Sips and shooting the breeze for weekend wine tasters
Tony Gonzalez
Issue date: 10/11/07 Section: Arts
It's not for credit and it won't boost GPA, but a "seminar" offered this weekend has approximately 100 parents headed to the Dow Center upper lounge. It's Wine 101.
For $10 per person per session (there are two), staff, faculty, parents and over-21 students can sample five wines from Agua Dulce Vineyards, a California-based company connected to Hillsdale, fittingly, through a parent connection.
"We're hoping to have another event for parents just to get together at," said Mary Ewers, director of parent relations.
The event will give parents "time to rub shoulders with faculty and staff, meet other parents and enjoy fine wines before going to dinner with their kids," she said.
Karin Glass, a sommelier trained in the chemistry and grape analysis that goes into wine tasting, will teach participants to taste, rate and pair the wines.
Participants will receive five 1-ounce pours of "boutique" wines paired with specific foods. They're called "boutique" because Agua Dulce's relatively small 90-acre vineyard only sells its wines through private parties and events like the Wine 101 class.
While tasting wines that retail for as much as $66 per bottle, participants will evaluate the smell, initial taste, effervescence, and "the finish."
"You'll never really look at a bottle of wine the same way again," Glass said.
If convinced of their quality, parents can purchases wines from the vineyard with 25 percent of earnings kicked back to the Hillsdale College Parent Fund, which benefits the student union and general operations.
Of the 100 signed up, Vice President for Institutional Advancement John Cervini was the first.
"He put the RSVP on my desk the day after it went out," Ewers said.
The revenue sharing between Agua Dulce and the college could grow if wine consumers shift their purchasing to the vineyard, Ewers said. Additional wine tasting and pairing classes may appear in future college programs.
Parents may still sign up for the 7 p.m. wine tasting and more information may be found at www.adwineadventures.com/hc1762.
For $10 per person per session (there are two), staff, faculty, parents and over-21 students can sample five wines from Agua Dulce Vineyards, a California-based company connected to Hillsdale, fittingly, through a parent connection.
"We're hoping to have another event for parents just to get together at," said Mary Ewers, director of parent relations.
The event will give parents "time to rub shoulders with faculty and staff, meet other parents and enjoy fine wines before going to dinner with their kids," she said.
Karin Glass, a sommelier trained in the chemistry and grape analysis that goes into wine tasting, will teach participants to taste, rate and pair the wines.
Participants will receive five 1-ounce pours of "boutique" wines paired with specific foods. They're called "boutique" because Agua Dulce's relatively small 90-acre vineyard only sells its wines through private parties and events like the Wine 101 class.
While tasting wines that retail for as much as $66 per bottle, participants will evaluate the smell, initial taste, effervescence, and "the finish."
"You'll never really look at a bottle of wine the same way again," Glass said.
If convinced of their quality, parents can purchases wines from the vineyard with 25 percent of earnings kicked back to the Hillsdale College Parent Fund, which benefits the student union and general operations.
Of the 100 signed up, Vice President for Institutional Advancement John Cervini was the first.
"He put the RSVP on my desk the day after it went out," Ewers said.
The revenue sharing between Agua Dulce and the college could grow if wine consumers shift their purchasing to the vineyard, Ewers said. Additional wine tasting and pairing classes may appear in future college programs.
Parents may still sign up for the 7 p.m. wine tasting and more information may be found at www.adwineadventures.com/hc1762.
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