Gosset Champagne: Gosset is the 2nd oldest Champagne house in the Champagne region of France. This wine is yeasty, lemony, with beautiful tiny bubbles, high acid and dry. This wine is refined and delicate, with toasted almonds.

St. Hilare:This French sparkler comes from Limoux. While its’ not a Champagne, it’s the oldest official sparkling wine producer in France. It’s insanely low priced, which is lovely, as far as value goes. St. Hilare is my go-to for French sparkling wine, dry enough to be refreshing, with the barest rounding of fruit to allow for a friendly welcome to the palate. There area  few different methods of adding the famous sparkle. St. Hilare gains it’s secondary fermentation in the bottle, after an addition of liqueur de tirage.

Chateau Jarnioux Beaujolais 2014: This is a fruit bomb. It’s a simple, black fruit bomb made from Gamay Noir in Beaujolais France. This wine is a step up from the juicy, mildly alcoholic Beaujolais Nouveau that is released the second weekend of November. However, wines made with Gamay in Beaujolais can’t be expected to be super complex, with loads of personality. They’re not bad wines, they’re meant to be simple, summer drinks for porches, and picnics, not $100 plate pairings. (Though, the rule of thumb, as it were, is drink what you like…. so who knows?)

Domaine Jouard Santenay 2010: This stunner is a Kermit Lynch import, so it’s no surprise that it’s fabulous. This wine opens with earthy tobacco, beautiful strawberries, and bright red fruit, tempered with bark and forest floor notes. I loved this wine.

Roger Sabon Cotes du Rhone 2013: Thsi wine is a lush strawberry field with meaty flavors of salami, dried herbs, ginger,  lavender, and fresh soil. It’s a great blend of Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvedre. This would pair beautifully with lamb, pot roast, smoked salmon and portabella mushrooms.

Domaine de la Nobile Chinon 2013: This Loire beauty is a tart red smack across the cheek, of red currants, red cherries, and raspberries, with tarragon, basil and tannin structure to boot. It’s more tannic than the Roger Sabon CDR, and would pair nicely with beef stew, and game dishes.

These classes are great, although they never quite give me enough time to get to know the wines that we taste. These moments are kind of like movie trailers, a preview to the grander scheme.