The Somm's Pick Dining Club

The Dryades Public Market, the first stop for our new series, The Somm's Pick Dining Club

Our crazy popular Somm's Pick program last year introduced you to some of our city's hardworking somms while you learned a bit about what they do and how they do it.   You discovered that blind tasting can be fun and intimidating at the same time and you got to hone your personal skills with the Court of Master Sommeliers tasting grid.  You had the opportunity to taste with them and purchase exclusive wines that they felt were some of the most exciting in the market.  

But Besides selecting and tasting interesting wines for their respective workplaces, one of a somms most important jobs is food and wine pairing.  Because for many of us,  the ultimate wine experience is that "ah ha" moment when a food and a wine work so well together that neither is as interesting or compelling without the other.  So, I thought it would add a different educational aspect to the program if I could bring you to them for a unique pairing and learning opportunity.

Enter "The Somm's Pick Dining Club", a way to take you far beyond the basic rules of red wine with red meat, white wine with fish and into another realm of the dining experience. We'll team up some of our favorite somms with our favorite chefs, offering 3-4 courses paired with interesting wines in an educational setting.  What makes one wine work and another not?  What reds can I pair with fish and why?  How can I use Champagne or sparkling wine as a compliment to food instead of just a celebratory beverage?  What foods can I serve with a highly tannic wine?  Is my favorite oaky chardonnay a the best choice for dinner?  We'll walk you through all of those answers and more.

So here's how it will work: we'll meet at a local restaurant where a somm and a chef have worked on creative pairings, 3-4 courses.  The somm will present the wines and discuss the how's and why's of pairing each course as the chef discusses the challenges presented with the selected wines.

I'm very excited to announce that our first dinner club meeting will be on Tuesday, January 26th at the newly opened Dryades Public Market with Chef Dan Esses and Sommelier Michelle Gueydan.  Dan and I have worked together countless times on events and dinners and he has generously offered to kick off our series with a 4-course pairing event for $65, all inclusive. As before, the members of the Somm's Pick Buyers Club gets first pick of the 25 spots that will be available for the event and the remaining spots will be offered to the general public.  

Invitations to the club will go out later this week and look for my link in next week's email for the remaining spots.  If you are interested in information on our Somm's Pick Buyers Club, email us at sommspick@gmail.com