Any Friday afternoon is a fine time for wine and organizers at the St. Albert 50+ Club are setting aside the first Friday of November for just such a purpose. They are working to put the finishing touches on a wine tasting that will transport participants’ taste buds all the way to the Mediterranean.
Wine Appreciation For The Holidays is the first time that the activity centre has offered such an event. It is meant to educate and entertain, while expanding the appeal of the increasingly popular facility.
Event representative Kerri Akins said that this is meant to be a good way of offering new activities to current members while hopefully enticing the rest of the community to check out what they’ve been missing.
“It’s an opportunity to bring new people into the club seeing that we do offer varied and diverse events. A person comes in for one thing and they say, ‘look at what else this club has to offer’,” she began. “We want the club to be successful.”
Event committee chairperson Ann McKinnon added that the club’s monthly happy hours events have become so well attended that a full-blown wine tasting was inevitable anyway.
“I noticed that quite a few people are enjoying the wine. That triggered a thought,” she stated.
Professional sommelier Hayley McRae will offer samples of six specialty wines that she knows a lot about.
“The tasting will include six delicious Italian wines from all around Italy and while they taste they get to learn little about Italian wines in general. It should be a fun and informative evening,” she commented.
Guests will get to enjoy them along with complementary appetizer pairings courtesy of a local caterer. Cheese will be provided by the Grapevine Deli. McKinnon said that McRae has done quite a few wine tastings and is very knowledgeable about Italian wines, having just returned from a training stint in that country.
The event will also feature a 50/50 draw and a wine bar where people can enjoy more of their favourite Italian wines, if there’s any left.
Akins added that the tasting would be successful enough to make this a semi-annual event, among everything else that they’ve got in the works.
“You should see all of the things that we’re planning for the future. It’s going to be amazing!”
The wine tasting takes place on Friday, Nov. 1. The two-hour event starts at 4:30 p.m.
Tickets are $20 each or $120 for a table of eight.
The club is located at 7 Taché Street.
Call 780-459-0433 (ext. 0) or visit www.stalbert50plus.com for more information.
