What is #WineStudio?
PROTOCOL wine studio presents an online twitter-based educational program where we engage our brains and palates! It’s part instruction and wine tasting, with discussions on producers, grapes, tourism, terroir, regional culture, food and wine matching and what all this means to us as wine drinkers. (Follow the hashtag #WineStudio on Twitter!)

Old World Vines

Talk about passion! Sometimes it all begins with that first trip. Katy Bendel Daniels, co-owner of Old World Vines, fell in love with the wines, the people and the cultures throughout the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Croatia and Hungary. When visiting the Old World, you’ll see castles on hilltops with vineyards growing to the castle walls and across the hillside with backdrops of craggy mountains, you experience wonderful heart-filled wines and soulful cuisine. The people are passionate and welcoming and the cultures revolve around sharing food and wine. The wine culture in these regions predates Greeks and Romans and the stories from the people today are heartfelt and rich with culture.

Katy and her company Old World Vines are incredibly active in San Diego – their wine is placed all over the county! The company has created a niche for itself in the community: by providing Old World wines and education behind these incredible cultures.  We’re thrilled to have her import company on the #WineStudio program and we anticipate learning much throughout the four weeks in June!

 Hungary and Slovenia with Old World Vines

Join us on #WineStudio for this fascinating journey into cultures that we wouldn’t normally experience. We’ll discuss Hungary and Slovenia, delving deep into these spectacular wine regions while getting to know the wines and of course the good people who make the wines.

Week 1- June 3:  Get to know Katy, her company and why she chose these regions. An overall look into Hungary and Slovenia before we taste the following weeks.

Week 2 – June 10:  Hungary
Hungary is situated in the heart of Europe, in the lower central part of the Middle-Danube basin, surrounded by the eastern slopes of the Austrian Alps and the Carpathian Mountains. Prior to the World Wars, Hungary was known as Europe’s bread basket. Agriculture and wine were abundant. Wine production is part of the food culture and every farmer from this part of the world produces their own wine. Its fertile land is an ancient seabed from the Pannonian Sea that originally was referred to as the Carpathian Basin. It has frontiers with seven countries: Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia and Austria.

Erzsébet Pince 2011 Furmint Király dúló Tokaji, Hungary

Bock 2011 Kékfrankos Villány, Hungary

Week 3 – June 17: Slovenia
Viticulture and winemaking has existed in this region since the time of the Celts and Illyrian tribes: 5th and 4th centuries BC, long before the Romans would introduce winemaking to the lands of France, Spain and Germany. The region has a continental climate with cold, dry winters and hot summers. Winemakers in the northeastern half of the country enjoy fertile land that is prolific in high quality grapes. The winemakers in the western part of the country enjoy a continental climate tempered by the warmth of the Adriatic Sea and Soča River. The limestone subsoil and marl topsoil from the ancient dried seabed produces vibrant wines with luscious fruit and pronounced aging ability.

Vino Kupljen 2011 Muškat Rumeni, Slovenia

Erzetič Winery 2011 Rebula Visnjevik, Slovenia

Week 4 -June 24: We wrap up the session by going over what we’ve learned the first three weeks and addressing tourism, cuisines and having the best experience possible when visiting these countries.

Would your company like the possibility to reach millions of wine lovers? #WineStudio is always looking for sponsors who want to connect personally with their clients! Connect with Tina for answers.

Demand was so incredibly high for our program that we are now sold out of our media packs. If you’d like to sample wines for this session, please contact Old World Vines.