Hizzoner and Vegas Wineaux!

A sudden flurry of errands found me at Trader Joe’s early Saturday morning, and who should be there promoting a small Health Fair, but Oscar Goodman, the “Happiest Mayor in the Universe” of Las Vegas! Of course I had to take full advantage and chat with hizzoner. (It was really much more complicated than this since I didn’t have my camera with me and had an advanced case of bed hair. But that was an epic by itself).

Oscar has always been gracious and ebullient with his constituency and of course, that day was no exception. Read more

Reminder for Cruise Nite at MARC’S!

Hi Everyone!

This is just a quick reminder that this coming Wednesday, April 30, there will be a special wine tasting and appetizers at MARC’S of Summerlin.

MARC’S Wine Reception
Wednesday, April 30, 5 to 7pm
The first of unusual bimonthly wine and cuisine events
RSVP at (702) 562-1921
Cover charge $6.00
At MARC’S Restaurant 7290 West Lake Mead Blvd.

*Help kick off a Mexican Wine Cruise with Cruise Holidays of Summerlin!
*Try out new wines from MARC’S collection!
*Enjoy live jazz guitar entertainment!
*Get in on winery visits and tastings with an exciting new cruise!
*Have an opportunity to meet:
Saskia Olsen, Cruise Line Representative
Irene King, Vegas Wineaux Instructor in wine etiquette and tasting
Cruise Holidays of Summerlin wine cruise staff for updates!

Remember, this cruise is all about the wineries of Mexico. Most of us have never heard of wineries in Mexico, much less plan a trip to see them! This is sure to be adventure for all of us, and now is the time to learn about and plan for this exciting cruise. The cruise promises to be an adventure, and now is the time to learn about it.

Join us on Wednesday! We look forward to seeing you there!

For more information, see the original information post here: http://vegaswineaux.com/coming-soon-and-cruise-news/

Ampelos Winery at Cordon Bleu Las Vegas

Wow. What an evening!

What *I thought* would be a regular evening of tasting on a Tuesday night turned into something much better. Not only was there a class in winemaking, but there were special treats afterwards.

Rebecca and Peter Work are the owners of Ampelos winery. It had been a dream of theirs and when they had the opportunity to acquire a piece of land in the beautiful Santa Rita Hills of California, they jumped at the opportunity.

On this night, Tuesday, April 15, they brought a few of their wines, their knowledge of the history of the grapes and of their wines, and enthralled the Cordon Bleu students and the members of the American Wine Society who attended the class.

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Changes for Vegas Wineaux

Anyone who runs a business or other activity understands the importance of being on the lookout for ways to improve one’s visibility in today’s world. Well, this is Vegas Wineaux’s next step as we look for ways to not only improve our communication ability, but also to supply more information and choices for our readers. Today’s technology allows us to combine the website and blog into one entity.

Now our readers won’t have to go to another site in order to read about what’s going on in the world of Vegas Wineaux.

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What Makes a Wine Kosher? Wineaux Educational Moment!

One of the holiest days in the Jewish calendar is upon us, and it is a holiday fraught with emotion, historical crises, and spiritual uplifting. It is Passover, or as it is known in Hebrew, Pesach.

The most popular misconception about kosher wines is that they are blessed by rabbis. Quite the contrary; wines are made kosher so that anyone can make blessings. “Supervised” is a far more accurate term, since the men who are overseeing the vineyards are working very hard, and are not necessarily rabbis.

Kosher laws are derived from the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) where God sets down His laws for what Jews may or may not eat. The reasoning behind the kosher laws can be quite bewildering. Many commandments fall under the principle of “Chok,” i.e., divinely given laws beyond human understanding. The Torah also required that most offerings, whether of animals, grain, olive oil, flour, or other foods, be brought with a “wine libation,” indicating that wine was an integral part of the worship service.

To ensure wine’s purity, the establishment of wine koshering laws began during the time of Maimonides, about the mid-1100s. While not specified in the Torah, the practice of certifying wine as Kosher came about because of the religious practices of the non-Jewish populations surrounding Jewish societies. These populations would use their wines as libations to their gods, which was anathema to the Jews who were expressly commanded to avoid even touching items that were used in sacrifice to alien deities. The Jewish religious leaders then expressly forbade any wine that was handled by a non-Jew, since it was not clear whether that person would have used such wine during their worship services.

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