Seminars at Summer Nights - Wine Festival in Haliburton, Ontario

Last Update: April 8, 2008

Richard Best - The Frugal Oenophile

Fast Track to Wine Tasting
Wine is not that complicated, but the sheer quantity of producers, labels and styles is often a source of anxiety for the casual wine drinker. And yet, if you can detect the fragrance of a rose or freshly baked bread, then you have all the skill and equipment you need to evaluate and appreciate fine wine. All you really need is a key to let you bypass the complexity of wine.

The Frugal Oenophiles Fast Track to Wine Tasting will look at the six archetypal wines that set the style for virtually all wines. Richard Best will show you his unique approach to understanding wine, an approach that slices through all the mystery, mythology and double-speak. Armed with this simple information, you will have what you need to find you way through the jungle of wine bottles that haunts the local wine shop.

Richard Best is a popular presenter, and delivers an entertaining mix of wine knowledge, humour, and pithy insights. His over-riding goal is to help people -- even seasoned wine lovers -- understand wine at its most basic level. A food and wine writer and educator, Richard produces a monthly email newsletter focusing on wine education, as well as a Wine of the Week blog that features user friendly, value priced wines. He is author of the best selling The Frugal Oenophiles Lexicon of Wine Tasting Terms, and is a member of the Wine Writers Circle as well as their webmaster.

Scotch and Wry
This seminar features a humorous and spirited journey into the wonderful world of Scotch whisky, revealing the magic and mystery of Single Malts, with pointers to help you identify what makes a great whisky and serving up some saucy references to food and whisky.

Ed Patrick is the Founder and President of The Companions of The Quaich, Canada's Premier Malt Whisky Appreciation Society, with almost 20 Chapters and more than 1,000 members in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia. A former daily newspaperman in Scotland, Fleet Street and Toronto, he has written and lectured extensively on Scotch whisky during the past 20 years and regularly leads groups on special distillery tours of Scotland.

Harmony On The Palate
Harmony On The Palate is an interactive and experiential seminar exploring the science behind wine and food pairing. Guests sample wines along with food items to gain first hand experience of wine and food pairing combinations. You will walk away from this seminar with 3 easy principles of pairing wine with food consistently and effectively. Come explore your palate!

Shari Darling is the syndicated radio and newspaper columnist, The Sophisticated Wino. She has written several books on food and wine, with the latest one called Harmony On The Palate. Harmony celebrates breakthrough principles in pairing wine with food, along with simple recipes and matching wine notes.