CityView Magazine

“It’s a way to bring people together over a good bottle of wine.” - Kristine Miller I n a back room at Chris’s Steakhouse, the wine flowed. And food – pasta, warm spinach dip and bread, cubes of cheese and chocolate. Forget weekends, fourth Monday nights might be Fayetteville’s best-kept secret. When Kristine Miller arrived in town nearly three years ago, she brought with her a passion for wine and the desire to share it. The result was the formation of the Fayetteville Wine Society. It started in January 2007 with a meet- ing attended by more than 100 people. Since then, about 60 loyal members have participated in monthly gatherings to taste and learn about wines. Miller, who is president of the group, teaches culinary arts and hospitality at Fayetteville Technical Community College while pursuing her master’s in business administration at East Caroli- na University. She received her somme- lier (wine expert) certificate at Disney World in 2004. “That’s when I first fell in love with wine,” she says. “I feel it is an art … properly tasting, analyzing and appre- ciating wine is an art in itself. “Each bottle of wine is like its own little mystery. There’s so much you can learn about the wine maker and the country where it came from. Every time you’ve got a glass in front of you, you learn more about the person behind it.” While putting together a wine list for the Hilltop House restaurant, Miller saw the need for a strong community of wine lovers. Anxious to drum up excite- ment and support, she found both when talking with Nick Parrous, Teresa Swint and Matthew Fink. Parrous created the wine cellar at Luigi’s restaurant; Swint owns Grapes & Hops, a specialty wine, beer and cigar shop; and Fink is a wine consultant with The Country Vintner. “It’s been quite exciting,” Parrous said. “Kristine got this thing rolling. I was doing these collector wine tastings on my own at the restaurant. But once we pooled our collective thoughts, we said, ‘How can we make this work on a bigger scale?’” Bigger scale indeed. The club is now aligned with the American Wine Society. Enthusiasm has grown in the ranks – members are holding their own informal tastings for friends at home. You can find regular postings about the “It’s a wa bring pe together a good b of wine.” Top | Janet Carter takes a whiff of one of the wines introduced at a recent meeting of the Fayetteville Wine Society. Above | The group has grown since it was founded almost two years ago. At each meeting, members sample wines (and food) from different regions of the world. J.B. Miller waits for the next pouring. CityViewNC.com | 31

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