We try to get wine events that we like listed in our weekly Dear Wine Friend free e-newsletter and/or our SCV Wine Calendar. But every now and then I do the work for you, which means pulling the info from each site and culling it all into one article, especially when there are so many worthwhile events:
Eve’s Wine 101 Event Picks (Part One list events through Feb., Part Two, which will run next week on 2/5, has events from Feb through April)
Wine LA: has continuous Classes and Tastings that include Wine Camp 2/6, Wine Dinner 2/11, Wine, Cheese and Chocolate 2/13, Dry Creek Valley Tour 2/20, James Suckling Wines of Italy Tour 2/25, Brunello vs. Bordeaux 2/28, Stars of Napa Valley 3/2, Wine Camp 3/6, Cult Wines Cab Dinner 3/12, Pinot Noir vs. Burgundy vs. Beaujolais 3/13, Napa Trip 3/18+20, Tapas 3/24, Trip to Sicily and Sardinia 4/2-9…and MORE!
Cambria Art and Wine Festival 1/29-31: Begins Friday Morning with shopping specials, raffle ticket opportunities, wine tasting and demonstrating artists throughout the village. Friday evening an Event Kick-Off Party offering wine and food pairing, entertainment, preview of the Art Show/Silent Auction and special raffle prize packages will be held at the Veterans’ Hall. Saturday offers Wine Tasting at the Veterans’ Hall (west village), The Cambria Center for the Arts (mid village) & the Cambria Historical Museum (east village), over 40 local wineries participating. Saturday Evening offers additional venues with artists, food and wine pairing and continued entertainment. Check the Details Page. Sunday offers an Artist’s Faire with demonstrating artists, wine tasting and a barbecue lunch available. Raffle drawings will be held at the end of the event on Sunday at the Artist’s Faire.
Wally’s UGC Bordeaux 2013 Vintage Tasting 1/29: An opportunity to taste the new 2013 vintage from many of the best producers in Margaux, St Julien, Pauillac, St Estèphe, Listrac, Moulis, Médoc, Haut-Médoc, Graves, Pessac-Léognan, Saint-Emilion, Pomerol, Sauternes and Barsac. The Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux (UGC) is visiting Los Angeles to promote the soon-to-be-released 2013 vintage. The Union is an affiliation of the best Bordeaux producers from all of the major Bordeaux growing regions. More than 80 châteaux will attend and winemakers and owners will pour over 100 wines from the 2013 vintage. This is the largest Bordeaux tasting in the United States. Taking place in The Museum of Flying at Santa Monica Airport, guests will be able to take in vintage aircraft and aviation memorabilia while sampling world class wines. Wally’s Cheese Box, along with Monsieur Madame and The Bison Burger food trucks, will also be on-site. This event will sell out. Sign up today! All net profit proceeds to benefit Food on Foot.
Garagiste Southern Exposure 2/12-13: We are excited to be bringing many of the best, hard-to-find, high-quality micro-production wineries from all over California to the Santa Ynez Valley for The 4th Annual Garagiste Festival: Southern Exposure. The majority of our wineries do not have tasting rooms, and their wines can be very hard to find on store shelves. We make it easy for you to find a world of new wine discoveries all under one roof. As with all Garagiste events, only the winemakers and/or owners (often the same person) will be pouring the wines. Come meet the artists who are making some of the most exciting and innovative wines in the world. Over 25 wineries and 100 wines to try both days.Each day begins with one of our engaging, educational and unique winemaker panels and tasting seminars. These seminars are only available as part of the VIP All-Day Ticket, which also includes a Wine Country Box Lunch and early access to the Grand Tasting. Seats are limited. This just in: Also, this year we are running a very cool drawing for 2 Sunday VIP tickets and a room on Valentine’s Day night at the newest luxury boutique hotel in Solvang, The Landsby – http://on.fb.me/1ZHwbpa
NEW Valentine’s Day Dinner at Newhall Refinery: Enjoy a 4-course gourmet candlelit meal paired with beer or wine flight at one of our favorite restaurants. Live background music and complimentary valet parking included. 5pm or 8pm seatings. Please email or call for availability, menu options and pricing: sercek.refinery@gmail.com or 661-388-4477.
American Wine Specialist course Feb 20, 21, 27 and 29 (this is the one you can take with me, so let me know if you signed up: Eve@EveWine101.com) The course consists of 24 hours (4 full days) of class time and tasting, with a final written exam (5th day) required to achieve the official AMERICAN WINE SPECIALIST® certification, issued by the North American Sommelier Association and recognized internationally by the Worldwide Sommelier Association (www.worldwidesommelier.com). Designed around the concept of our widely acclaimed ‘Italian Wine Specialist‘ certification, this course focuses on the same holistic teaching methodology, looking at culture, history, terroir, climate, geology, geography, enography, legislation and tasting of 30+ high quality wines representative of wine regions around the USA. A short portion of the course will be dedicated to the exclusive and advanced WSA/NASA technical wine-tasting technique.
The Essentials 2/20: LA Weekly presents The Essentials, our signature food and wine event benefitting Food Forward: A.O.C., Animal, Beverly Soon Tofu, Broken Spanish, Chengdu Taste, Chichen Itza, Coni’ Seafood, Crossroads, Guelaguetza, Guerrilla Tacos, ink., Jitlada Southern Thai, Kiriko Sushi, Kogi BBQ, La Casita Mexicana, Lucques, Mariscos Jalisco, Park’s BBQ, POT, Providence, Republique, Sotto, Spago, Sqirl, Szechuan Impression, Terrine, the hungry cat, Night + Market, Wexler’s Deli, Baroo, Jon & Vinny’s, Le Comptoir, Racion, Luv2eat Thai Bistro, RedBird, RiceBar, Mélisse, Philippe the Original, Bestia, Cassia, Rustic Canyon Wine Bar and Seasonal Kitchen, Guisados, Lukshon, Connie and Ted’s, Maude, Belcampo Meat Co., Little Sister, Dune, Pine & Crane, Union, Aqui es Texcoco, Burritos La Palma, Cacao Mexicatessen, Corazon y Miel, Bludso’s BBQ, Osteria Mozza, Trois Mec, Papilles Bistro, El Huarache Azteca, Button Mash.
Eve Bushman has been reading, writing, taking coursework and tasting wine for over 20 years. She has obtained a Level Two Intermediate Certification from the Wine and Spirits Education Trust, has been the subject of a 60-minute Wine Immersion video, authored “Wine Etiquette for Everyone” and recently served as a judge for the Long Beach Grand Cru. You can email Eve@EveWine101.com to ask a question about wine or spirits that may be answered in a future column. You can also seek her marketing advice via Eve@EveBushmanConsulting.com
