Two Anniversary Parties, a Rosé Fest, & More Cool Wine Stuff!

Two Orlando wine institutions are turning four years old, and they want you to help them celebrate!

In the “Other Cool Stuff” category …

There are many more events coming up, so check out the Events Page for all the details. Happy celebrating, Orlando!

 

 

Next Week: Say Cheese, and Oregon Please!

It’s interesting how often a week’s wine events seem to fall into patterns. Sometimes they happen because a winemaker or importer is in town making the rounds … other times, they’re purely coincidental and quite random. The coming week falls into the latter category, with two events each focused on Oregon … and cheese!

Oregon

Cheese!
Tim’s Wine Market is saying cheese on Thursday.

  • Tim’s Lake Mary holds a cheese and wine class that promises “cool and unusual” pairings. Only a few seats left, I hear.
  • Tim’s Windermere holds a wine and cheese pairing featuring Cambria wines and cheeses from Cambria’s “Culinary Center.”

But wait, there’s more!
Not everybody got the Oregon & Cheese memo, but these additional events next week are no less enticing:

  • Tim’s Orlando shares new arrivals from Tuscany on Tuesday.
  • Swirlery celebrates the summer solstice on Thursday with Spanish wines and light bites.

And hey, Tim’s classes always include cheese, and I’m fairly confident cheese will be involved in Swirlery’s Spanish “light bites.” So you can stick with the theme all week!

Check the Events Page for details on these events and and other happenings in the month to come.

Have a cheesy week, Orlando!

 

A Traffic Jam of Wine Events

After a three-week holiday lull, Orlando’s wine scene will roar back to life in the coming days. There are more than a dozen high quality tastings, classes, and dinners to choose from in the coming week, including several that feature winemakers or winery owners.

Unfortunately, you can’t go to all or even most of these events. That’s because more than a third of them are happening at exactly the same time.

Now, I know nobody needs to go to a dozen wine events in one week, and I know some overlap is unavoidable, and I know the winemaker events have to capitalize on the headliners’ existing schedules. But I do sometimes wish for a bit more coordination.

Central Florida’s wine scene is vibrant and passionate, but we’re not New York or San Francisco. We count our quality wine establishments in tens, not hundreds. Many area wine enthusiasts are eager to support as many of those establishments as our calendars, wallets, and livers will allow. That’s tough to do when schedules collide as often as they do.

Ok, I’ll get off my soapbox now and move on to what you really want to know about – the highlights of this crazy week!

Continue reading “A Traffic Jam of Wine Events”

Bubbles & Blending & Swapping (Oh my!)

Orlando’s holiday wine season continues apace in the coming week, with an abundance of eclectic events sure to delight anyone on your holiday “nice” list.

This weekend, there’s BevFly’s Bubbles Bash on Saturday and the annual Women for Winesense holiday bottle swap on Sunday.

Next week, become a winemaker for an evening at a blending seminar with cabernets from Napa’s Quintessa winery at Tim’s in Windermere on Thursday.

Then on Friday, travel to Italy with K Restaurant’s Friday Night Flights.

There’s something for everyone this week! As always, details are on the Events Calendar, so it’s easy to keep enjoying the festive season.

Top Five Experiences on an Italian Journey: The Exciting Conclusion!

In two previous posts, I started counting down the top five wine experiences from my recent trip to Italy. The trip was not focused on wine – I only visited one winery – but it did include a number of unexpected and delightful wine-related encounters that might not have happened on a highly-researched wine-centric itinerary.

The top two experiences on my list sit firmly in that category.

Continue reading “Top Five Experiences on an Italian Journey: The Exciting Conclusion!”

Top Five Wine Experiences on an Italian Journey: Part 2 – Montenidoli

In my last post, I started counting down my top five wine experiences from my recent trip to Italy. The trip was not wine-centered, but in Italy, wine has a way of reaching out and grabbing you, sometimes even when you don’t go looking for it.

I did go looking for Number Three on my list, though. It was an experience that began in Orlando and ended on a remote patch of land in Tuscany.

Continue reading “Top Five Wine Experiences on an Italian Journey: Part 2 – Montenidoli”

Top 5 Wine Experiences on an Italian Journey that Wasn’t about Wine: Part 1

If you follow Orlando Wine Blog on Facebook or  Twitter, you know I’ve been in Italy for a couple of weeks. The focus of the trip was family, not wine, but you can hardly take a breath in Italy without also taking a sip of wine. And while I ached to fully immerse myself in winery visits, I did have some very special wine experiences that were almost entirely unplanned and unexpected.

Over the next several posts, I’ll count down my top 5.

Continue reading “Top 5 Wine Experiences on an Italian Journey that Wasn’t about Wine: Part 1”

New Orlando Wine Events: Napa winemaker dinner, Italian pairing dinner, and more!

The Upcoming Wine Events page has been updated with lots of new happenings around the region, including:

  • Italian pairing dinner hosted by Jean K. Reilly, Master of Wine
  • Wine dinner with Napa winemaker Julie Lumgair, hosted by Central Florida Women for Winesense
  • Tasting with Sonoma winemaker Ben Papapietro

Don’t miss these great events coming up next week:

  • Fat Tuesday party with high-acid whites at Swirlery
  • Everyday Italian tasting at Tim’s Wine Market Lake Mary
  • Australian wine class and tasting, also at Swirlery

As always, there’s no excuse to go thirsty in the City Beautiful!

Step Outside the Champagne Box: Six Unexpected Bottles of Bubbles for NYE!

Not much beats Champagne on New Year’s Eve, but if you’re looking for some out-of-the-box (and easier-on-the wallet) alternatives for the big night, you’re in luck! Champagne doesn’t have a lock on quality sparkling wine anymore. All six of these bottles should delight your palate, satisfy your enological curiosity, and enhance your celebratory mood as you welcome 2017. And only one of them is even from France!

Continue reading “Step Outside the Champagne Box: Six Unexpected Bottles of Bubbles for NYE!”