The Wonderful World of Wine Dinners

A look inside the wonderful world of wine dinners from our Corporate Beverage Director Len Panaggio. With a full season ahead of us, take some time to explore what winemakers and vineyards will be making appearances in your backyard – click here. Take it away Len!

Wine dinners have something to offer for everyone involved in creatingand enjoying them. From the restaurant’s perspective, the culinary team loves them because it provides an opportunity to try new dishes, especially with the bounty of local harvest coming out, something the chefs are always looking for.

From a guest’s perspective, I feel, the most important feature of these dinners is the educational component. When you have a winemaker speak at these events, the chance to ask your own personal wine question is so exciting. At the end of the meals, we bring out the culinary team and once again, the opportunity to ask culinary questions is equally as exciting. Then you get to ask the ultimate question—what was so great about that dish with that wine? BINGO! There it is.

Now, one of the most amazing aspects is that you sit at a table with, for the most part, people you don’t know. You are all eating and drinking the same food and wine. The interaction between the guests is so rewarding. The wine is doing what it does best -bringing people together. Lasting friendships are created. In an era when we don’t spend enough time interacting face-to-face, wine (don’t forget beer dinners) bring people to the table to break bread and drink wine and share their personal experience of what they are perceiving. Magic-in a bottle!