Wine tasting goes for the bubbles

With the holidays approaching, the organizers of a wine tasting on campus have only one thing to say: "It’s All About the Bubbly!”

That is the theme for the December's Wednesday Night Wine Flight, scheduled from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Dec. 1 at the Gunrock Pub, on the south side of the Silo.

Wednesday Night Wine Flights are scheduled the first week of every month. The pub and the Cal Aggie Alumni Association’s Vintage Aggies Wine Club are the sponsors.

The flier for the December tasting asks: “Who knew that sparkling wine was for more than just toasts? Trust us, you’ll be amazed at how many foods this is a perfect match for.”

Wednesday Night Wine Flight admission is $10, and reservations are not needed.

Brewer to give lecture, sign books

The Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science has organized an author’s lecture and book signing for Dec. 6, in connection with Professor Charles Bamforth's new work, Beer Is Proof God Loves Us: Reaching for the Soul of Beer and Brewing.

Bamforth is the Anheuser-Busch Endowed Professor of Malting and Brewing Sciences. Read more about Bamforth and his new book.

The lecture and book signing are scheduled from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the RMI’s Sensory Theatre.

The cost is $35. (All of the discounted tickets, for Friends of the RMI, and UC Davis staff, students and faculty, have been sold.

The admission price includes a copy of the book, organizers said.

To register, contact Kim Bannister, (530) 752-5171 or kbannister@ucdavis.edu.

More at the RMI

The Robert Mondavi Institute also announced three other events:

• Sweet Dessert and Dried Fruit Wines: A World View Symposium — Sweet wines require a concentrated sugar content. and there are different techniques of achieving this. At this symposium, according to the organizers, experts from around the world will discuss those techniques, including partial drying, freezing, botrytis and late harvesting. The program also includes a diiscussion of the economics of production costs and technologies, and how to enter niche markets. Participants also will have the opportunity to learn more about the university's new Teaching and Research Winery. 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 12, Sensory Theatre.

• Women, Wine and Chocolate — This event features conversation with leading female winemakers: Tondi Bolkan of Rubicon Estates, Kathy Joseph of Fiddlehead Cellars and Melissa Stackhouse of Jackson Family Wines — to be introduced by Margrit Mondavi. Women, Wine and Chocolate is scheduled two days before Valentine's Day — and men are welcome, the organizers said. 2-6 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 12, Sensory Theatre.

• Cheese Loves Beer III — With Bamforth and Moshe Rosenberg, professor and specialist, dairy engineering and technology. Saturday, March 5, time to be determined, Sensory Theatre.

Registration is not yet open for these three events. Look for updated information on the RMI website, or contact Kim Bannister, (530) 752-5171 or kbannister@ucdavis.edu.