There’s definitely been a ZOOM boom the past few months. During these crazy COVID days, when getting out to go wine tasting is fraught with challenges, wineries and wine educators have gone crazy with ZOOM.
At first, it was easy to keep track of the various offerings I learned about from emails, twitter, facebook, etc. But now there are so many amazing opportunities to learn from the experts about wine in free or reasonably priced ZOOM, Facebook live, Instagram and other online sessions that it’s hard to know which to do!
Of course, I’ve been participating in online wine sessions for years with Snooth, #winestudio, #ItalianWFT, #WinePW, #Winophiles, and so many more where I’ve been sent samples of wine and learned about wines from all over the world using twitter, facebook, and other platforms, public and private, to communicate.
Since the pandemic, I’ve also joined in Zoom chats. Just like any educational opportunity, much depends on the facilitator. This is where people like Elaine Chukan Brown, with her background as a college professor, have excelled. I’ve also been impressed by:
- Napa Valley Wine Academy’s quick pivot to move content online, both free and fee, and I try to catch as many of their free Facebook sessions as I can; I’ve been impressed with the affability and knowledge of the teachers in each of the sessions.
- David Glancy of San Francisco Wine School wealth of courses worth checking out–
June 11- Intro to World Wines
- Nick Jackson’s weekly series about tasting wine blind.
- Pamela Busch who did an excellent job when she facilitated a Verotalk with Antonella of La Maliosa which I wrote about for Earth Day in April.
- Verovinogusto importer Sheila Donahue coordination of sessions from her Ventura office; I joined her for a ZOOM session when we tasted the wines of Lorenzo Corino with him while he was home in Italy.
This week, out of all of the choices that have proliferated, both live and available on YouTube, I have calendared five sessions:
- today from 5-6pm, blind wine tasting with David Glancy
- today from 6-7pm #winestudio’s session on Lugana’s Geography
- Weds from 5-6pm with Clos des Amis (details below)
- Thursday at 2pm with Nick Jackson on discerning three red wines
- Saturday at 8am on New York’s Finger Lakes with #WinePW
On Wednesday, I will be on the other side of the ZOOM chat! Please join me virtually for the next VeroTalk when I’ll join winemakers Bruce Freeman and Gretel Compton in Santa Paula for “Old World Style Wines from the New World in an Undiscovered Part of California” on
During the VeroTalk, you’ll meet Clos des Amis winemaker, Bruce, and partner Gretel, Live from their vineyard and winery in South Mountain, Ventura, California.
If you’re a regular reader of Wine Predator, you’ll already have an idea that Bruce is a character, and a straight shooter, so this will be VERY entertaining!
Hear their story first hand of wine, art and passion at our next VeroTalk virtual chat and wine tasting on Wed. June 10th at 8pm EDT / 5 PDT via Zoom or Facebook Live. During the event, Uncorked Hermosa Beach’s Jeff Bonafede leads the wine tasting of 5 wines:
The Olivelands Vineyard was a soggy mess in 2019 and had so much mildew he crop was lost.
– Clos des Amis White Wine (a late harvest, skin contact Chardonnay with native yeast)
– Clos des Amis Chardonnay Olivelands Vineyard 2016
– Clos des Amis Pinot Noir South Mountain Vineyard 2017
– Clos des Amis Grenache South Mountain Vineyard 2017
– Clos des Amis Malbec South Mountain Vineyard 2017
Buy their wines beforehand to taste along with us! Wines are sold online and delivered to you: click here to visit the Verovino online shop.
On June 10th at 2pm EDT / 11am PDT, join us on zoom, click here for instructions, or, see it streamed Live on Facebook here.
wine predator.............. gwendolyn alley 