Wine Appreciation Classes (Norfolk, Richmond, Hampton: to buy, school, live)

[Laura Kathryn]

My husband and I love to go wine tasting all over Virginia. We live on the Northern Neck... not quite Hampton Roads but it is the closest urban area to us. Does anyone know of some wine appreciation classes in the area? It would be lots of fun for us.

[EMERALDGIRL]

I do not know about the Northen Neck but if you want to drive to Norfolk:

Norfolk has a wine festival at Town Point Park in the downtown area every October that have many Virginia wines for tasting and bottles to buy. I think they may have one in May now too but I might be mistaken. I went almost every year I lived downtown. It is so much fun!

[AnneBP]

Hey Laura - TCC offers a class called "Fundamentals of Wine" or something like that - I don't know anything about it, though. Taste Unlimited has wine clubs that meet monthly for tastings and discussion. If you don't already, you should subscribe to Virginia Wine Lover magazine. There is also a Virginia Wine of the Month Club that sends out great wines and informational material. There is a "Wine for Dummies " book and a Williamsburg author just published a book entitled "Wine on Tuesdays". The VA Wine Expo in Richmond in February has seminars. Visiting local wineries is a great way to learn about their wines, as you know and is also lots of fun. We did the Northern Neck wine trail a few weeks ago and were very impressed by the wines of Vault Field. We also just got back from Charlottesville and some of their wineries - that was a blast! We are interested in Virginia wine, specifically, so if you know of any classes/literature on that subject, please share. Good luck!

[JDub02]

The Culinary Institute of VA (Culinary Institute of Virginia - Culinary Arts – Cooking School) offers some classes about wine tasting in their Casual Gourmet series. I took another cooking class there and really enjoyed it.

[upthecreekgotapaddle]

Northern Neck's wineries aren't too shabby!

If you're looking for more informal appreciation/gatherings, I'd try Taste Unlimited (used to be Medik's Market).

Have fun!

[AnneBP]

Wow - The Culinary Institute that JDub suggested does have two great offerings in May - one trip to Charlottesville and one wine tasting class - Thanks JDub!