Mira Winery Hosts Grand Opening for Napa Valley Education Center & Tasting Room

Blending Session with Mira’s Gonzalez and Discussion with Schweizer Vineyard’s Steve Schweizer

CHARLESTON, SC – Amid a winemaker led blending session and a discussion hosted by the owner of one of Napa’s finest vineyards, Mira Winery celebrated the Grand Opening of the Napa Valley Education Center & Tasting Room (NVEC) last Thursday.

The NVEC gives visitors a unique Napa experience – a premiere wine destination but in Charleston, S.C., a historic culinary destination. Mira Winery, a producer of critically acclaimed wines exclusively from Napa Valley, opened the NVEC which will offer a number of programs using interactive displays, videos and world class speakers.

“The Napa Valley Education Center & Tasting Room is the first of its kind and we’re thrilled it is finally open,” said Mira President Jim Dyke, Jr. “Napa Valley is one of the leading winemaking regions in the world. We want to give people a sense of its place, educate them about wine and the variety of elements necessary to create wine. We believe the NVEC will become a community resource for locals and visitors alike.”

Thursday’s events included a blending session led by Gonzalez, where participants created their own wine, followed by a discussion of vineyard practices and the Stags Leap District of Napa Valley hosted by Steve Schweizer of Schweizer Vineyards. His conversation with wine club members is the first in the NVEC’s Distinguished Speaker Series that brings leading members of the wine industry to Charleston to share their experiences and knowledge.

“Napa Valley – where we source all of our grapes – has a certain magic to it. We try to capture some of that magic in every bottle of Mira, and we hope to express the same through the NVEC,” Gonzalez said.

Since February, NVEC has been hosting EduTastings, one-of-a-kind educational wine tastings available at no cost to Wine Club Members. The EduTastings take place on Fridays at 6:00 p.m. with a reservation and by appointment during the week. More information about the tasting room and EduTastings can be found here.

The NVEC is distinguished by an 18 x 29 foot mural by famed artist David Boatwright on the side of the 68 ½ Queen Street building – an adaptation of Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s “Luncheon of the Boating Party” named “Renoir Redux: Exceptional Pairings.” The NVEC is open weekly Wednesday through Saturday from 2:00 – 5:00 p.m.

Mira began as a partnership between Gustavo Gonzalez, whose 20-year winemaking career started in a winery lab and led him to be head red Winemaker for Robert Mondavi Winery, and Dyke whose 20-year political career started with parking cars in the Senate Parking lot and led him to the White House. Expert reviewer Steve Heimoff noted, “Winemaker Gustavo Gonzalez left Robert Mondavi to do his own thing, and what an auspicious start … The wine is wonderful.”

More information about Mira Winery can be found at www.miranapa.com.