Wine education from the Pig

This month's Wine Education Series from Cain's Piggly Wiggly featured Advanced Sommelier Stephen Clark, owner of A&G Beverages, who gave us advice on how to select the perfect wine for our holiday meals. The first lesson we learned was wine is 98% subjective and everyone's palette is different, so don't worry if you don't agree with everyone else (the pressure was off!).   Stephen is actually one of two Advanced Sommeliers in the entire state of Alabama. He explained the lengthy and intense process of obtaining that distinction, and it sounds as complicated as getting into medical school to me! The classes are held once a month at each of the Cain's stores in Spanish Fort, Fairhope and Foley.     The class is limited to 20 people and you have to be quick to get on the list. Notices on upcoming topics and presenters are posted on Piggly Wiggly's Facebook page and sent out to those on their email list, which you can sign up for on their web site. (HERE).   We sampled five different types of wine during our class, and they were wines I would have never even considered trying. It was interesting that when we sipped the wine by itself, it tasted totally different when paired with a specific food.   And by the way, there's no charge for this class!   Stephen gave us a large hand-out that had interesting facts about acidity levels, tannins, and vintages. We were also reminded about Winesdays at the Pig, (that translates to Wednesdays for those who don't speak swine-wine) where one wine is selected, and tastings are provided along with a deep discount on that particular wine. The chosen wine is revealed early that day on their Facebook page.   Piggly Wiggly deli supplied a delicious tasting plate full of holiday flavors, like turkey, ham, heavy cheese, spicy Wickles relish and dark chocolate. My table of ladies loved the chocolate course . . . what a surprise! Of course, our fun crowd wanted to stump Stephen and tried to get him to make recommendations on wine pairings for the local favorites of boiled peanuts and moon pies!   Cain's Piggly Wiggly is the largest wine supplier in our area, with their new Spanish Fort location now edging out the Fairhope store! If you are in the area, make sure you sign up for the wine education series. You'll love the nice people at The Pig, and you'll learn something as well.   Here are some of the food pairings we learned about:  Oysters                      Chablis or Muscadet Fresh Goat Cheese   Sancerre or Pouilly-Fume Prime Steak              Great Cabernet Sauvignon Grilled Lamb            Rioja Red Crème Brulee            Aged Tawney Port   If you don't live in this area, do you have something like this where you live?