A tradition of fine wine and incredible dining – Rotary's 7th Annual Wine Pairing Dinner

On Saturday, Jan. 25 at 6 p.m. at The Shed restaurant in Tehachapi, the Rotary Club of Tehachapi will be hosting the 7th Annual Wine Pairing Dinner which is one of the Club's major fundraisers for the year. This year the featured wines are from Tehachapi Wine Growers Association. Mano Lujan, owner of The Shed and Red House BBQ, who has experienced culinary studies in China, Japan and Mexico is specifically designing the food so that the wine enhances its flavor and the food enhances the wine.

Did you realize that we have six wineries in Tehachapi growing different varietals of grapes? Although at the moment only two tasting rooms are open, we will eventually have five. Dorner's Family Vineyard is scheduled to open within the next couple of months. Stray Leaves, which is building a tasting room on Green Street in the old First Interstate Bank building, is progressing. Los Viajeros is working on their tasting room, which is still in permit stage. Our sixth winery grows and produces wines which are primarily exported to China. So, what do we have in store? You'll get a choice between a Pinot Noir from Tehachapi Winery (the one that goes to China) or Riesling from Stray Leaves during our social time. Next, we'll move on to Triassic's Voignier for the appetizer course, Tehachapi Wine and Cattle Co.'s Chardonnay for the soup course, Los Viajeros Malbec for the main course and end with a choice of either the Stray Leaves Riesling or Dorner Vintners Reserve Zinfandel with dessert. The food is always incredible.

In the past, our focus has been on wineries based in the Paso Robles area. We've experienced Opolo, Tobin James, Grey Wolf, Burbank Ranch, Minassian Young and the wines from the Boisette Collection. This year we felt with the emergence of wine growing in our local area and the pending number of wine tasting opportunities in Tehachapi, it would be a great time to experience local wines with the same importance and pairing as we have done from outside our area. We are incredibly thrilled to be able to work with all of our local wineries and present the best of their best to you.

Tickets for the event are $100 each. 50 percent of the ticket cost helps to cover the cost of the food and beverage while the other 50 percent is a donation to Rotary to help fund local Tehachapi projects, including personalized books to every kindergartner in the TUSD, scholarships for graduating seniors, six students sent to leadership camp, Senior Holiday Luncheon where we serve over 300 seniors, Breakfast with Santa for approximately 300 and stuffed comfort bears distributed at the hospital.

Supporting the Rotary Wine Pairing Dinner supports these projects and more. Call Linda Carhart to purchase your tickets at (818) 519-7144.