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The Fox School of Wine publishes its first wine manual

Since 2008, the Fox School of Wine has introduced their students to fine wines that cost less than $30 a bottle.

Throughout the years, the students, all ages 21 and older, of course, have met each weekend to taste, learn about and a grade wines that are available in Utah.

Sometimes the students will lose their notes or miss a class and call the school’s headmistress Kirsten Fox with a bunch of questions.

"I’ve had students come back to the school and ask about an Italian wine we graded last summer, or ask me to resend them other wine information so they could do tastings with their friends at home," Fox said during an interview with The Park Record. "Sometimes I’ll get a call on my cell phone and they’ll ask about a wine we graded last week, so, in light of my own struggles to try to remember what has happened in the past classes, even though I’m suppose to be more deeply into what they are, I decided to consolidate all the notes and grades of the past year and put them into a book."

The result was the first edition of the "Fox School of Wine’s Wine’s School 2011 Year Book."

Dolly’s Bookstore will hold a book launch on Saturday, March 10. The event will feature Fox School of Wine students and teachers, gourmet popcorn from PopArt and wine tastings for those who are of age.

The 90-page book, which covers 150 wines the school learned about and graded last year, is small enough to fit into a car glove compartment.

"The book starts with the Jan. 7, 2011, class and wraps with the year’s final class we held on, Dec. 30," Fox said. "It was a quick turn around and a lot of late nights getting the book together."

Burning the midnight oil was necessary, because Fox and her students decided to start putting the book together on Dec. 11.

"Everyone who came to the classes helped submit their grades and comments from the wine tastings, so, it was all about consolidating and editing their comments to where they looked nice as a book," Fox said. "In addition to myself, we had four other wine professors teach classes, and then we had a few visiting professors come in as well, so I went back to the notes provided by those wine professors.

"I knew it was going to be chronological so it would make sense to people," she said. "All the while, I visualized myself and other people using the book and having fun with it."

Although it was fairly easy getting her hands on the students’ notes, Fox realized the book needed photos.

"The photos were important because they would help people find a certain label," Fox said. "We didn’t take very many pictures during the course, so, gathering photos for the book took some time and a lot of effort."

Also, Fox and her students found some of the vintages of the wines may be different than the ones they graded last year.

"The wines are the same, though," she said.

Since the book is a wine-class yearbook, Fox thought it would be fun to model it after a high-school graduation ceremony.

"I asked students what they would like to see in the book and once of them came back with a "most likely to " section," she said. "For instance there is ‘the wine that is most likely to be seen at a barbecue’ and then ‘the wine that is most likely to lounge at the pool or party at a rock concert.’"

Another student, Robin Fravel, came up with a section that named the "Homecoming King, Queen and High Court," which spotlighted the wines with the best grades from the class, Fox said.

The Fox School of Wine, using a process known as Createspace, published the Fox School of Wine’s Wine School 2011 Yearbook."

"We visited http://www.createspace.com , which is the self-publishing branch of http://www.amazon.com ," Fox said. "It worked out so beautifully, and now we have a new vehicle to bring the fun of Fox School of Wine into people’s hands."

Dolly’s Bookstore, 510 Main St., will hold a book launch for the "Fox School of Wine’s Wine School 2011 Yearbook" on Saturday, March 10, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. There will be a wine tasting during the event that costs $5. People who want to participate in the tastings need to be 21 or older. The book is $19.95, but will be sold for $16.95 during the launch. For more information, visit http://www.facebook.com/foxschoolofwine or http://www.foxschoolofwine.

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