Wine Tasting At O'Hara & Flynn's in Charleston, SC

O'Hara & Flynn's Wine and Cheese Shop in downtown Charleston, SC offers weekly wine tastings on Friday evenings from 5-7 PM and Saturday afternoons from 3-5 PM. It's a pretty little store reminiscent of the European style of shops with a small café and outdoor seating. My husband and I recently attended the Saturday afternoon tasting and it brought us back to our vacation in France last summer.

Every week O'Hara's offers a different array of wines for tasting. This past Saturday we tasted Italian wines. It was a gorgeous sunny day in Charleston and as we walked down East Bay St. there were tons of tourists taking in the sun and the beautiful city. We reached the wine shop and walked inside. The walls are covered with wine bottles and there was a large table for the tasting. Two large refrigerated cases against the wall were filled with delicious varieties of cheeses from around the world. There was a large wheel of gorgeous Parmigiano Reggiano sitting on top of one case, and a decadent aged Gouda on the other one. A doorway leads to the back rooms which are cool and dark, and filled floor to ceiling with more wine.

The owner, a gregarious and helpful man, started us off with Arnis, a white wine from the Piedmont region of Italy. It was dry and crisp, and while it was a tad flat for me it was refreshing on a hot day. Then he poured us a Roudini Chardonnay from Sicily. It was smooth and buttery, with a hint of sweetness on its dry breath. We moved on to the reds with a Roudini Nero D'Avola from Sicily. It was similar to Chianti, only with much less bite. Next was the Gomba Nebbiolo which tasted a little richer and had a hint of berries. The last wine we tasted was the best red, a Veglia Nebbiolo. It was lighter than a Merlot but with all the complexity.