What better way to unwind than at a wine club? That’s the feeling among a fun-loving group of residents of Wellington Bay, a luxury senior living community, who gather monthly to taste and learn about wines while enjoying each other’s company.
The Wellington Bay Wine Club was started about two years ago by a few residents, including Rose Hinrichs, who’s a certified wine specialist.
“We were asked about our interest in a variety of clubs,” Hinrichs recalled. “We wrote down what we’d be interested in, showed up for the first meeting and took it from there.”
The resident-run club, which now has 30 members, tastes a selection of four wines at each hour-long meeting that takes place on the last Thursday of every month.
“We meet at 4:30 p.m., so then we can slide down to dinner,” Hinrichs said.
Members pay a fee of $25 per six months, which covers the wine’s cost. Wellington Bay provides the room setup, wine glasses and other assistance as needed.
Since she has the expertise, Hinrichs generally leads the meetings, at which she educates members about each wine — describing or providing visual presentations on the region or country the wines come from, the types of grapes used, techniques for growing the grapes or making the wines, and explaining other mysterious lingo associated with wine, such as legs and tannin.
“She’s able to pull out and explain the aroma, texture, legs and tannin,” said member Jerry Volin, who describes himself as a novice when it comes to wine.
The club is open to anyone, regardless of their wine expertise. Volin said being part of the club has helped him feel more at ease when he’s dealing with a wine list at a restaurant.
Coming in with a bit more wine knowledge, member Brenda Braley, who has visited wineries in Napa Valley and Long Island, said joining the club was a no-brainer for her.
“My husband and I liked to dine out, and we liked fine wine, so when I saw that a wine club was forming, I said, ‘Count me in,’” she said.
Tim D’Antuono, culinary director at Wellington Bay, is always on hand to help the wine club set up their meetings and has used his industry contacts to help them snag various wines. He has also turned to them for assistance on occasion. The wine club helped him develop a list of 24 wines for the community’s dining venues.
“It’s nice to bounce ideas off of them and see what they like,” said D’Antuono, who also helped the club organize a food and wine pairing offered in the spring and another that will be offered in the fall.
“A wine distributor came and did a presentation. It was an educational experience and enjoyable. We felt quite pampered,” Hinrichs said.
The club also hosts a Christmas event featuring sweets and a selection of wines.
“A big favorite is anything bubbly. And we like our sweets,” Hinrichs added.
During every meeting, the members vote on which wines they like the best, and sometimes even come across a wine that they agree they love and ask D’Antuono to add it to the community’s wine list.
While wine is the focus of their meetings, the club’s conversation often expands to other topics, such as their travels to far-off places where the wines they are tasting are from.
As much as they enjoy sipping wine and learning about it, the club members say the friendships they’ve made are even more important to them.
“We’ve made a whole bunch of friends that we wouldn’t have had otherwise, and it has introduced us to wines we wouldn’t have tried otherwise,” Volin said.
Wellington Bay is a rental retirement community featuring luxury apartments on a palm tree-shaded campus in Wellington. To learn more, visit www.wellingtonbayfl.com.
