Friday, February 20, 2009

Wines of Piedmont Class - Saturday, February 28

Everyone at WSA is looking forward to our upcoming Wines of Piedmont Class scheduled for next Saturday, February 28.  The class will be taught by Darryl Joannides, owner of cork: a bottle shop and formerly chef/owner of Assagio Restaurant.  

Class Description: 
Piedmont's rolling hillsides, nestled at the base of the Alps, provide ideal growing conditions for some of the world's most prestigious wines.  The variations in slope, aspect and soil found in these hills support a broad range of grape varieties and wine styles.  The most famous wines of Piedmont are certainly the elegant and age-worthy Nebbiolo-based wines of Barolo and Barbaresco, but the region supports other charming and distinctive varieties as well including Barbera, Dolcetto, Freisa, and Grignolino.

This class is part of our International Wine Passport Series, so sign up for one of our "frequent flyer programs" and save!

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Visit WSA on Facebook

It's official.  After much hesitation, WSA is now up on Facebook.  It would be a shame - now that we're up - for you not to visit us! 

Visit us here to become a friend . . . 

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

WSA Alumni on the Move

Congratulations to WSA alums who have either been recently promoted or have moved on to bigger and better things. 

Down in wine country, you'll find WSET Advanced Graduates Morgan Ennis and Mich Nelson in new tasting room positions.  Morgan recently left her position at Cork - A Bottle Shop to become Tasting Room Manager at Daedalus Cellars and Mich recently left Stoller Vineyards to join the Erath Winery team as Guest Services Supervisor.  Mich reports that her new position is "the perfect fit."

Further south in the Eugene area, WSET Advanced Graduate Lorne Mews is still at Benton-Lane Winery but has been promoted from National Sales Manager to Vice President. Congratulations Lorne!

For those of you still dining out in this depressed economy (and for the sake of our restaurant-based alums, we urge you to!), visit WSET Advanced student Lisa Marcus at Le Pigeon and WSET Advanced Graduate Amy Rehagen at Toro Bravo.  An easy assignment given that these are two of our favorite Portland restaurants.

Braiden Rex-Johnson, WSET Intermediate student also has news.  In addition to her other writing projects, Braiden is now a regular contributor to the Seattle Times Pacific Northwest "Taste" Column and is a monthly contributor to Amazon.com's Al Dente Blog.  And WSET Intermediate Graduate Laura Brady, president of Lux Wines, just announced a new wine sales website, including a bridal registry.  Check out Laura's new site here.

Want to know more about what WSA grads are up to?  Visit our graduates page.