The entertaining Shafer guided us through top years of his Cabernets, and Glander and Bradley Ogden alternated days of cooking demonstrations and meals, accompanied by more Shafer wines.

FORBES: Blackberry Farm, Walland, Tennessee

Not surprisingly, Glander makes full use of what's right around him--our spring weekend was heavy on ramps, young peas, sheep's-milk ricotta and hemlock (from the tree, not the poisonous plant).

FORBES: Blackberry Farm, Walland, Tennessee

Chef Peter Glander, who arrived via Jean Georges and The Modern in New York, serves seven-course tasting menus at The Barn, the eye-popping fine-dining establishment that was once, in fact, a barn in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, until Beall had it trucked to Tennessee and reconstructed beam by beam.

FORBES: Blackberry Farm, Walland, Tennessee

It was while absorbing Glander's technique for preparing his dry-aged beef (sear it first, then cook it at 212 degrees F or less for maximum moistness) that I heard my only sad story of the weekend, the one about the husband of the woman next to me who'd given this all up to stay home for a Dallas Stars hockey play-off game.

FORBES: Blackberry Farm, Walland, Tennessee