Join with Sommelier, Erica Archer + Sur Lie’s Executive Chef Jef Wright + former Executive Chef Emil Rivera to celebrate Sur Lie’s 6th year anniversary with this two-chef, 6-dish collaborative virtual wine dinner—delivered to your door in Greater Portland.

That’s right, 1-2 hours before logging-on to join everyone for wine and dinner you’ll receive your dinner-for-two package containing the two featured bottles of wine and six small-plate dishes, each in its own container with easy instructions to either place in your refrigerator, freezer, or set to be ready for our first course starting at 6 PM.

We are excited to have you join us for this incredible collaborative virtual wine dinner as we gather online from the comforts of home—with two wine glasses in hand and two Chefs on the screen—to discuss the featured wines and the delicious food pairings from Chef Wright and Chef Rivera all while creating community, celebrating Sur Lie, and supporting small businesses and local purveyors.

The dinner-for-two ticket price is $185 all-inclusive of dinner-for-two food, wine, tax, service, download materials, event experience, and delivery. “Seating” is limited to 20 deliveries of wine-dinner-for-two in the Greater Portland area. Live outside of greater Portland? No problem. You can pick-up curbside with us at 3:45 at Sur Lie. Just make a note of that you’ll do 3:45 curbside in the comments section at checkout. You can rest assured that we are exceeding all requirements for your safety and the safety of our teams in preparing, pick-up, and delivering.

Sur Lie is a tapas-style, farm to table restaurant in downtown Portland, Maine—and is doing an awesome selection of their menu for curbside pick-up. Their cuisine is American contemporary…and eclectic mix of influences from all over the world. Sur Lie uses the tapas trend as a way to bring people together and create a very unique dining experience. The food focus is on the amazing and beautiful bounty of locally sourced ingredients that Maine has to offer. Their first year open they were awarded Best New Restaurant by Down East magazine. And co-owner Krista Cole was awarded The Rising Star restauranteur from Maine Restaurant Association.

Your Chefs
Jef Wright is a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Academy, he has worked in a wide array of cuisines and restaurants both large and intimate. For many years he worked in Atlanta GA, with Richard Blais, former Top Chef winner, and focused on molecular gastronomy as a means to reimagine and refine traditional southern dishes. His passion for continued learning has taken him to Philadelphia and New York where he worked in both a 2 Michelin star restaurant and for a large and well-known upscale restaurant group. His style is best described as heavily influenced by traditional French and Spanish cuisine with a love for upscale Southern always focusing on refined techniques. He was the opening sous chef at The Garrison in Yarmouth, where he helped the restaurant attain a 4-½ star review from the Press Herald. Jef is thrilled to be stepping back into the role of Executive Chef and leading the kitchen at Sur Lie. He looks forward to sharing his excitement and passion for delicious, sophisticated cuisine with Portland. 

Emil M. Rivera was born and raised on the tropical island of Puerto Rico. There he cut his culinary chops working in some of the island’s finest kitchens such as Augusto’s Cuisine, The San Juan Water Beach Club Boutique Hotel, Bistro de Paris, and Basiliko Restaurant, just to name a few, as well as being an award-winning member of the Puerto Rico National Culinary Team. He later moved to Florida where he ran the Catering department and Don Shula’s Steakhouse at the Hilton Naples Tower Hotel. After his stint in the sunshine state, Emil headed further north to Washington DC where he spent four years working with Jose Andres’ ThinkFoodGroup at the flagship Spanish tapas restaurant Jaleo. He was a critical part of the team responsible for the 3.5 stars Jaleo received in the city’s highly anticipated Washington Post’s Fall Dining Guide in 2012 (Tom Siestma, critic). He moved to Maine 6 years ago as Sur Lie’s Executive Chef. This “Puerto-Mainer” built relationships with countless Maine farms, cheese mongers, and fisheries, helping to support the local industry while bolstering Sur Lie’s seasonal dishes. Emil prides himself on the cohesion of diversity in his cuisine, featuring dishes inspired by traditional and contemporary cooking from around the world. His food is simple and elegant, delivering a unique and high-quality product in an approachable way. He is currently the Director of Catering at Colby College in Waterville Maine, bringing his culinary talents to the students, staff and faculty through the pandemic.

Your Sommelier
Archer is a true oenophile, having obtained high levels of certification in her field. In 2010, she was awarded the Wine Spirit and Education Trust Level Three Advanced Certification in Wines and Spirits (with merit), became a Sommelier in the American Court of Master Sommeliers, and received her Certified Wine Professional award from the Culinary Institute of America in St. Helena, California. Erica is the principal of Wine Wise, a wine education and events service and is skilled at creating truly creative and memorable wine experiences that take guests beyond a typical tasting with her intimate understanding of what makes each wine unique. And she’ll do it with her trademark down to earth style and sense of humor. Archer is also the founder of Portland Wine Week, an annual week of signature events; incredible wine dinners, wine events, educational seminars, and special events, she’s the founder of the Maine Sommelier Society and former Board Member of the Boston Sommelier Society.

Where do we meet?
On your computer screen on the date and time of the event. You’ll download the Zoom app and access our event through a link that we will send you.

What do we need?
Set your dinner table with a fork, knife, spoon, napkin, water, and two wine glasses per person so each of you has one glass each of the two wines to enjoy through the first three savory courses. You’ll also need a corkscrew, the downloaded materials for this event, and a computer with internet access, sound, and video capability. Be sure to download the ZOOM app before this event as that is the platform, we will be using so that we can all see and hear each other.

Tell us about delivery.
We’ll deliver your box of goodies between 4-5:30 pm on the day of the event. Please include your greater Portland delivery address in the comments section at checkout if they are different from your billing address. Or let us know in the comments section at checkout that you’ll meet us at 3:45 for non-contact curbside pick-up. We are vigilant about abiding by all safety and physical distancing requirements for your safety and that of ourselves and our teams.

Cancellations/Reschedules/No Shows
Because of our size, and the need to purchase the wine and food to accommodate the number of tickets sold, we will be able to refund you only if we can re-sell your tickets (minus the $15.00 credit card transactions we have to pay) OR reschedule you to a different event (there is no credit card transaction fee in this case). There are no refunds or reschedules for no shows or if we are not able to resell your tickets. Makes sense, right? 

Executive Chef Jef Wright of Sur Lie

Former Sur Lie Executive Chef, Emil Rivera

Wine Wise Founder and Sommelier Erica Archer