GiraMondo Wine Adventures

I felt like the Waterboy in the crowded room with everyone yelling «GATORADE» and me begging for «the H2O»!!! Seriously, these people can drink. I thought I could handle the hard liquor because of my love for vodka & cranberry or the many shots of Grand Marnier or 1800. Attending the Cocktail Class for Beginners proved otherwise, as we explored the world of bitters, whiskey and rum.
Now the southern girl in me was already familiar with Old Jack and my family’s appreciation for rum makes me question my ancestry at times. The GiraMondo class deepened this familiarity and I also learned that there is quite a difference between bourbon and rye. This is a great experience for couples and friends, as you will learn the history of certain classic cocktails and be able to impress your comrades with random bits of knowledge like why Bond preferred his martini shaken, and not stirred. If you are like myself, you will appreciate the water on the table to help ease the strength of the drinks — I have learned that I ABSOLUTELY do not like a Manhattan — yizzuck!!!
Our speaker was Phillip Greene, an attorney and cocktail aficionado with deep roots in the New Orleans Creoles (shout out fam!), whose ancestors created a brand of bitters — so he knows a thing or two. He let us keep the shakers and beakers which we used for concocting our cocktails (I kept having flashbacks from my organic chem. classes when using the equipment). My favorite drink of the night was the last — the daiquiri. You will never want to order a daiquiri from a chain restaurant or local bar again — TRUST me.
Mr. Greene finally explained to everyone that it is not a coincidence that the Caribbean, Latin/​South America, & the American South all share common roots in their most popular drinks — please don’t give credit to Jennings Cox. I was so happy that he enlightened the crowd — HELLO, sugarcane, limes & rum. It should be very easy to deduce why the mint julep, mojito, and caipirinha seem like not-​so-​distant cousins!!! Well sign up for a class, or even become a member. I will be back for one of their wine-​pairing classes sometime in the near future.

My wife and I have been attending Giramondo Wine tastings for about 2 years. We have attended several other wine tasting venues in the area, and I can honestly say that Giramondo has provided us the most education, adventures, and memories of all the companies in this area. We are now life members of their VIP club! Cheers.
Marcus

I’ve been drinking wine for several years now, but when I started coming to the GiraMondo wine events, my wine knowledge and appreciation has expanded immensely.
The tastings are fun, enjoyable, relaxed and completely welcoming — that is, you won’t find a great deal of wine snobbery that seems to turn a lot of people off at other places/​venues.
Laurent (GiraMondo’s figurehead) and his staff are fantastic, friendly and extremely appreciative when you come to their tastings. Again, the snobbery factor just isn’t here with GiraMondo. It’s an easygoing, positive atmosphere among the staff and the patrons.
All in all, these experiences have been so great for me that I ended up joining their members-​only club, which offers discounts on the tastings and other GiraMondo-​sponsored events. It’s completely worth it, especially if you love drinking wine and meeting like-​minded wine lovers.