We are lucky to live in one of the most exciting and amazing cities in the world, New York City, which has everything and so much to offer. For wine lovers, there are wine tastings all around the city, usually sponsored by wine stores and often free of charge. Some wine stores advertise their events in the newspapers, some on their website or in their stores. It is a great opportunity to discover a new wine or to meet the winemaker.
Once Sherry-Lehmann (one of the finer wine stores in New York) had a tasting of Napa Valley Stag’s Leap Artemis Cabernet Sauvignon (which happened to be one of Lucie’s top favorites) and had invited the founder and very famous winemaker of Stag’s Leap, Mr. Warren Winiarski. We knew about Mr. Winiarski from the book Judgment of Paris, which told how its 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon won first place against ten top French and California red wines in a blind taste test by leading French wine experts. Without hesitation, Lucie took the subway with the intention, of course, of buying a couple of bottles of Artemis, but particularly to have the chance to meet with Mr. Winiarski. She had a nice chat with him, had him sign our bottles and even had a little extra, a kiss on the cheek from the famous Mr. Winiarski. “What an interesting and charming man!” she still says. This is an opportunity to meet with the guy that made the wine you love so much, or the one you’re about to discover, and you’ll never forget that encounter with the winemaker whenever you open one of his bottles.
There are so many classes that one can take, from the classes for the beginners, to a Pinot Noir lecture and tasting, to Wine and Food Pairing, to Italian Wines, etc. Those classes usually include a lecture and a wine tasting, often served with bread and cheese. It is a great chance to learn about wine without leaving your own town. Should you have never heard about those classes in your town, we would suggest you walk to your favorite wine store and ask them; if they do not have any wine tasting or classes, maybe you could suggest them to do so.
As we said, living in New York City offers a lot of opportunities where so many wine stores have wine classes and wine tastings. We have been attending some of those classes and always go away with more knowledge, be it a class to discover different wine making regions of Italy, a tasting of American versus French Pinot Noir, food and wine pairing or Rhône wines.
We love to travel to Wine Country, but we also love to stop at a wine store and have a tasting … without leaving town!