The Seattle Area Chapter of Women For WineSense was founded in 1998. Our focus is providing consumer oriented wine education events that are fun, relaxed, and varied – with no wine snobbery allowed! We encourage our members to let us know what they would like to learn about wine. Our membership includes both women and men, but you do not have to be a member to attend.
Come join us and learn about, taste and explore the diverse subject of wine!
Where and how frequently do you meet?
Our chapter presents about 7 events each year. We gather at restaurants, wine bars, wineries, cooking schools, wine shops and private event facilities around the Seattle/Eastside area. Food is always a prominent feature at our events, and we pair the wines we are sampling with great appetizers and dinners.
What types of events have you held?
Such a wide range of topics have been presented in the past 12 years! We have learned about different aspects of wine tasting, examining tasting components, discovering how to develop our personal palates, and experiencing how the proper wine glass enhances the enjoyment of wine. We always enjoy traveling the globe – metaphorically, of course – sampling wines from such diverse wine producing countries as South Africa, Austria, New Zealand, Italy, Spain and France. Wines produced in the United States, including
Washington
State wines (of course!), are tasted as well.
Sometimes we look at one particular wine and learn about the subject in depth, such as past events on
Champagne and Sparkling Wine, and a very memorable program on Port. We have been known to go a little off the beaten path when we focused on Sake produced in
Oregon , and once even learning a little bit about Sangria at a warm summer evening barbeque. Exploring a single varietal is a crowd pleaser, and Cabernet Franc, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, and German Dry Rieslings are just a few of the varietals we have examined. Meeting winemakers and matching a selection of their wines to a dinner at a top area restaurant is always a favorite as well.
One of our most popular events is an annual program held in conjunction with the Portland, Oregon Chapter. We alternate years hosting our neighboring state’s chapter in one of our own state’s wine regions. In 2008 we joined the Portland Chapter in Oregon's Umpqua Valley, and it was a great trip! 2007 was our turn to host, and in October we visited one of Washington State's up-and-coming wine regions: Lake Chelan. It was eye-opening, to say the least! The wines were wonderful and we are all looking forward to seeing what the future holds for the area, which hopefully includes receiving its AVA designation. Great things are happening in Chelan!
We are pleased to be able to keep our speakers as varied as our topics, and have hosted local, regional, and national winemakers, wine educators, wine writers, cookbook authors, chefs, and more. Some of these talented people have become great friends to our chapter, donating their time and expertise to us every year or so to teach us a little bit more about wine. We thank them!
What was your most successful event?
Our annual Tasting Event is one of our most anticipated. We started this fall program in October 2005 for our Wine On America’s Table event, looking at Zinfandel: A Uniquely American Wine. In 2006 we tasted another varietal with Seductive Syrah. For 2007 we explored The Art of the Blend, sampling Meritage, Claret, Rhone and Table blends. Our 2008 program was Mad About Merlot, featuring Merlots from Washington and California. The focus for 2009 was The Pleasures of Pinot Noir and we tasted examples of this tempermental grape from California, Oregon and Washington. On Thursday, October 7, 2010 we will gather once again at Salty's On Alki to turn our attention to Cabernet Sauvignon! Wine Educator David LeClaire, of Wine Events and Promotions has conducted this program for us each year, and we appreciate his knowlege, enthusiam and humor in guiding us through the subjects we choose! Salty’s On Alki has been a great partner for our tastings, providing us with a great room with the best view in town AND a fantastic dinner to go along with our wines!
Number of members in your chapter?
At the beginning of 2010 the Seattle Area Chapter had 57 members.
Percent of male and female members?
About 80% of our members are women and 20% men, and our event attendance usually reflects those numbers. We have found when an event is on a Friday evening or if we are focusing on red wines (such as our annual varietal tasting in the fall) that percentage changes to closer than 60% women and 40% men!