Over a few glasses of wine in 2007, South Florida wine insiders Shari Gherman and Monty and Sara Preiser dreamed about putting the area on the map while highlighting American wine’s greatness. The dream included a small judging by the area’s best palates, a large event for the greater wine-loving public, and the opportunity to give back.

“I love American wines,” says Gherman, a certified sommelier involved with the wine industry for more than 25 years, “I’ve had a lot of opportunities to travel, but I think that American wines are so wonderful and when you visit the winery, there’s the mom and dad and kids – they are farming! They are farmers producing this beautifully elegant product that makes every meal better.”

Now in its fifth year, the American Fine Wine Competition includes more than 600 wines entered, a panel of two dozen super-palates to judge, and $430,000 raised for charity from the event’s annual galas.

Here’s a look behind the scenes of this year’s VIP kick-off party and the 2012 judging. Don’t forget to mark your calendars for the 2012 American Fine Wine Competition Gala on April 19. Read the full story

One thing the Swirl Girls take seriously is lending a hand to help others. And, when it’s helping provide a home for families whose children are receiving medical treatment in Palm Beach County, and that’s combined with great wine and wonderful food, we call that serendipity.

It’s also known as the Taste of Compassion event, Monday at CityPlace’s Harriet Himmel Theater, which benefits the Quantum House. We will be there with some yummy vino to pair with food from some well-known area restaurants, such as Paddy Mac’s, Verdea, The Breakers, Talay Thai, Sailfish Point Country Club, Hoffman’s Chocolates and more.

This is one of our favorite events, because of the quality of the wine, the food, the cause and yes, the people. Stop by, say “hello,” and discover what wines we’re pouring. We’ll be dipping into some great-tasting wines: Eroica Riesling, Ruffino Prosecco, Coppola Director’s Cut Chardonnay, Erath Pinot Noir, Coppola Director’s Cut Cabernet Sauvignon and the Antinori Toscana Red.

Join us for either early VIP admission ($125 ticket, starting at 6 p.m., gives you one hour early with special wine/food pairing) or general admission ($75 ticket, starting at 7 p.m.) and stick around for the silent and live auctions and raffle. Tickets are sold at www.quantumhouse.org. For more info, call (561) 494-0515.

Swirl Girls readers are getting such a great deal at this year’s Lexus Taste at Downtown at the Gardens that we wanted to remind you today is the last day for a discounted advance admission ticket!

The “Taste Pass” is available to you for $35 — that’s 30 percent off the advance ticket price of $50. (If you wait to buy a ticket at the gate, it will cost you $75.) Just head over to the Lexus Taste at Downtown web site at www.tasteatdowntown.com and use the promo code SWIRLGIRLS when you make your purchase.

For more information and to see what we’re pouring, check out the previous story here.

FRIDAY

Wine Tasting Benefiting Autism Speaks, 6-8 p.m., Whole Foods Market, 2635 State Road 7, Wellington. Enjoy this special anniversary tasting that features wines paired with holiday-inspired appetizers along with live music and a silent auction. All proceeds will benefit the local Autism Speaks chapter. $5 donation. Please preregister by calling customer service at (561) 904-4000 .

ONGOING

Wine Down Wednesday, 5-10 p.m., Romeo-n-Juliette’s Caffe, 1544 Cypress Drive, Jupiter. Enjoy half-price bottles of wine. (561) 768-3967 .

Ladies Night, 9 p.m. Wednesdays, The Blind Monk, 410 Evernia St., #107, West Palm Beach. Ladies enjoy two-for-one specials on all wine. (561) 833-3605 .

Bold and I boasted so much about the fun we had pouring wine at the Lexus Taste at Downtown at the Gardens last year that Sweet and Dry have made sure to clear their calendars this year so they don’t miss out again.

We’re honored to have been invited to participate in this food and wine event that raises money for the Big Heart Brigade’s Thanksgiving Dinner Drive, which provides holiday meals for the less fortunate. On November 10, from 5:30 – 9:00 p.m., Downtown at the Gardens in Palm Beach Gardens will transform into a party venue with a plethora of culinary treats and libations, in addition to live music and a fireworks show.

However, the real thrill is, you get a discount on your advance ticket purchase because you’re a Swirl Girls reader. The “Taste Pass” is available to you for $35 (that’s 30 percent off the advance ticket price of $50!) Just head over to the Lexus Taste at Downtown web site at www.tasteatdowntown.com and use the promo code SWIRLGIRLS when you make your purchase.

If you need a little prodding to get out there and join us, we’ll be pouring a great selection of wines — something for every palate:

Wonderful whites:
Perrier-Jouet Grand Brut
Columbia Winery Cellarmaster’s Riesling
Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc

Ravishing reds:
Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais Village
Oyster Bay Pinot Noir
Querceto Chianti Classico Reserva
Artesa Elements Cabernet Sauvignon
Brazin Old Vine Zinfandel

We’re looking forward to seeing you there and sharing a sip!

We’re adventurous wine drinkers, eager to try the newest, most exciting offerings, blessed to be living in a vibrant, engaged community that values the experience of a wine bar as much as the Burgundy swirling around the glass.

Our collective love of wine leads us to wine bars that both inspire and relax. Some of these bars are places to see and be seen. Some are cozy hideaways, warm and inviting. Most of our favorite places have beloved wine servers who know our names and, even more importantly, our tastes in wine. 

“I want something round and creamy and very drinkable,” I said to the sommelier on a recent night at Verdea in Palm Beach Gardens, and instantly I was sampling a smooth Meursault.

This is what draws us from our homes, the excitement of a new sip and the comfort of a friendly, familiar server. And our favorite wine bars have something delicious to nibble on as we catch up with friends — because food, wine and friendship make for the perfect evening.

— Libby Volgyes, “Sweet” Read the full story

There’s just something special about Dolce Vita in Lake Worth. Fellow Swirl Girl Earthy introduced me to this charming wine bar a few years back. It’s become one of her favorite haunts – she calls it her ‘Cheers’ of wine bars – with a warm and friendly atmosphere that brings together folks from all walks of life.

Co-owner Asher White has a lot to do with that magic, fusing his infectious passion for food and wine with a casual “come as you are” philosophy that perfectly suits his downtown Lake Worth location.

In December 2010, the bar spread its wings, moving from its previous location on North J Street to a larger storefront at 609 Lake Ave. (formerly the Soma Center). Read the full story

When wine tasting and social media meet, it’s called TasteLive. The Swirl Girls call it a sweet match.

The four of us have been a part of multiple TasteLive tastings www.TasteLive.com for about a year now. Here’s how it works: The organizers of this “real-time, event-based social network…for presenting products with taste” ask for participants to pair with certain wineries. If we accept, then we’re sent a number of wines the day before, or the day of, the live Twitter tasting.

At 9 p.m., we gather and uncork the wines, pass out glasses, rev up the computer and begin. On the TasteLive web site, we are one of several spots in the country all tasting the same wines at the same moment. It works pretty darn well. The TasteLive organizers are energetic, fun and totally professional about the groups they gather together.

The wineries are on Twitter during the tastings, too, and answer questions about wine composition, wine price, bottling or anything else we ask them. It’s a good chance for interaction with winemakers; their stories are fascinating and the wines are usually pretty terrific.

So it was a couple of weeks ago, when we lined up with Sonoma’s Benziger wines at a TasteLive event. There was a real-time video interview with Mike Benziger, along with the real-time Tweeting. We had six different wines to taste, including two vertical tastings (same wine, different year). There were eight tastings going on all over the country.

I visited the biodynamic Benziger winery in 2009, on a trip to Sonoma and Napa. The winery is in a gorgeous hillside setting, with oak barrels stacked in caves, and offers a nice tram tour and tasting in the pretty white compound of buildings. I was impressed with the whole tour and definitely the tastings – Benziger turns out some fantastic wine.
Read the full story

We came. We swirled. We ate. We talked wine and we swirled more wine and we ate some more. (And then some more and some more.) And between seven-courses and three hours, we made 25 new friends and saw 5 old friends. It was yet another successful, wonderful Swirl Up at The Bistro Thursday night. Please check out our photo gallery online here!

Great food, great wine, and an unbeatable value. This is what’s on the menu Wednesday evenings at Paradiso Ristorante in downtown Lake Worth. The gourmet Italian restaurant’s weekly wine tastings feature six wines with delicious bites of paired hors d’oerves, plus a few extra surprises for an amazing $30 price (tax and tip excluded).

My husband and I stopped in on a recent Wednesday evening and found a lively crowd at the bar and extending into the adjacent dining area. We grabbed the last table and within minutes were served our first flight of white wines. Sommeliers Robinson Hogan and Brett Hart circled the room to discuss the wines with each table. Read the full story