I am so excited for our next wine tasting! We are once again visiting Washington wines and these wines are exclusive to us, for now! I am sure other places will be begin carrying them, and already some of Seattle’s fine dining establishments have picked up a bottle or two for their wine list. But for now you can either go to George, WA, near the Gorge Amphitheater to taste and then buy these wines at retail prices. Or you can come to Monica’s for our wine tasting on Friday, October 3.
When we offer special wines like this they are discounted at the tasting event, and then if there is anything left for us to sell we will offer it until it is gone, but not at the discounted price. Cave B wines are definitely not discounted anywhere else, so this will be anther first.
The reason we have reservations required is so that I can plan how much food to prepare. Many wine bars and wine stores offer a few snacks to nibble with the wines, like cheese and crackers and maybe a bit of fruit or salami. Leftovers won’t happen since they can put a few items at time out and replenish as needed. Some places do not replenish and when it is gone, there are no more snacks. Dinner houses will often have wine tastings and can offer small portions of items from their menu. Leftovers do not matter there since they can always sell it later. They don’t have the worry of not having enough food since it is all readily available or easy to store, and they have no need to prepare anything special.
We do things differently at Monica’s. I work with the winemaker as well as research the regions that the wines come from, and where the grapes originated. I carefully select food pairings that will complement the wines as well as show off our passion for great foods. The items we prepare are not things we regularly sell; they are special items just for the wine tasting. We make enough food so that every person who comes gets to taste any or all of what we offer, and we would hate to run out and not have enough, even more than we hate to have food waste! This takes careful planning and does not lend itself to last minute cancellations or show-ups. Requiring reservations also helps us to keep the cost down so that more of you can enjoy our wine tastings.
This tasting will be open-house style so once you have a reservation you can come in any time during the tasting. This is as opposed to our November tasting (Italian wines from Small Vineyards) when there will be 2 scheduled seatings, rather than an open house. Our man from Small Vineyards, Tom, has many stories and much information about the wines, the winemakers, the vineyards and the traditions of Italy. This lends itself to an Italian style wine tasting and conversation, rather than an open house.
At the Cave B tasting we will offer 5 wines and you can taste any or all of them if you wish. (I have even been known to offer a second taste if someone is particularly interested in one of the wines.) I have chosen these wines with the holidays in mind. They will each be great at holiday meals, and I have kept the price points in a good range for gift giving. We will have at least one food choice for every wine, and you will receive a copy of the tasting notes for each wine that we have. I will have stories and information about the winemaker, the estate winery, the grapes and more.
You will have an opportunity to buy any of the wines that we have that night and if we run out we will order more for anyone who wants it, all at the tasting-only discount price. The discounts are bottle discounts as well as case discounts and the case discounts are for straight AND mixed cases. Any bottles that are left will be offered for sale at full price, in the cafe, for anyone who may want it.
I hope that answers all your questions and of course, if you have others, feel free to ask them here, give us a call, or send me an email atmonica@waterfrontbakery.com. As always, it was great talking to you!
