Montauk Club Wine Class Sees Red!

Yes, at the second gathering in the monthly series of wine classes at the Club on Thursday, February 22, we all were seeing red. Red wine, that is. And tasting it too. As you know, the class follows the tasting course laid out in Andrea Immer Robinson's revised and updated edition of Great Wines Made Simple. At last Thursday's class, we tasted four of the three red wines that make up what Andrea calls the Big Six. I say four of the three because Andrea considers merlots and cabernet sauvignons to be in the same category. We tasted a 2004 Clos du Bois Pinot Noir from Sonoma, a 2003 Wente Merlot from Monterey, California, a 2003 Wente Cabernet Sauvignon from the San Francisco Valley and a 2002 Jacob's Creek Shiraz from Australia. These wines showed off perfectly the characteristics of light, medium and full bodied wines that we were learning about.


Over the next two months, we'll begin tasting for each of the four major styles – dry, crisp, oaky and tannic. We’ll start in March with dry and crisp, tasting two reislings and two sauvignon blancs to illustrate these styles. Then in April, we’ll look at oaky and tannic wines. To prepare for next month's class, please be sure to read Chapter Two of the book. We have a copy on loan at the Club Bar if you haven't been able to pick up a copy.

We are returning to our third Thursday schedule, so that means we’ll be meeting next on Thursday, March 15. We’ll get started about 7:00 p.m.

It's never too late to join the fun (and we do have fun, especially after tasting and retasting four wines!). What's really great is that you can stay for dinner and try your hand at pairing wines from our list with choices from the Grill Menu. Classes are $10 per person per class – a real bargain considering the amount of wine you may try.

Hope to see you on March 15!

Suzy Marquard