COURSE DESCRIPTION

USA

Student Comments

• Lots of learning and fun. Thanks .
• Good balance of background and tasting.
• I learned a lot and had a wonderful time.
• Good mix of serious interaction and fund .
• Great class, I enjoyed every week.
• Very professional. Very well done!
• Great class. A lot of fun.

Overview

Each evening we will explore and taste the wines from one of the USA 's most important wine regions:

• California 's Central Coast and Sierra Foothills;
• California 's Northern Coast , including Napa and Sonoma Valleys ;
• the Pacific Northwest, namely Oregon and Washington State ; and
• the Atlantic Northeast, including New York and other northeast states.

Participants will taste eight regional wines each night. These wines, plus colorful maps, information sheets, and an interactive, educational environment, will afford participants a full taste of a region's wines, its history and “terroir,” its classic food and wine pairings, the standards according to which its wines are normally assessed, and where it stands among the other great wine regions of the world.

Wine Class 1: California 's Central Coast and Sierra Foothills

The Central Coast is the “new” California wine region, the California of the film“Sideways” and of the “Rhone Rangers”, wine makers specializing in grapes originally from France 's Rhone Valley . Spread along the steep slopes and warm valleys of the Coastal Range , the wine makers of the Central Coast have been pioneering in their choice of location and grape varieties. We will taste their fine Syrahs, Pinot Noirs, Petites Sirahs, and Viogniers, wines that are stealing some of the glitter and attention away from the Cabernet Sauvignons, Merlots, and Chardonnays of the north, and shifting California wine's center of gravity southward.

We'll make a brief detour to the mountain range on the other side of California , the Sierra Nevada Mountains . The Sierra Foothills is not only famous for its Gold Rush history but also for its century-long devotion to Zinfandel, the quintessential, type-A, American wine variety. We will taste the old vine Zins for which the region is famous.

Wine Class 2: California 's North Coast

The wines of Napa and Sonoma Counties have established the United States as a world-class wine producing country. Within these two counties, as well as neighboring Mendocino and Lake Counties, are tens of different American Viticultural Areas (AVA's), such as Carneros, Rutherford, Stags Leap Valley , Russian River Valley , and Anderson Valley .

From these different climates and soils come the Cabernet Sauvignons, Merlots, Zinfandels, Chardonnays, and Sauvignon Blancs, that have become the gold standard of American wine. We will taste these as well as sample some of the new cooler climate varieties, Pinot Noir, Riesling, and Gewürztraminer, coming from the Russian River Valley and Mendocino County 's Anderson Valley .

Wine Class 3: The Pacific Northwest – Oregon and Washington State

Oregon is known for growing the world's most difficult grape – Pinot Noir – in a hostile environment. In 1979 an Eyrie Vinyard Pinot Noir from Willamette Valley took second place in the prestigious Gault-Millau Wine Olympics in France . Ever since that famous debut, Oregon has been known as Pinot Noir country. Its other cool climate grapes – Pinot Gris, Riesling, and Gewurztraminer – are getting a lot of attention as the number of wineries in the state has grown from under 150 five years ago to roughly 250 today. Stay tuned but, in the meantime, definitely taste these wines.

Washington State is big in wine and getting bigger. In fact, the number of wineries there has more than tripled in the last 6 years, to roughly 350 wineries. Washington recently displaced New York State as the country's second largest wine-producing state. Its Syrahs, Cabernet Sauvignons, and Merlots have been known to beat the best of California in blind tastings. We will taste these wines grown in the State's desert-like eastern region (many do not know that once you leave Seattle and cross the Cascades you are closer to being in a desert than the rain forest weather for which Washington is famous.). We will savor what Washington does best – top wine values and just plain top wines.

Wine Class 4: The Atlantic Northeast – New York and Other States

New York has good wine, from three stand-out AVA's: Long Island, Hudson Valley, and the Finger Lakes. Good enough, as we will taste, for us to be a little provincial about our place in the northeast.

Peeping out beyond our borders, however, allows us to experience a multitude of serious wine makers from other states, such as Rhode Island, Pennsylvania(60+ wineries), Ohio(50+ wineries), and Virginia(50+ wineries), to name a few. For the most part, native American grapes have been displaced by hardy and tasty hybrids, such as Seyval Blanc, Vidal, and Cayuga, and the familiar European vitis vinifera grape varieties. We will taste examples of all of these varieties, marking where this region has come from and where it is headed.