Saturday, November 3, 2007

A Trip to Napa


The last week in September I was lucky enough to enroll in a course, a wine course, at the Culinary Institute of America Rudd Center in Napa Valley. The Rudd Center is a portion of the facility located in the heart of the valley. While the main part of the entire facility, the old Christian Brothers Winery, is devoted to culinary study, there is a separate building on the property that is concerned with wine study. After all, wine and food were born together and make ideal study buddies.

The course, Great Wine Regions of Europe II, focused on the Loire, the Rhone, South of France, Austria and Greece. It was presented in the state of the art amphitheater style classroom that can accommodate around 30 students. The presenter was an extremely knowledgeable Master Sommelier by the name of Bob Bath.

There was lots of information presented, about 24 wines per day tasted, and a good group of folks to hang with. With breakfast and lunch included, nobody starved.

What is important about this facility is that the same level of professional expertise is demanded for the wine studies as for the culinary and baking programs. The CIA offers a Wine Professional Certificate which requires a high level of knowledge of wines, service, wine business and food and wine pairing. To my knowledge, this is the first facility of its kind in the US. And when I asked my classmates why the CIA was chosen for study, certainly there are other wine education programs around, the same answer came through-quality of educational experience and knowledge of the instructors. The fact that the Rudd Center is located in the heart of Napa Valley and is drop dead gorgeous as well, certainly didn't hurt.

A long time ago I graduated from the CIA in Hyde Park, NY with a degree in Culinary Arts. For the longest time I wanted to get to the Rudd Center as my teaching and learning focus has drifted towards wines over the last few years. I finally made it and intend going back next spring if at all possible.

Good place. The photo is the front door to the Rudd Center.

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