: Friday, December 4: Daniel Humm of Eleven Madison Park, New York
  • Day 2: Saturday, December 5: Nenad Mlinarevic of Focus, Switzerland
  • Day 3: Tuesday, December 8: Christian Puglisi of Relæ, Copenhagen
  • Day 4: Wednesday, December 9: Jorge Vallejo of Quintonil, Mexico City
  • Day 5: Thursday, December 10: Joshua Skenes of Saison, San Francisco
  • Day 6: Friday, December 11: Matt Wilkinson of Pope Joan, Melbourne
  • Day 7: Saturday, December 12: Kim Floresca and Daniel Ryan of [ONE] restaurant, Chapel Hill, NC
  • Day 8: Tuesday, December 15: Isaac McHale of The Clove Club, London
  • Day 9: Wednesday, December 16: Kyle Connaughton and Katina Connaughton of Single Thread (opening fall 2015), Healdsburg, CA
  • Day 10: Thursday, December 17: Atsushi Tanaka of Restaurant A.T, Paris
  • Day 11: Friday, December 18: Justin Yu of Oxheart Restaurant, Houston, TX
  • Day 12: Saturday, December 19: Christopher Kostow of The Restaurant at Meadowood, Saint Helena