Wine Class & Food Pairing
Pinot Noir

• When: Thursday, July 8th, 2010
• The 2nd Thursday of each month
• Cost: $50 person/ $90 couple
  (groups of 10 + $42.50 person)
• Where: Cap*Rock Winery
• Time: 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm

This has long been the great red wine of Burgundy. It has gained popularity it recent years in no small part due to the success of the movie Sideways. Now people are trying Pinot Noir from around the globe. We’ll sample Pinot Noir from France, Napa Valley, Oregon, New Zealand, & Germany.  We’ll try the wine with mushrooms & with Salmon among other things (once again proving that red wine sometimes can go with fish).
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Reservations are required for this event by Wednesday, May 12 at 4 pm. To reserve your spot please call the winery at (806) 686-4452 or click here.
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Click here to see other Upcoming Events @ Cap*Rock Winery
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2010 Wine Class & Food Pairing Schedule:

• January: Introduction to wine
• Introduction to wine/how to taste wine
• February: Sparkling wine
• Just in time for Valentine’s Day, we’ll talk about & sample various types of sparkling wine from Spanish Cava, to Californian & Italian sparklers, to French Champagne.  We’ll try dry, demi-sec, & sweet versions & discuss the various ways to make sparkling wine.
• March 11: Spanish wine
• Spain is one of the largest producers of wine in the world & many of their most famous grapes are not as well known as French grapes.  We’ll try a wide variety including some Grenache, Tempranillo,
• April 8: Italian wine
• Italian food & wine is an inseparable combination. Italian food should always be served with wine & Italian wine is generally created with the idea that it would be served with food rather than drunk by itself. We’ll try Italian wines from a variety of the country’s best wine regions.
• May 13: Sake
• When I was a kid, sake (rice wine) was always served hot in little bitty cups.  That was good, because a little bitty cup was all I could stand. These days, there are many different styles & flavors of sake available in the US. Most of the nicer sake is served chilled. We’ll try a variety from cold to hot & dry to sweet.
• June 10: Summer wines
• For this class, we will try some rose´ & some white wines that go beyond Chardonnay & Pinot Grigio. We’ll also sample some Zinfandel (the perfect wine for a burger cookout).  We’ll have some delicious grilled food & a great time.
• July 8: Pinot Noir
• This has long been the great red wine of Burgundy. It has gained popularity it recent years in no small part due to the success of the movie Sideways.  Now people are trying Pinot Noir from around the globe.  We’ll sample Pinot Noir from France, Napa Valley, Oregon, New Zealand, & Germany. We’ll try the wine with mushrooms & with Salmon among other things (once again proving that red wine sometimes can go with fish).
• August 12: South American wines
• Over the last 20 years, wines from Argentina & Chile have become not only more available in the United States, but also much higher in quality. We will try some of the newer style wines including up & coming varietals like Malbec & Carmenère & pair them with traditional South American cuisine.
• September 9: Australia & New Zealand
• In a relatively short amount of time, Australian wine came from virtually out of nowhere to conquer the shelves of America’s grocery stores. We’ll go beyond the most popular Australian wine & try some delicious examples of Shiraz, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, etc from Australia & New Zealand.
• October 14: Unusual red wines
• Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, & Pinot Noir are great wines (& you should drink plenty of Cap*Rock Merlot & Cabernet Sauvignon), but variety is the spice of life. We’ll try some less common reds. They will range from sweeter wines like Brachetto d’aqui to big dry wines like Petite Sirah.
• November 11: Thanksgiving wine pairing
• Few meals carry as much pressure as Thanksgiving with the family.  Whose recipes should you use? What subjects are off limits? What wine should you serve? I can’t do anything about the first two, but I can definitely help with the pairing. We’ll try different wines with samples of traditional Thanksgiving food & come up with some perfect options.
• December 9: Bordeaux
• I saved the most famous wine region for last.  A cold December evening is the perfect opportunity to try the heavier whites of Bordeaux & the delicious red blends.  We’ll discuss the appellation system of Bordeaux & try wines from the different regions.  Of course we’ll try Merlot & Cabernet, but we’ll also focus on the blending grapes Malbec, Petite Verdot, & Cabernet Franc.

       At heart, wine is actually one of one of the simplest beverages that we consume.  In certain cases, wine can naturally occur. If enough grapes are piled together, the weight will crush the skins.  Then, if there is wild yeast in the air, the yeast will eat the sugar in the grapes & turn it into wine.  The first wine was probably drunk, or eaten, by cavemen. Dried wine residue has been found on pottery fragments as old as 7,000 years ago.

       So why does wine have the mystique that it does?  This class is designed to demystify wine & make it more about getting the most enjoyment out of your wine drinking.

       One of my goals in this class is to make everyone who shows up comfortable with wine. If you don’t know much about wine now, you will.  If you know a lot about wine, I believe that you will find out a little bit more, or at least think about wine in a different way.

     I look forward to seeing you at one  of our wine classes!

Phillip Anderson