Sipping wine, raising funds

Intermountain Catholic

+ Enlarge

Photo Illustration/Jenn Sparks

WEST HAVEN — The Council of Catholic Women’s group at Saint Mary Parish in West Haven has strayed from the usual fundraising efforts of bingo and boutiques. For the past three years, they have offered a wine-tasting event that has been "absolutely phenomenal," said Theresa Sheffield, chairperson of the event.

Jay Hart, who has taught wine appreciation classes for 25 years at the Eccles Community Arts Center in Ogden, is the master of ceremonies for the wine tasting at St. Mary. "We try to introduce people to the different grape types, very basic approaches to evaluating wine, and mostly try to make them comfortable with drinking wine and evaluating wine," said Hart, who also teaches history at Saint Joseph Catholic Schools.

Before moving to Utah, Hart worked weekends at the Ste. Chapelle Winery in Idaho, where he gave tours. He also worked at wine stores in Boise. This past summer, he took a course sponsored by the Court of Master Sommeliers Organization to learn more about teaching wine appreciation.

At the St. Mary wine tasting, he will apply that knowledge, he said. "This year we’re going to try basic techniques to get around the ‘snob appeal’ [of wine,]" he said, adding that he will teach some of the industry terminology.

Those attending the event will taste six wines, from a very dry red to a sweet dessert wine, he said. "We’re just trying to get people to feel comfortable with wine, to introduce them to some approaches to wine and explain some of the terms," he said.

At the event, each table will have two "wine geeks" to answer questions from the others while Hart gives his presentation, said Sheffield, who has taken classes from Hart for several years. Each of the "wine geeks" has at least seven years of experience, and will add to the educational aspect of the evening, she said. "You walk away not only having tasted some wonderful wines, but you walk away with so much knowledge."

As part of the fundraiser, there will be silent and live auctions. Among the donated items are those from Tony Caputo’s Food Market and Beehive Cheese, which also will have a cheese monger at the event, Sheffield said. The premiere live auction item is a private wine tasting for 12 people taught by Hart and hosted by St. Mary pastor Father Gustavo Vidal.

Ripened to Perfection: An Educational Wine Tasting Class, will be Saturday, Feb. 11 starting at 6:30 p.m. at Saint Mary Catholic Church, 4050 South 3900 West, West Haven. Cost is $35 per person. Call Kathy for tickets, 801-458-2791.