Gentle readers! Have you ever heard of Thunderbird? Red Dagger? Silver Satin? These were the wines offered that evening. For the unknowing, these cloyingly sweet, potent, cheap wines probably bear sole responsibility for the unflattering term "wino."

This anecdotal information is offered only to illustrate the remarkable progress our community has made when it comes to wine and food. Case in point, on Aug. 10 at 6:30 p.m., the Victoria will host a superb evening of fine wines and dinner.

Talented Chef Brian Armagast will create a four-course meal featuring appetizers of yellow melon stuffed with Nicoise olives and fingerling potatoes with American Sturgeon caviar with Grey Goose crème fraîche. Courses of sweetwater prawn in phyllo with Parma ham, seared Muscovy duck breast with grilled foie gras, rack of lamb and Chilean sea bass will follow.

Each course will be paired with a world-class wine. The featured guests will be internationally acclaimed vintner Mac McDonald and his wife, Lil. Mac owns Vision Cellars located in Sonoma, Calif., and is making a big name for himself with pinot noirs.

Mac’s life is a Horatio Alger story if there ever was one. Son of Sue, a famous Texas moonshiner, and mother Elbessie, who made fruit wine, you might say Mac grew up in a family with spirits, the liquid kind.

Mac’s wine epiphany came in 1955 when a group of physician hunters hired his father to be their hunting guide and stopped off at the family’s residence for a ration of Sue’s famous moonshine. One physician in the party brought along a bottle of burgundy, a pinot noir 1952 vintage. The other hunters, according to Mac, were giving the wine drinker a hard time for bringing along a sissy beverage. The physician gave Mac the sissy bottle.

Mac, approximately 12 at the time, pried the cork out of the bottle with his pocketknife and savored the magical content. Here was a wine unlike the sweet ones his mother made. He could taste the fruit and the earth in the beverage yet it was smooth and magical. Mac resolved to make such a wine one day.

Although Mac’s life took many twists and turns, he always kept his vision of becoming a winemaker. When he reached adulthood, he made wines in his garage from purchased fruit. He worked 32 years with Pacific Gas and Power Co., all the while experimenting with winemaking.

Finally his wife Lil challenged him to move to where they make wine if he was serious about pursuing his dream. A move ensued to the little town of Windsor, Calif., situated along the Russian River in Sonoma County, an ideal location for growing pinot noir.

Mac continued to make his garage wine in Sonoma. He hung out with old Italian guys who made wine for their own enjoyment, picking up valuable information about winemaking and growing grapes. He also made several trips to Burgundy in France.

Along the way, Mac made friends with all the wine greats as he pursued his vision of making pinot noir. He hung out with the likes of Charlie and Chuck Wagner, owners of Caymus Vineyards. Under the Wagner’s tutelage and mentoring, Mac started his own winery in 1997, appropriately naming it Vision Cellars. Mac now makes his wines at Caymus, one of California’s premier wine operations.

Mac’s life has come full circle. He has three children, two sons and a daughter who will be following in his footsteps. His wines are now featured in the top restaurants in the country. James Laube, Wine Spectator’s Napa Valley-based senior editor, features Mac and his wines in the May 31, 2004, edition of Spectator. The magazine gave Mac’s 2002 Garys’ Vineyard Pinot a 91 out of 100.

Some things are a given about Mac. He is rarity in the world of wine. Out of roughly 900 winemakers in California, he is one of seven black vintners. Even though only one of seven, he has organized that group into the Association of African-American Vintners, whose mission is to increase the quality of wine communication to all but with special emphasis on blacks, who represent a large pool of untapped wine consumers.

But the biggest given when it comes to Mac is that he clearly loves the wine business and making pinot noir.

Mac and Lil are eager to come to Anniston and the Victoria. Mac says he is learning that the South is quite wine savvy. He says he is pleased with the reception his wines are receiving in the Southeast and encourages everyone to come spend the evening with him and Lil at the Victoria, where participants will have the opportunity to taste and evaluate his wines from several different vintages to evaluate the nuances the fruit imparts from year to year.

Mac’s enthusiasm is contagious. Don’t miss the opportunity to meet this exceptional winemaker and taste his award-winning pinot noirs. Call the Victoria for reservations at 236-0503.