While our resident Wine Goddess, Diana Hamann, takes her maternity leave, The Chopping Block will welcome some of Chicago's best and brightest wine minds to teach in her stead, November through February. 

Wine-lovers with any level of expertise are invited to taste and learn with Sommeliers and experts from some of Chicago's top restaurants, retail establishments, and distributors.  These intensive classes will focus on subjects particularly suited to each Sommelier's expert set, and good wine, good conversation, and good learning is sure to be the order of the day.  Please note these do tend to sell out, so sign up early and often!

Monday, November 9th, 2009

7-8:30 p.m. at The Chopping Block, Lincoln Square
Food and Wine Pairing: Learning How to "Zing"
with Sue Kim of Spring, Custom House and Green Zebra restaurants
Lauded wine director and restaurateur Sue Kim wants to teach you how to zing!  Sue's "zing" method teaches wine lovers how to define the dominant structural elements in food and wine, using basic elements of food science in order to achieve fantastic food/wine pairings (in other words, in order to zing!).

Monday, November 16th, 2009

6-7:30 p.m. at The Chopping Block, Merchandise Mart
Desperate House Wines
with Master Sommelier Fernando Beteta
Freshly-minted Master Sommelier and wine director of Nomi restaurant, Fernando Beteta, is back at The Chopping Block with a vengeance to teach a class on those wines every household desperately needs to have on hand at all times. 

Monday, December 7th, 2009

6-7:30 p.m. at The Chopping Block, Merchandise Mart
How To Taste Like a Master Sommelier
with Master Sommelier Fernando Beteta
Don't miss this class!  Fernando Beteta is Chicago's most recent wine expert to be named a Master Sommelier, of which there are only 102 in America.  In the grueling MS test, he was asked to taste a series of wines blind, and identify grape varietal, place of origin, and vintage, using the deductive tasting method.  In this class, Fernando will introduce us to blind deductive tasting, and dish tricks of the trade to get you tasting like a pro in no time. 

Monday, December 14th, 2009

6-7:30 p.m. at The Chopping Block, Merchandise Mart
Food and Wine Pairing: Learning how to “Zing”: Merchandise Mart Edition
with Sue Kim of Spring, Custom House and Green Zebra restaurants
Lauded wine director and restaurateur Sue Kim wants to teach you how to zing!  Sue's “zing” method teaches wine lovers how to define the dominant structural elements in food and wine, using basic elements of food science in order to achieve fantastic food/wine pairings (in other words, in order to zing!).

Monday, December 21st, 2009

7-8:30 p.m. at The Chopping Block, Lincoln Square
Building Blocks of Wine—The Basics
with Doug Marello, Advanced Sommelier
Join Doug Marello, who is first-and-goal on his way to becoming a Master Sommelier, as he primes us on the basics of wine sensory evaluation and the corresponding wine-speak.  You'll leave having learned to identify oak, acidity, tannin, and dry vs. sweet, along with the rosy glow of having tasted through SEVEN wines!

Monday, January 4th, 2010

6-7:30 p.m. at The Chopping Block, Merchandise Mart
Good Wine for a Bad Economy
with Mike Baker, GM of the Wine Discount Center
The economy may be in the doldrums, but that's no reason to skimp on good wine!  Mike Baker of the Wine Discount Center is particularly suited to help us sort through the masses in choosing the very best wines for the super competitive $15 and under category. Taste through a truly cheap n' good flight that tastes twice the price and won't break the bank!  

Monday, January 11th, 2010

6-7:30 p.m. at The Chopping Block, Merchandise Mart
Argentine Wine Dinner
with Christophe Bakunas, Cream Wine Company
Join Christophe Bakunas as he tastes us through the Vine Connections portfolio, the best set of Argentine wines currently available in the USA, to include gems from Susana Balbo, Luca, Mendel, La Posta and the like.  We'll pair them up with a full course meal of Argentine delights, and our chefs will demo how to recreate the magic at home. 

Monday, January 18th, 2010

7-8:30 p.m. at The Chopping Block, Lincoln Square
A Valentine Wine Primer
with David Kline, Bacchuslove Consulting
You're a lover, not a fighter, no?  So get in touch with your sensitive and sensual side through a tasting class of sparkling and still wines that will help you set the mood on that special night and throughout the year.  Doing your homework never tasted this good! With David Kline, long-time fixture in the Chicago wine scene, and currently doing his unique wine and spirits education thing via his own Bacchuslove Consulting company

Monday, February 1st, 2010

6-7:30 p.m. at The Chopping Block, Merchandise Mart
Wines of Spain
with Doug Marello, Advanced Sommelier
Wine consumers may (or may not) have noticed that Spanish wines are suddenly everywhere, and with good reason—the price-to-value ratio on these caliente gems is off the charts.  In this one we'll welcome back Advanced Sommelier Doug Marello as he tastes us through a line-up of the fabuloso Spanish varietals and appellations that should surely be on everyone's wine radar. 

Monday, February 8th, 2010

7-8:30 p.m. at The Chopping Block, Lincoln Square
Confessions of a Wine Retailer
with Mike Baker, GM at Wine Discount Center
Toast to a wine-centric 2010 with Mike Baker of the Wine Discount Center, one of Chicago's own true retail treasures. Mike will dish on what a guy at the helm of 1000 wine skus stocks his own cellar with, and the pitfalls that a burgeoning collector should avoid. Best of all, he'll tell us how to best put your local wine guy/gal to work for you, and get you on track to vinous enlightenment!

Monday, February 15th, 2010

6-7:30 p.m. at The Chopping Block, Merchandise Mart
Wines of the Pacific Northwest
with Christophe Bakunas, Cream Wine Company
The wines of Oregon and Washington state are truly giving their more famous neighbor to the south a run for its money as far as world-wine acclaim.  In this one we'll welcome back Christophe Bakunas, salesman of Chicagoland's best cohesive Oregon and Washington portfolio, as we taste for ourselves the stellar offerings of America's final frontier.