Dinner full of WINOs . . .
On Sunday night, Niels and I had the pleasure of attending a dinner in Sunnyvale put on by the Santa Clara chapter of the wine group WINO. For those of who are unfamiliar, WINO stands for Wine Investigation for Novices and Oenophiles. The organization was founded in the early 1970s in Orange County and has 5 chapters throughout the state. Each chapter holds WINO dinners once a month, featuring new wines paired with food and a good time. This month, Castoro was the featured wine for the Santa Clara chapter so Niels and I attended the dinner and educated the crowd of over 60 WINOs on each wine that was served along with a little history of the winery.
Many of the members in attendance have been part of WINO since the beginning and were very familiar with our wines. Some of them had even visited Castoro Cellars in the early 80s when I was but a dream and our wine was being stored in a converted chicken coop! It was a lot of fun hearing Niels talk with some of the people who had visited the chicken coop almost 30 years ago. A lot has changed since then but our philosophy is still the same and I got the feeling that many of the folks in attendance really liked that about our winery.
Since they have been having these dinners over 30 years, the event was a walk in the park and they knew exactly what they were doing! It was amazing how punctual and efficient the group was, not a single drop of wine went to waste! After the dinner we enjoyed a nice dessert coupled with our Muscat Canelli and let me tell you, it was delicious. As the WINOs finished up their dessert they made personal orders of the wines they enjoyed and submitted the orders on their way out the door. It’s really a great way to buy wine because not only were they able to try the wines with food, they were able to ask Niels and I questions about the wines, winery, vineyards etc.
All in all it was a lot of fun and I look forward to doing another WINO dinner again in the future. Nothing beats a crowd of people who love learning about and trying new wines . . . or for some, revisiting an old favorite.
Cheers,
Luke
