Given Up Wine for January? Check Out The Tastemaker Weekend 24th-26th January
Don’t get me wrong, I love wine, but it’s also nice to try something different. I am sure it is no coincidence that with a lot of people giving up alcohol for January (or like me, at least trying to moderate consumption), Healdsburg is putting on a weekend of activities that are not just about the wine.
On the weekend of 24th January, Healdsburg is tasting its first ever Tastemaker weekend whereby participants get to hands-on experiences of everything from roasting coffee with Wolf Coffee to a pastry class with Costeaux to cookery courses or mushroom foraging with Relish
It’s not quite true that the experiences don’t involve alcohol because there are experiences involving wine from a number of wineries including Rafanelli, Jordan and Breathless Wines as well as a distillery, Alley 6 (it’s not wine!).
One of the great things about the event is that it is easy to curate an entire day of experiences through the day. For example:
9:00am
Save your first coffee of the day for this experience. Nick Castelli owner of Wolf Coffee will take you through everything you need to know about coffee including its origins, roasting techniques and tasting. It’s not wine but there are many similarities to the entire wine making and tasting process. I can talk from personal experience being a fan of Wolf Coffee and the fact that it is a family run business with the original founder being mentored by Peets Coffee. Read more about the Wolf Coffee story here.
2:00pm – 4:40pm
You won’t need much of a lunch because you will get getting to know and taste Pate a Choux (Choux pastry) and tasting chocolate eclairs. As well as being shown the techniques and uses of the pastry for both sweet and savory you will get to try making it for yourself as well as tasting the work of Karah Williams, head pastry chef at Costeaux bakery.
5:00pm – 9:00pm
It’s been a long day and no wine so far, so although it's January, you are allowed a little wine with dinner. Rafanelli Winery is hosting an Italian dinner in their cave hosted by Italian restaurant, Baci. The three course dinner prepared by Chef Shari and his wife, Lisbeth, will be paired with the latest releases from Rafanelli.
The full list of available experiences are as follows:
Friday 24th January
9:00am: Wolff Coffee Roasing workshop
11:00am: Lambert Bridge Wine Blending and Lunch
2:00pm: Costeaux Pastry Class
12:00 noon: Breathless Wines Tour and Sabrage
3:00-4:30pm: High Tea At Jordan Winery
5:00pm: Rafanelli and Baci Wine Cave Dinner
6:00pm Alley 6 Distillery Class and Tasting
6:00pm: Cook with Local Winemakers at Relish
Saturday 25th January
8:00am Healdsburg Running Company
11:00am Mateo’s Sough of the Border Class and Lunch
10:00/noon: Healdsburg Scavenger Hunt
11:00am Foraged Design Class
12:00 noon: Breathless Wines tour and Sabrage
Sunday 26th January
9:30am Relish Wild Mushroom Foray and Lunch
12:00 noon: Breathless Wines tour and Sabrage
3:00pm Painting and Pizzas
Full details of the events and buy tickets.