Wine Seminar: Les Vendanges! Celebrating the French Grape Harvest

Thursday, September 17, 2026 From 6:00 PM To 7:30 PM Add to Calendar 2026-09-17 18:00:00 2026-09-17 19:30:00 Wine Seminar: Les Vendanges! Celebrating the French Grape Harvest An elegant wine education series exploring France’s most important regions through the lens of culture, tradition, and taste. Each class embraces a region and incorporates a book as a narrative guide - framing the wines, places, and people that shaped France’s enduring wine culture. Across the series, we’ll move through key French regions in a cohesive tasting journey, offering both seasoned enthusiasts and curious newcomers a deeper, more intuitive understanding of French wine, guided by storytelling, expert insight, and shared conversation. French Library, 53 Marlborough Street, Boston, MA America/New_York

At French Library

Celebrate the richness of Autumn's change of season with a curated wine tasting led by Cat Silirie that captures the magic, energy, and bounty of the Autumn wine harvest in France! In September when Autumn arrives in France, it does not simply change the color of the leaves — it transforms the entire soul of the countryside. This is the great annual gathering of grapes to be made into wine, known as "Les Vendanges."

Join Cat Silirie for an evening that captures all of this: the abundance, the ritual, the beauty of this most celebrated season in the world's most celebrated wine culture. We will trace the arc of Autumn in France through 6 exceptional September-style wines, each chosen to evoke the harvest's many moods — bright, golden, ripe, earthy, generous.

Our guided journey will include sparkling, white, red plus 1 dessert wine and will include:

lively sparkling wine for our celebratory toast, a golden, dry white wine from the Roussillon,

2 red Burgundies to compare, a Bordeaux from an up and coming new estate, and of course,

1 late harvest "Vendanges Tardives" for a sweet Autumn treat.

All our wine seminars are presented in English.

Seats are limited for an intimate experience.

Reserving your spot early is strongly encouraged.

Member Registration

$149

Non-member Registration

$169

About Cat Silirie

Cat Silirie has won the National James Beard Award for Excellence for outstanding wine programs. Cat has also served as the Executive Wine Director at Boston restaurants including Menton, No.9 Park, Sportello, The Butcher Shop, B&G Oysters, Drink, Stir, Rocco's, The Harvest, Galleria Italiana and Grill 23.

In addition to her James Beard Best Wine Program award, Cat is the recipient of numerous accolades, including multiple times for Boston Magazine's Best of Boston awards for both Best Sommelier and Best Wine Programs. Other accolades for her work include Wine Enthusiast Magazine's Menton in "Top-100 Wine Restaurants", for "Best Wine Bar” via Improper Bostonian for her wine program at Boston's The Butcher Shop. The Boston Globe’s Devra First has described Cat Silirie's food and wine pairings during her tenure at Menton as “transcendent with every course” and Kay Rentschler of the New York Times wrote of Cat as “Boston’s pre-eminent sommelier”.

There are no refunds or exchanges available for the Gastronomy and Wine Program events. Should a guest need to cancel their registration, their registration fee can be applied to a future class. Cancellations are accepted up to one week prior to the event to avoid loss of purchase.

Upcoming Events

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Social & Community

September Alors... Conversation Club

In-person, Indoor Event in French

Friday, September 18, 2026

Seeking opportunities to speak French? Join us for our popular members-only conversation gathering.

Kids & Families

L'Heure du Conte

French story time!

Saturday, September 19, 2026

We invite parents and children to gather in the children's room of our library for a magical story time in French!

Performing Arts & Screenings

William Tell: The Enduring Legacy of a Hero Myth

A Preview Evening with Boston Lyric Opera

Tuesday, September 22, 2026

Join former Boston Lyric Opera General & Artistic Director Esther Nelson for a fascinating journey through legend, history, and opera, tracing how the story of Tell has been reimagined across centuries, with live musical excerpts from Rossini’s masterpiece.

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