Turcotte looks back on 10 years of wine education

Intimidated when it's your turn to choose the wine? Wondering how to make tonight's dinner memorable? Ken Turcotte, owner of Divine Wine Emporium and Learning Center in Niantic, aims to ease the angst.

"It's all about understanding wine and enjoying it," says Turcotte, who is celebrating 10 years of his one-of-a-kind wine experiences. Divine Wine, tucked away on Route 156 between the East Lyme and Old Lyme exits off of I-95, has earned the reputation of being worth the drive for those in search of unique wines and friendly, insightful guidance.

"Americans continue their thirst for wine," says Turcotte, who lives in South Lyme and spent the previous 25 years touring the region as a sales rep for a wholesale distributorship. His wife, Sylvia, keeps the books. "It's definitely a bigger trend than hard liquor or beer."

A Certified Specialist of Wine through the American Society of Wine Educators and accredited by the British Wine & Spirit Education Trust, Turcotte completed coursework at Johnson and Wales University in Rhode Island.

"Listening to package store owners and their customers, I knew they had a lot of questions about wine, so the idea for having an educational venue was very important to me," he says. Behind the store, which stocks more than 700 varieties of wines from around the world, is what Turcotte says is the only wine education classroom in the state.

Connecticut alcoholic beverage laws don't allow wine and spirits purchasing to occur at tasting events or classes in the same establishment, so the 58-person classroom is next door to the shop, with its own entrance and facilities.

In the past 10 years, Turcotte has put on just shy of 200 seminars with speakers from around the world, including wine makers, vineyard owners, export directors, wine portfolio managers for the Northeast, from his collection of contacts.

Seminars have featured Italian and Spanish wines, and wines from Uruguay, the Bordeaux region of France, and Washington. Attendees have learned about J. Lohr of California, the 2010 American Winery of the Year, New Zealand winery Villa Maria, Duckhorn Vineyards of Napa Valley, Boekenshoutskloof Franschhoek of South Africa, 90+ Cellars, a virtual winery that sells premium-rated wines, and Warre's Port from Portugal. There have been a couple of single malt scotch nights, too.

"Our American wine-growing history doesn't go back centuries; we don't have the background or culture of wines that Europeans have," Turcotte says, noting that the Civil War, as well as world wars and Prohibition each posed set-backs. "Basically we're a very young country in wine drinking and wine knowledge."

There's no charge for the educational seminars, which include samples of the featured varieties of wines or spirits, but advance registration is required. Classes fill up within 24 to 48 hours of Turcotte's email announcements. More than 1,000 people have attended; a large binder, full of glowing class evaluation forms, attests to the popularity.

For more serious students of wine, Turcotte offers a six-hour Wine 101 course, spread out over three sessions.

"I like to teach basic concepts of New World verses Old World, because they are two different styles of wines, based on their history and geographical area," he says. From here, he moves on to food wine verses sipping wine, relating how both can fit into an evening's plans.

The course keeps evolving with the world of wine.

"Ten years ago, I wasn't talking about South African wines, but now that country is producing and exporting extremely good wines," he says. "Wine aerators also are a new development, very useful in opening up your wines."

There's also a four-hour Wine Boot Camp held on Saturdays.

Stopping by for a chardonnay? Don't expect to find all of the wines alphabetized by category. Instead, different varietals are mingled together, grouped by style, finish and price.

Turcotte will tease out what flavors and finishes a customer wants - buttery and oaky chardonnay, or something with tropical fruit notes and papaya overtones?

"It's about what they are trying to achieve, what food are they serving, how much do they want to spend," he says. "People don't have to have the same favorite wine all of the time; they can learn for themselves what kind of wine are they looking for today, based on what they are doing. I don't have a favorite wine - it depends on what season it is, what mood am I in, what food am I having."

The shop's prices are competitive and, yes, there are some jug wines on the shelves, as well as a few beers. Wine prices run from $5.99 to $70, the majority in the $10 to 25 range.

"Wine is very social, it enhances the flavor of food, it's nice, relaxing, easy to drink and conversational with company, it links itself to history, culture, art and music," Turcotte says. "You can't get any better than that."

To sign up for Turcotte's email notices, call (860) 691-1053 or email Ken@divinewineemporium.com; see www.divinewineemporium.com for more information about the shop.