Leap Day Wine Tasting - 2/29!

Party will benefit University Club of Albany Foundation and Historic Albany Foundation

What will you do with your extra day in 2012? On Wednesday, February 29 from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m., the University Club will host a Leap Day Celebration at the National Register-listed University Club of Albany, 141 Washington Avenue at Dove Street. The University Club of Albany Foundation, Inc. is presenting this event, and one need not be a member of the University Club to attend. Proceeds benefit the University Club Foundation and Historic Albany Foundation.

February 29 usually occurs only once every four years, and is commonly known as Leap Day. This day is added to the calendar in leap years as a corrective measure, because the earth does not orbit around the sun in precisely 365 days. In the Gregorian calendar, the current standard calendar in most of the world, most years that are evenly divisible by 4 are leap years. In each leap year, the month of February has 29 days instead of 28.

The University Club will celebrate this extra day with a festive sampling of wines with names appropriate to the occasion such as Stump Jump, Frog’s Leap, and Rabbit Ridge and a savory hot and cold hors d’oeuvres buffet. Wines are provided by Capital Wine & Spirits on Lark Street in Albany. The reception will conclude with an exciting raffle for a bottle of Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars Cabernet Cask 23, 1987. This highly collectible bottle was donated by an anonymous benefactor who wishes to remain anonymous, boasts a Robert Parker 91 rating and an estimated auction price of $360-$400.

Tasting notes find “a huge aroma of coffee, fruitcake, cassis, oriental spices, toasty new oak, herbs, and black fruits that is profound. In the mouth, there is an almost endless sensation of voluptuous, velvety fruit, as well as an opulence that borders on decadence.” Raffle tickets will be available for $2 each, 3 for $5, or 7 for $10.

Tickets for the Leap Day Celebration are $29 per person, cash or check made payable to the University Club of Albany Foundation. Reservations are required and may be made by calling the Club at 518-463-1151. The University Club Foundation, a 501c3 corporation, was formed to recognize and maintain the unique historic and architectural significance of the University Club building and property, its historic neighborhood and the city of Albany, where it has been located since its inception in 1901.