Young Professionals Sample Wine Downtown

Young professionals from around northern New Jersey gathered in Westfield late Sunday afternoon to sample some wines and enjoy dinner downtown.

Gathering at CoolVines, the group organized by New Jersey Young Professionals, sampled four wines and learned about the wine selection at the downtown wine store. Led by Damon O'Gara from CoolVines, the group learned about what to look for in wine, along with sampling the two whites and two reds.

O'Gara said the theme of the tasting was to expose the group to wines from smaller vineyards that young professionals would enjoy but not hear of. Noting that CoolVines specializes in the lesser known vineyards, O'Gara told the group that many of the vineyards are ones that someone will need to steer a wine drinker to, rather than hearing about them through marketing campaigns.

O'Gara discussed the importance of these labels, noting that the smaller vineyards are able to put more money into the grapes and production process because of the smaller overhead of no marketing costs.

The four wines sampled during the tasting included Roberto di Filippo Grechetto 2008, a traditional medium bodied white wine from Italy; Schola SArmenti Roccamora Negromaro 2006, a modern style red wine from Italy; Weingut Hahnmuhle Sylvaner Spatlese Trocken 2007, a traditional white wine from Germany; and Vaona Odino Valpolicella Classico 2008, a traditional style red wine from Italy.

In addition to the in-house group, O'Gara's lecture was broadcast over the store's website and posted on Twitter and Facebook as part of the store's new social media campaign.

New Jersey Young Professionals is a group for young professionals across the state. The group sponsors social and networking programs around the state for those between 22 and 40. Following the wine tasting, some from the group went to dinner at Splash of Thai and concluded the downtown tour at Crumbs.

O'Gara said he enjoyed the chance to share wine with the group and educate them about the smaller vineyards.

"Wine is an important social event for young professionals," he said.