Terry Sullivan presenting to members of The Village in Howard.

In addition to writing books, articles and blog posts, Wine Trail Traveler also conducts wine presentations. For three years one set of presentations has been for the group The Village in Howard. This TVIH group is composed of of members from Howard County, Maryland aged 55 and above. Some of the over 200 members enjoy wine. Throughout the year, Terry and Kathy conduct four presentations called “Teach & Taste.” The topic changes for each presentation as do the wines tasted.

Last Sunday, we had our November “Teach & Taste “with a topic of red varietal wines. The format for this presentation was experimental and was well received by those attending. Instead of moving furniture out of our dining room and setting up chairs, we extended the size of the dining room table and attendees sat at the table. Added to the wine focus of this event were small bites of food paired with the wines. 

Each place setting included a handout with notes with a space to evaluate the wines. Also each place setting had a bottle of water, a dessert-size plate and a wine glass. There were two charcuterie trays placed on the table. As Terry went through the presentation, he stopped to pour a tasting of a wine for each. After evaluating and talking about the wine, a food item was passed out and the attendees took a sip of wine, then the bite of food followed by another sip of wine. They were asked to concentrate on two questions. 

1. Does the wine enhance the food?

2. Does the food enhance the wine?

There were various comments about the wine and food pairings.

For our November “Teach & Taste” wines and food pairings sampled included:

Saperavi – Tasted with a piece of meat from charcuterie tray.

Petite Sirah – Paired with a piece of dark chocolate.
Cabernet Franc – Sampled with Kathy’s baked brie appetizer.
Tannat – Paired with a dark chocolate fudge brownie.

Malbec – Matched with a piece of pizza.
Petit Verdot – Tasted with a piece of grilled sausage.

In addition to the 1½ to 2 hour fun event, the “Teach &Taste” events includes a break so that attendees can partake of a variety of appetizers and dessert while enjoying the comaraderie of everyone.

In most cases, people noticed that the addition of food along with each wine changes perceptions. Usually the group thought the pairing of the wine and food enhanced each other. The group enjoyed this format of the teach and taste and are looking forward to our end of January presentation about the “Wines from the Romantic Danube.”

If you are interested in hosting Terry and Kathy for a wine presentation, check out their presentation page

on the Wine Trail Traveler site and contact us.

Cheers,
Terry