Featured Cincinnati Wine Events Feb 27 – Mar 5

The Party Source has a slew of offerings during this upcoming pre-Wine Festival week, including a free Sampling Soiree (eat your way thru the Party Source). Jungle Jim’s is offering low-cost premium tastings in 3 different sessions tomorrow as well. The rest of the week is low-key, although there are two different wine/food options for Tuesday night out in Milford.

Next weekend begins the FESTive month of March, which offers three different alcohol-themed festivals: BockFest (March 5-7), the Cincinnati International Wine Festival (March 12-13), and BeerFest (March 26-28).

Remember, all the recurring events, those dependable weekly tastings, are displayed on our calendar. The one-time events are after the jump.

For information on what’s going on in Dayton, you can refer to Mark’s blog at Uncorked.

Local Wine Tasting Event Calendar

Friday Interactive Wine Tasting Map

Saturday Interactive Wine Tasting Map

Image used under Creative Commons from Gianni D

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Cincinnati Int’l Wine Festival Events

Back in December, I posted about the upcoming Cincinnati International Wine Festival. Yes, tickets went on sale back then. Tickets tend to go rather rapidly. Closer to the date, I promise I’ll post an updated version of my Annual Wine Festival Survival Guide.

In the meantime, you need to buy your tickets. You can purchase tickets from any of the listed stores, which include Cork n Bottle, Dilly Deli & Cafe, The Liquor Cabinet, and Little Sonoma.

The official Host this year is Michael Mondavi. Instead of spending a lot of money to meet him at a wine dinner, I recommend going to a Cork n Bottle event instead. On March 9, Michael will be at the Buttermilk location for an exclusive tasting. Michael will be guiding participants through a sampling of his family’s latest vintages and will also be signing bottle purchases of his collectible Cabernet Sauvignon.The event runs from 6:30 – 8:30 and costs $25. You definitely need to RSVP, because space is limited, so email tim.hue@corknbottle.com to grab a spot.

If you are interested in the Wine Dinners that precede the Festival each year, grab a spot uber-quick. Even though the dinners are pricey, they include all of your food and wine, and you get to schmooze with winemakers.  Most of the dinners take place on March 11 and, although I’ve listed them at the bottom, you’ll see many are already sold out. If I had $300 to spare (which I don’t), I’d kill to go to the Villa San Juliette tasting at Morton’s. I have a small crush on the winemaker.

The Wine Festival runs March 12 – March 13:

• Friday Evening, Mar 12 6:30 – 9:00 PM: $70.00 prior to event, $75.00 at the door
  $105 for Grand Tasting ticket and Special Tasting ticket, $110 at the door
• Saturday Afternoon, Mar 13, 2:30 – 4:30 PM: $60.00 prior to event, $65.00 at the door
  $95.00 for Grand Tasting ticket and Special Tasting ticket, $100.00 at the door
• Saturday Evening, Mar 13, 6:30 – 9:00 PM: $70.00 prior to event, $75.00 at the door
  $105 for Grand Tasting Ticket and Special Tasting ticket, $110 at the door
• Special Tasting Room: Enjoy high end wines for one hour prior to the Grand Tastings. Each ticket will be an additonal charge of $35 for 7 tastes.

The moral of all of this is – buy your tickets soon. Whether it’s for the special dinners or for the festival itself, make your plans early this year.

Wine Dinners

March 10:

Michael Mondavi at The Palace Restaurant in the Cincinnatian Hotel
Tickets $175 - SOLD OUT!

March 11:

Carlo & Johnny – SOLD OUT!
Banfi International
Tickets: $150

DaVeed’s at 934
Graziano Family of Wines
Tickets: $125

Eddie Merlot’s
Kuletto Wines
Tickets: $125

Embers
The Hess Collection
Tickets: $150

Hugo
Frank Family Vineyards
Tickets: $150

Jags – SOLD OUT!
Truchard Vineyards
The Meeker Vineyard
Tickets: $150

Jeff Ruby’s Steakhouse – SOLD OUT!
Wines from the Nickel & Nickel Family
Far Niente, Nickel & Nickel and Dolce
Tickets: $150

Boca – SOLD OUT
Marc de Grazia Selections
Tickets: $150

Morton’s, The Steakhouse
Villa San Juliette
Tickets: $150

Orchids at Palm Court
Terlato International
Tickets: $125

Tonic Cocktail Classes Are Here!

Now you, too, can be a craft bartender. Well, sort of. You can definitely learn the ins and outs while enjoying the ambience of my favorite bar.

They’re calling it the Tonic On Fourth Cocktails and Spirits Club, but basically it’s a set of classes. (You can sign up for each class individually.) It includes a hands‐on class curriculum, all taught by my favorite mixologist (ok, excluding Molly) Josh Durr. The first class, Bartending 101, looks to be similar to the excellent class I took from Josh back in December. The classes will prove to be both educational and fun, and will be geared for both the novice and advanced.

Why are they offering these? Basically they want everyone to enjoy a classic cocktail – whether at their bar or in your own home. The way I see it, the more people who understand a good cocktail, the more bartenders will have to start making an excellent Manhattan.

Photo by Bob 5chw4rtz

The Tonic on Fourth Cocktails and Spirits Club will offer courses twice a month beginning February 25, 2010 from 5:30‐8:00pm. The first class of each month will be part of the Bartending Series, rotating series levels each month. The second class of the month will focus on more specific topics, drilling down into things like those homemade tinctures and bitters with which I’m so taken.

Photo by Bob 5chw4rtz

The upcoming classes, all of which run from 5:30 – 8:30 pm, include

• Bartending 101, 102, & 103 (Master Class Series)
  • 101: Successful Home Bartending & Foundations of Bartending - 2/25 and 5/13, $35
  • 102: A Crash Course in the Foundations of the Professional Bartender - 3/10, $55
  • 103: How to Mix Drinks in the 21st Century - 4/8, $75
• Distillation – Discover how your favorite spirits are made.
  • 3/31, $45
• Bourbon : A History & Tasting of our Nations Authentic Spirit
  • 4/22, $45
• Spring Cocktails: Market Fresh Libations
  • 5/27, $45

You can purchase your spot through TicketDerby.com under the heading “Tonic Cocktail School.”

Thanks to Bob for some of the photos!

FNI: Twittering about wine!

Are you on Twitter? Today, the Cooking with Caitlin girls are hosting a Foodies Night In that’s all about wine! Yours truly will be one of the hosts.

If you are on Twitter, just make sure you’re following me, @cookingwithcaitlin, or @girlfriendology. We’ll be tweeting questions about wine and food between the hours of 4-6 pm today.

You can follow along even if you’re not on Twitter by searching Twitter for the tag #fni, or by plugging the #fni tag into a web-based app like Tweetgrid or Tweetchat.

I hope to “see” you there!  

Get out the vote

I’d be a lousy politician – I completely forgot to campaign. Sometime in January I posted about the CityBeat Best of Cincinnati competition. If you didn’t vote then, go ahead and vote now. You can vote for your favorite everythings in the city (including best blog – so pick me please!) To vote for this particular blog, just go to the link, scroll down to Public Eye, and you’ll find My Wine Education under the Blog section. Of course, you’ll also find some of my best friends in the same category. You don’t have to vote in every category – just the ones that interest you.

There you go. Vote for me and do it before the end of the weekend!