Wine Master and Chef Turn Tables with New Venture

WASHINGTON, DC, February 03, 2023 /24-7PressRelease/ — Master wine connoisseur Eric Sorlin and chef Mary O’Donnell combine passions in a limited series of in-home private wine dinner seminars for budding wine aficionados. Inviting guests on a foray into the wonderful world of wine, Mr. Sorlin will provide a 45-minute seminar on the client’s selected region of wine, followed by a private dinner prepared by Chef Mary, with an emphasis on the international. Educational, entertaining and tailor-made to the specific tastes of the clients, their ultimate goal is to highlight the influence wine has on the palate when harmonized, complemented and contrasted alongside sumptuous menu offerings. The second objective is to provide a fine-dining experience in the guests’ home, much as would be experienced in an established restaurant, with the ease of convenience and the additional education component.

The premier dinner featured 6 courses, each paired with wines from the Bordeaux region of France. Guests at the end of the experience were well-sated and well-versed in the varietal wines of Bordeaux. Comments included…” an engaging and interactive wine seminar conducted by Mr. Sorlin… refreshing in a straightforward approach to explaining what makes a wine fine…with a now informed and enlightened palate, the wines veritably blossomed when tasted with each successive course.” Future dinners will include the wines of Argentina-Argentinian cuisine, Spanish wines and its cuisine, and an introduction of California wines and nouveau cuisine.

Jorge Liloy, South America Wine Portfolio Specialist writes of Eric Sorlin, “Eric is a dedicated and committed wine professional. He is knowledgeable and uniquely qualified to promote, build, grow and sell wine brands. He is also well known by distributors, retailers and restaurateurs in Maryland, Washington D.C. and Virginia. Some of his best assets are integrity, knowledge and dedication. He takes the time to gain a thorough understanding of a client’s needs. I worked with Eric for 3 + years and the feedback received from his clients and contacts was always very positive. Eric has over 30 years of experience and I would not hesitate to recommend Eric Sorlin.”

Eric Sorlin comments, “I had a vision when I first started the wine seminars and that was to share the growth, creation and splendor of beautiful wines I have discovered in my decades’ long professional involvement in the wine industry. While traveling around the world to the great wine regions, I’ve had the good fortune to discover many hidden gems of viticulture. In fact, you might call me an oenophile. 10 years ago, while sharing a meal and a bottle of wine with Mary, an idea was born. Today, we announce this series of wine-food pairing seminars.”

Mary’s long-term client and gourmand, Jaye Schissel writes, “We have depended on Mary’s culinary skills for a number of years, and for various social settings. These dinners invariably are formal and offer 5 – 6 courses. We would not consider hosting a social engagement without her. An amazing innovator of haute cuisine, she is always coming up with different dishes to try, and they are all delicious! She is a talented and inventive culinary professional, providing exceptional service, while also very personable with our guests as appropriate. Mary has great suggestions for our menus but is also very open to my input. She is an all-around lovely person and has our highest recommendation as a personal chef.

Mary comments, “Some are born with a silver spoon in their mouth. I was born with a silver ladle in hand, destined to cook my way through life. Informed of a sophisticated palate at an early age, what I taste is translated off the stove and onto the palate and plate. How am I qualified to pull this off with wine-master Sorlin and what emboldens me to distinguish myself from what could be simply a good cook into a chef? Well, in addition to the hours of professional training, it is my clients and particularly, Eric’s belief in my ability, to consistently cook and taste one’s way to an inspired culinary work of art.”

About Eric Sorlin… a native of France, Eric moved to the United States to become the east coast manager for a French-American wine company. Today Eric is a bilingual American citizen, proficient in English while retaining his beloved mother tongue of French. Eric has been fortunate to make a career from a passion, starting as the US-based East Coast Manager for Yvon Mau of Bordeaux. In addition to managing the entire East Coast, Eric was also part of the team for selecting the wine to import into the US, eventually becoming the Pernod Ricard brand spokesman for their wine program. Eric’s experience in the wine industry provided opportunities to visit the most prestigious wine areas and wineries all over the world: Argentina, Chile, France, (Bordeaux, Champagnes, Rhone Valley, Loire Valley, Burgundy, Languedoc, Provence), Spain, Portugal, Italy, Austria, Germany, California. All these voyages with the sole purpose to learn about wine, not in a classroom, but in the field. Several years ago, Eric started to offer private fine wine seminars at people’s houses; a new way to introduce wines to amateurs or novice oenophiles, without a pretentious mystery, and instead in a relaxed and casual setting. Eric is a 2nd Lieutenant member of the Civil Air Patrol (auxiliary of the US AIR FORCE) and regularly flies on Search & Rescue and Homeland Security missions to give back to the country that has adopted him. For more information, please visit www.ericwineguy.com

About Mary O’Donnell…while cooking her way through college to earn a degree in Biology and with a bright future in this field, Mary instead pursued a passion for cooking. This included testing and evaluating recipes for the publication of the prestigious 3-Michelin starred restaurant, the Inn at Little Washington’s cookbook, “Refined American Cuisine. In addition to this multi-year project, she also developed recipes for the US Potato Board and as a low fat, high protein recipe developer for FoodFit.com. Since then, Mary has been involved in different ventures, developed and markets a number of fresh, fiery salsa and dips, operates a pop-up restaurant in Fall Church, VA, while offering private cooking lessons and is currently realizing minor success as a personal chef for adventurous and affluent customers in the Washington-NOVA area. In addition to her passion for cooking, Mary is an art connoisseur and art dealer, always eager to have a conversation about yet another one of her passions – the wide world of art. www.modcuisine.com


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