When it comes to pairing wine with food, most of us let the experts do it for us without ever really questioning why a specific type of cheese or chocolate goes well with a selected wine.

2Hawk Vineyard & Winery in Medford has brought its wine members behind the curtain to show them why certain foods pair best with their wine. On Monday, February 11, 2Hawk will invite members into its spacious kitchen to learn how chocolate and wine pair best together. The class will be taught by Owner of Lillie Belle Chocolates Jeff Shepherd, who has a long career with savory and sweet foods.

“The pairing of wine with food is as old as time and since we have a beautiful tasting room equipped with a lovely kitchen we thought it would be a wonderful way to offer something fun for our wine club members to do in the slow season when it’s cold out,” says Owner of 2Hawk Jen Allen. “We thought this next class with Jeff would be a fun and fitting option right before Valentine’s Day.”

The first culinary classes at 2Hawk were offered in Fall of last year. “Our first classes were with Chef Jordan Harto of Ostras Tapas and Bottle Shop [and] the second with Mike Hite of Alchemy,” says Allen. “[Shepherd] is planning to draw from his 20-plus years as a professional savory chef, along with his current passion as owner and chocolatier of Lillie Belle, to showcase multiple uses of cooking with cacao in its various forms.”

Shepherd created the menu and selected the wine. The menu is balanced between sweet and savory, like a chocolate Pot de Creme and prawns in mole and cocao. He will pair these foods with 2Hawk’s Greneche Rose, Darow Series Pinot Noir, and a Ruby.

“We also hope they might be inspired by something they learned and replicate it at home, maybe at their next dinner party, with a story of where they learned about it,” says Allen. Classes are limited to 16 guests with members having the first priority to attend.

For more information about 2Hawk’s wine membership and culinary classes, go to 2hawk.wine.

Chocolate For Dinner Culinary Class at 2Hawk Winery
6 – 8:30 pm, Monday, February 11
2235 N Phoenix Rd, Medford
541.779.9463
$75 for members, $95 for non-members