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pirits Wine Cellar’s annual holiday tasting drew people with varying degrees of wine savviness, from gurus to newbies. Guests’ tastes were different, too. Some at the Oct. 29 event were partial to pinot noir, others were firmly in the riesling camp, and a few bubbly souls headed straight for the champagne. But few among the festive crowd came as well-prepared as Laila and Mark Marker. The Tuscaloosa couple sported WineYokes, which are lanyards with holders for glasses. “The first time we saw these, we thought, how silly,” Mark Marker said. But going to wine tastings and juggling wine glasses and food plates made the Tuscaloosa couple rethink the contraptions. “We went to World Market and bought some,” he said. Jennifer and Matthew Bologna own Spirits, which has stores on Rice Mine Road in Tuscaloosa and McFarland Boulevard in Northport. Jennifer Bologna said this was the store’s ninth year to host the holiday tasting. “We started it in 2007 as an idea for a special event,” she said. “We host weekly wine tastings and thought it would be fun to expand on the idea.” This year’s tasting was at the Tuscaloosa River Market. Bologna said past events have been at places like Hotel Capstone, the University Club and, the first year, at Chuck’s Fish on the restaurant’s private floor. “We’ve moved it to keep it fresh and interesting and to accommodate the crowd,” she said. About 400 people turned out this year. Wine distributors brought nearly 300 wines, a marked increase from 85 wines the first year, Jennifer Bologna said. “All five of our distributors are from Alabama: Alabama Crown Distributing Co., Grassroots Wine Wholesalers, International Wines, Pinnacle Imports and United-Johnson Brothers,” she said. Also manning the tables were 17 suppliers — the people from whom the distributors buy wine. The suppliers shared not only their companies’ wines but also backstories, trivia and other information intriguing to oenophiles. At the Pinnacle Imports table was Tim Willard, Southeast regional sales manager for European Sellers. He held up a bottle of Domaine Lafage Bastide Miraflors and praised its maker, Jean Marc Lafage. “Lafage is one of those iconic producers who’s the envy of a lot of winemakers,” Willard said. “His trademark is making wines that are very inexpensive but score in the 90s.” Lee Delchamps, International Wines district manager, touted one of
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TOP: hors d’oeuvres for the wine tasting were prepared by kathie and Jim Simpson of one Stop Weddings and parties. ABOVE: each guest at the tasting received a riedel wine glass to use for the event and to take home.