International Wine Guild
Rare wines, by definition, are usually very expensive or very hard to obtain; often they are both expensive and hard to obtain. The Guild offers rare wine tastings as an opportunity to taste and enjoy some of the world's most famous wines - but wines which most people never get the opportunity to taste. Wines such as first growth Bordeaux, DRC from Burgundy, Gaya from Italy, 19th Century Port and Madeira, vintage BA's and TBA's from German and much, much more. How many opportunities will you ever get to taste these wines? In fact, some of the wines we will taste are so rare that you may never have the opportunity to taste them again.
A vertical tasting is the technical tasting of a specific wine from a producer across several vintage years. For example, tasting Chateau Lafite-Rothschild (Pauillac, Bordeaux) from 1995, 1987, 1982, 1973, 1961, and 1954. This is how you begin to learn about the changes that occur as a wine reaches maturity, and unfortunately, as some pass beyond drinking maturity. Because of the difficulty obtaining wines of this caliber and nature, most vertical tastings are also rare wine tastings.
Not everyone would attempt to do tastings of this quality because the cost is prohibitive: most could not afford to buy the wine if they were the only person tasting them (and even if you could afford it, what a shame it would be not to share such incredible wines with as many people as possible). It is usually very difficult to obtain these wines because of their scarcity, however, because the Guild is a professional association, with national standing, we can obtain these wines for tasting purposes.
Please Note: Because of the difficulty and time involved in obtaining these wines, you will be charged a fee equal to the registration fee if you cancel within two weeks of the tasting. No exceptions.
All tastings are conducted by a Guild Master of Wine Arts. Click a corresponding "Register" link to sign up.
Prices vary by class, wines will be limited to 1 oz. pours.
The Clark-Claudon Vineyards were founded by Laurie Claudon and Tom Clark on a 117 acre Estate in the eastern Napa Valley mountains. The shallow shattered sandstone soils, cool evening breezes and excellent sun exposure are ideal for a low yield of small, intense Cabernet berries.
This famous boutique winery had it's first harvest of Napa Valley Cabernet in 1992. We will be tasting a six-year vertical from 1997 through 2002. Most of these wines are no longer available, even from the winery, so this is your opportunity to try a unique flight of estate wines. Light food and wine included.
Because we purchase wines and food based on the number of registrants, no-shows are charged a non-refundable fee equal to the registration fee, per person, unless other arrangements are made at least 4 working days in advance of the class.
If for any reason a class is cancelled we will phone or e-mail you 48 hours prior to the start of the class. If a class is cancelled at the last minute due to bad weather (this is very rare) we will reschedule the class. However, if a class is held and you decide not to attend because you believe the weather is bad than it will be treated as a no-show.