The Oakmont Tasting Events Club held its first in-person tasting event on Thursday August 19th at the East Rec. Center. The event was a ‘sold-out’ success! Forty Oakmonters sampled ‘Wines from Sonoma County vs. France’, featuring three varietals, sauvignon blanc, pinot noir and cabernet sauvignon.
Guiding us through our tastings was Mr. Clyde Beffa, Jr. co-founder of K&L Wine Merchants of San Francisco. From one of the most respected west coast wine sellers, Clyde provided his years of experience and expert guidance on each the wines tasted.
Event participants tasted six wines all were rated between 93 and 96 points. Paired together were:
Quivira Dry Creek Sauvignon Blanc and a Franck Millet Sancerre Blanc;
Hirsch Estate, a Sonoma Pinot Noir with an Albert Morot Beaune 1er Cru; and
Immortal Sonoma Cabernet Sauvignon paired with Chateau Haut Bergey, Pessac-Leognan.
The event featured a unique ‘tasting’ experience using technology which allowed for a high level of attendee interaction and active participation. The technology involves projecting wine related material onto the large screen and having attendees, via wireless keypads, rate wines, guess wine names and participate in a wine trivia contest. The hi-tech system was developed by Mihir Parikh, PhD, an Oakmont resident, who is also the founder & organizer of Oakmont’s Tasting Events Club.
Event attendees tasted, learned about and compared the six wines together with a ‘fun’ trivia contest! The event resulted in two Sonoma wines besting the French, while one French did beat a Sonoma wine. And the trivia contest resulted in two ‘winning’ with Oakmonters going home, even happier, with bottles of wine as prizes!
The next event ‘Bubbles: Sparkling Wines and Champagne”, is scheduled for Thursday, December 16th, 5pm at the East Rec Center. What a great way to get ready for holiday entertaining! For more information contact Tasting Events Club via email: Tastings.Club@gmail.com
Incidentally, all forty Oakmonters and invited guests who attended followed OVA vaccination and masking guidelines. Safety with ‘Great friends, Great wines and Great fun’!
