By Veronica Sandate Craker
The Knights of Columbus of Richland Council 3307 and the Holy Spirit Council 10653 has joined up to offer a series of Wine Appreciation Seminars.
The series kicked off in March, but there are still more seminars left that will run until the end of the year. The classes are led by Knights member Angelo Tavernaro at the Richland Council Hall, 2500 Chester Road.
“As you know, the Knights do all sorts of charitable projects throughout the year and we had a new member Angelo and of course he is a master sommelier and certified wine educator and he has an interest in doing a project that would generate to charitable funds to donate to pro-life causes,” said Marcel Bergeron, of the Knights of Columbus Richland Council.
Tavernaro grew up in Italy, about two hours north of Venice. He worked in a variety of capacities in Italy, France, Germany, England and Bermuda before coming to the U.S. He was Caesar’s Palace’s wine director before teaching at the Culinary Training Academy for eight years. He is also a certified Wine Educator from the Society of Wine Educators n the U.S.
Bergeron said more than 30 people attended for the group’s first event “Wine 101 – Wine Knowledge for the Beginner & Beyond.”
“We had about 36 people at our first event, which was good, and I think it was very well received,” Bergeron said. “Angelo of course is a real character he’s Italian and does a really nice job at presenting this stuff.”
The proceeds raised from the series will go toward a number of different charities, such as Catholic Family and Child Services, Safe Place for Newborns and others.
The idea is to raise money to donate to any pro-life causes, Bergeron said.
The next two seminars are “Wines and Wine Regions of South America, which will be May 19, and “Wine and Wine Regions in Western Oregon, Washington and British Columbia” June 9. Specific dates and times for four additional seminars planned for the fall of 2012 will be established one month before each seminar.
Tickets are $35 and each seminar is about 3 hours long. At each seminar, participants taste four wines from different regions of the world. Cheese, crackers and fruit are included as appropriate for wines being tasted. Details can be found at www.rc.net/washington/kofc10653 or by calling Bergeron at 554-4924.
