Wednesday, December 28, 2016






RSVP with your entree selection
by 
DECEMBER 31, 2016




RSVP TO:

You may mail your payment (check made out to AWS)

Marie Pietraszewski
133 Longmount Drive
Pittsburgh, PA 15214

More details to follow!
Check back often!

Friday, December 23, 2016

You Should Be Dancin'

Holiday Party Dance Lesson

5:00 – 6:00

Treesdale Country Club

No Partner Necessary!


Our Holiday Party will include dancing after dinner.

Don’t stay in your seat!

Learn to dance Fox Trot, Swing and other ballroom styles from a professional ballroom dance instructor.

"You can dance. Trust me." - 




Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Silent Auction






Don’t forget your checkbook!

We will be holding a silent auction during the Holiday Party
for several bundles of wines from our tastings this past year.

BARGAINS GALORE!


BID EARLY AND BID OFTEN!

Monday, December 19, 2016

Annual Holiday Party


RSVP with your entree selection
by DECEMBER 31, 2016

RSVP TO:

You may mail your payment (check made out to AWS)

Marie Pietraszewski
133 Longmount Drive
Pittsburgh, PA 15214

More details to follow!
Check back often!

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Yule Love It!

Make room for dessert…wine

What’s better than dessert?
The answer is simple: dessert wine. The holidays are here, and it’s a wonderful time to double fist at dessert, with a spoon in one hand and a glass in the other. Here are some pairings with desserts to make the season merry.

Flourless Chocolate Cake with Moscato

Properly named “Decadence,” the flourless chocolate cake from Trader Joe’s is made of chocolate, egg, and butter. It is decadent. Paired with Moscato that cuts the heaviness perfectly, the two together make a great couple.

The key to making true Italian Moscato is to capture the natural fruity aroma and vibrant flavor of the Moscato grape. The grapes are crushed and quickly pressed. During fermentation the carbon dioxide is often retained giving the wine its “frizzante” character. Close your eyes and think of fresh grapes, that’s exactly what Moscato tastes like.



Pumpkin Pie with Orange Muscat

The Quady Essensia dessert wine has a sweet-but-not-too-sweet taste with flavors of dried apricot, golden raisin, lemon-orange. An American fall holiday classic, pumpkin pie has similar hearty warmth.  The pairing is a crowd pleaser, as the more savory of American desserts balances delightfully with this very sweet wine.



Panettone with Sweet Red Vermouth

More akin to sweet bread than cake, panettone-style pastries date back to the Roman times, and are an Italian Christmas staple. Tasting the panettone is like taking a step back in flavor history, so it is well paired with an old-fashioned dessert wine.

Vermouth has a medicinal taste that is for the eclectic palate.  Vermouth is more potion than drink. The ultimate cocktail builder (Martinis and Manhattans) was originally used as a medicinal tonic, with spices and botanicals like wormwood—the German “wermut” inspired the name. Technically, it’s a wine that is aromatized (infused with botanicals) and fortified (spiked with unaged brandy). The brandy helps it last longer than wine, but not much. It’ll start to oxidize after about a month, so keep it in the fridge.



Pecan Pie with Pedro Ximenez Sherry

Opposites attract in this pairing. At first, it seems like a bad match, but then the similarities of the two blend together and the differences complement each other. The average pecan pie tends to be sweet and syrupy, but some have a touch of savory that makes the match work. 

The PX resembles whisky in its flavor, with acidity and smokiness that seem odd. And yet, together, the syrupy molasses and nuttiness of the pie provides the perfect balance to the smokiness of the sherry. Where the sherry is serious, the pecan is merry.

News about the Holiday Party is coming soon!

Check the blog often!



Monday, December 5, 2016

Holiday Greetings

It has been our custom since the late fifties to write a Holiday Letter to let the membership know how your elected Board Officials have been doing for the past year.  This year, however, we will not be following that tradition.


We received the letter below at our International Headquarters, and I thought that I’d share it with everyone instead.  Oh well, we’re still going to have our Holiday Party.  Look for more information soon on the blog.