The River Bend Golf & Country Club was also the venue of last year’s wine tasting event. Photo by Malou Rennert
The Celebrate Great Falls Foundation will host its annual Winter Wine Tasting on Saturday, March 4, from 7-10 p.m. at the River Bend Golf & Country Club on Walker Road.
Richard Ashton, owner of Classic Wines on Georgetown Pike, will be pouring wine and taking orders at the event for the third consecutive year.
“If they like a wine at the tasting, they can order it and pick it up at the shop here the next week,” Ashton said. “They can’t actually buy it at the event.”
Guests will receive a sampling of cheeses, hors d'oeuvres and domestic wines that the golf course selected:
Napa And Sonoma:
Hall Napa Cabernet 2013
Domaine Carneros Brut
Hartford Court Russian River Chardonnay 2015
Twomey RR Pinot Noir 2014
Central Coast:
J Lohr Hiltop Cabernet 2014
Tenshen Red Blend
J Lohr Arroyo Vista Chardonnay
Washington:
K Vintners Merlot Northridge 2011
Intrinsic Cabernet 2015
Tenet Syrah The Pundit 2014
“They’re all from pretty reputable producers and some are hard to get stuff,” Ashton said. “They’re all good in their own right.”
He has been selling the Intrinsic Cabernet from Washington in his shop for the last year to “rave reviews,” he said.
It is an unusual wine because the producers leave the wine in contact with the skins of the grapes, according to Ashton.
“Usually the skins are removed after two weeks, after the color has been extracted and the tannins, but they actually leave the skins in contact with the wine for, I think, eight or nine months.”
This process is called extreme extended maceration.
He said the Cabernet is called Intrinsic because of its intrinsic ability to mellow itself out over time to be a “great, full-bodied wine.”
Tickets are available for purchase online at www.celebrategreatfalls.org until Feb. 28. They are $75 per person.