10 a.m. – Wine and Food Salons

Creating Flavor: The Art of Wine and Food Pairing with Karen MacNeil and CIA Chef Bill Briwa.

Taste with a renowned wine writer and educator, Karen MacNeil, and the always enlightening CIA chef instructor, Bill Briwa and see how your perception of wine is shaped in predictable ways based on the foods they accompany. Our tools for the day include: a simple soup, a selection of seasonings and garnishes, a winning line-up of five emerging varietals and your curious palate. If you enjoy Viognier, Riesling, Gewürztraminer, sparkling wine and Pinot Noir and the foods that best bring out their characteristics, then this is the event for you. By the end of this session you will boast a new confidence in choosing wines to pair with food and in tailoring dishes to complement particular wines.

	Karen MacNeil is the Chairman of Professional Wine Studies at The Culinary Institute of America and the author of The Wine Bible.
	Bill Briwa is a chef-instructor at The Culinary Institute of America, where he teaches many food and wine pairing-related classes.

Tasting Wine with the Pros: W. Blake Gray Leads a Panel Including Sara Schneider, Jon Bonné, Gerald Asher and Darrel Corti.

Join Vintners Hall of Fame Electoral College Chairman and wine writer W. Blake Gray and his panel of experts in tasting Pinot Noirs and Syrahs from California's top appellations. The tasting arranged by CIA's resident sommelier, Traci Dutton, will include a few wines to be tasted blind. You and the experts will have a chance to identify which is a Santa Ynez Valley Syrah and which is a Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot. Our experts will explain what they look for in a wine, tell stories about wineries and wine writing, and perhaps spark a debate or two. One thing we guarantee – you'll learn that experts rarely agree.

$150 ($75 is tax-deductible)

	Gerald Asher was the wine editor of Gourmet magazine for more than 30 years, and is now Gourmet's wine editor emeritus.
	Jon Bonné is the wine editor of the San Francisco Chronicle.
	Darrel Corti is a noted wine and food expert and a 2008 inductee into the Vintners Hall of Fame.
	W. Blake Gray is a contributing wine writer and author and former wine writer for the San Francisco Chronicle.
	Sara Schneider is the wine editor of Sunset Magazine.