It’s happened to the best of us at one point or another: you’re perusing the wine list in a restaurant, only to discover that you don’t know a thing about any of the wines listed. Languedoc-Roussillon? Gewürztraminer? Blaufränkisch? What is this gibberish? Help!!

Enter The Communion, Cha McCoy’s unpretentious pop-up wine pairing series. The events, which are all about demystifying wines and pairing them with local cuisine, have been garnering serious buzz: she’s recently been featured in Food & Wine and New York Magazine.

I had the good fortune to attend one of her events in Québec City at the Women in Travel Summit this May, and can safely say I came away from The Communion armed with lasting memories and new friends. Here’s why you, too, need to grab a seat at the table.

How Did The Communion Get Started?

The Communion is the brainchild of Cha McCoy, a civil engineer-turned-certified sommelier who hails from New York City. After earning her bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University, Cha headed to Rome for her MBA in 2010. Two years later, she returned with not only the MBA, but a deep passion for wine as well.

Cha also credits her father for exposing her to culture through restaurant experiences; as a child, she noticed that if they were at, say, a Japanese restaurant, her father would pair an appropriate local beer with the meal.

Developing a pop-up wine-pairing series, then, seems like a natural evolution of Cha’s past and present. With The Communion, she aims to break down barriers about wine and bring people together, using food and wine as a vehicle for connection. (And yes, the name is partially inspired by the biblical idea of breaking bread and sharing wine together.)

What I love about her mission, though, is not just her desire to make wine more approachable: she is using this platform to highlight and support other females and people of color in the food and wine industries.

Cha hosted her first Communion at her apartment in March 2017; since then, she’s held roughly a dozen events across the globe, from New York City to Madrid. Read on for an inside peak at what it’s like to attend The Communion!

The Communion: Québec City

At 7:30 PM, a group of strangers slowly filed into Le Moine Échanson on Rue Saint-Jean in Québec City. Cha couldn’t have selected a better spot: this bistro serves upscale French cuisine alongside a diverse array of natural wines.

A glance at the menu revealed that we were going to have five courses, each paired with a carefully selected wine. Cha keeps the menu a secret until you arrive at the dinner, which adds a fun element of surprise into the mix. (Guests are asked to provide allergies and dietary restrictions in advance, so don’t worry about finding something to eat!)

Once we were all seated, Cha introduced us to her collaborator for the night, Le Moine Échanson’s Daniel McCarthy. Before each course, Daniel provided background on how the food was prepared and where it came from, and Cha educated us about the wines.

First Course

To start, we dined on oysters and sipped on a dry sparkling wine from the Loire Valley. Ironically, winemaker Brendan Tracey is a former punk rocker from New Jersey turned natural winemaker in France — meaning there’s hope for my winemaking dreams yet!

In between courses, Cha provided instruction on how to sample the wines, introducing us to the “5 S’s of wine tasting” — see, swirl, smell, sip, and spit or savor. It was really amusing to watch people practice this, mainly because toward the end of the night, people weren’t really “savoring” so much as “swallowing at faster speeds.”

Second Course

Our next course featured cod fritters with sour cream, lemon, mullet caviar and green onions. The pairing for this course was a 2016 Domaine Vinoceros from the Languedoc-Roussillon region of France.

By this point, we were still attentively soaking in what Cha was teaching us, like the proper way to hold a wine glass.

Third Course

Our third course featured a striped bass carpaccio accompanied by a dry riesling from Alsace. This was a great pairing — the acidity of the wine cut through the fish perfectly.

Throughout the dinner, Cha provided insightful tidbits from the world of sommeliers. My favorite? While you’re supposed to hold your wine glass by the stem, sometimes people who work at wine bars will hold the wine glasses to warm them up if the wine is too cold.

Fourth Course

We finally got to the meat of the dinner here (har har) when Daniel brought out the tasty Sicilian lamb and anchovy meatballs. This pairing happened to be my favorite of the night, but that’s because I adore wines from Côtes du Rhône and this one was especially good.

Fifth Course

Time for dessert! I was pleasantly surprised by this course, a baked custard with cinnamon and dried grapes paired with Apéripoire from Domaine de Canon in Normandy, France. Normally, I’d be wary about having grapes in a dessert when I’m drinking wine too, but the flavors balanced each other well.

The Communion: Overall Impressions

Many of the women I spoke with at The Communion wanted to learn more about wine, but were afraid of sounding inexperienced or inarticulate. Cha was able to create a comfortable environment quickly, one in which there were no dumb questions — really. (Yes, it was OK to ask what tannins were or how rosé is made.)

Most importantly, though, we all had a great time. In fact, I’m still in touch with many of the women in the photo below — I even stayed with one of them, Kelly, in Milwaukee. I love the concept of The Communion, and I can’t wait to see where Cha goes next!

Check Out Cha’s Upcoming Events!

Cha’s got a bunch of exciting wine-related events and projects coming up. Note that while the event I attend was all women because we were at the Women in Travel Summit, her events are open to everyone. Here are some highlights:

• The Communion
  • December 9, 2018: The Communion is returning home to New York City for a special Northern Italian-themed wine and food pairing! It will be held at Vinateria in Harlem (2211 Fredrick Douglas Blvd NY NY 10026) at 7 PM. More information can be found here.
  • In 2019, you’ll likely find The Communion in London; Washington, D.C.; and Portugal.
• Wine & Wellness Retreat in September 2019: This will be held in the Finger Lakes region of New York during harvest season and looks like it’ll be a blast. Contact Cha here for more information.
• Grand Crew Wine Club Membership: Let Cha take the guesswork out of choosing wines for you by signing up for a Grand Crew wine club membership. Members receive monthly shipments, with three bottles per shipment. Subscriptions are available for 3 months, 9 months, and 12 months. Contact Cha here to find out more.

Connect with Cha & The Communion

You can connect with Cha on the following social channels:

• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Instagram

And don’t forget to check out her website at https://www.chamccoy.com!

Essential Info:
Where should you stay in Québec City? Check out all options here.
I personally stayed at Fairmont Le Château Frontenac and the Hilton Québec.
Want a guidebook for Québec City? Check out Fodor’s, Moon, or Lonely Planet.
What else have I written about wine? Check out my posts here.
What camera did I use for this post? I used our Olympus EM5 Mark II camera with this lens and (and my cell phone).
Have questions for me? Hit me up on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest!

If you liked this post, check out:

• Why Lodi Needs To Be Your Next Wine Country Destination
• Love Icewine? You’ve Got To Visit These Niagara Wineries
• Where To Eat and Drink in Québec City Right Now

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I received a discounted ticket to The Communion event in Québec City in exchange for an honest review. As always, all opinions are mine — not even six glasses of wine can change that.