Kay Pfaltz -Our Wine Maven
When she was twenty, Kay Pfaltz took a wine course from the prestigious L’Acadamie du Vin in Paris. While she is fond of saying that, at that age, the course went over her head, it did begin for her a life-long love affair with France and with wine. Kay lived off and on in Paris for fourteen years, completing her doctorate in English literature while teaching for James Madison and Southern Methodist universities. For eight years, she taught an elementary wine tasting course to any willing and interested student in her regular courses.
Today she brings her love of wine to Basic Necessities located in the beautiful rolling hills of Virginia. The shop emphasizes wines from the south of France, specializing in a wide selection of excellent wines for under $20. Basic Necessities prides itself on “scrumptious little wines around $10 or $15, made often by individual growers who still make wine the old-fashioned way, often unfiltered, allowing the wine to have more taste.”
Every Wednesday at 4:00pm, Kay holds an informal wine tasting on the enclosed back porch of Basic Necessities. Locals and tourists alike gather around one of the five tables covered by provençal tablecloths and learn the intricacies of wine.
Basic Necessities also stocks a variety of imported cheeses which pair especially well with the chosen wines.
Kay helping a customer find
the
perfect bottle of wine.
Inside the Wine
Cellar