CHICAGO CITY SIPPERS
"Women Who Wine in the City"
Who We Are: Chicago City Sippers (CCS) is a women’s wine tasting society, with a strong emphasis on tasting, created to encourage women to celebrate their love and knowledge of wine/spirits, form new friendships and have fun in a non-pretentious environment. Our members range from single professionals to homemakers and young moms, all with a varying degree of wine knowledge, from amateurs to experts, who enjoy wine/spirits and who have a common interest in learning about and tasting fine wine/spirits they might not normally purchase for everyday drinking. The women who wine in the city: Donna Binbek and Crystal Kennedy Lowes met about several years ago at a where else; a wine event! Donna was immediately impressed by Crystal's enthusiasm, vast knowledge of the wine industry and her charm and the two became fast friends, sharing their love of wine and great food by attending culinary events together. But they both soon realized attending tasting events was not enough to sate them. The pair wanted something more...What they wanted was a group that catered solely to women, where women, like themselves, could come together in a non-pretentious environment, learn and have fun. So, after years of planning and lengthy meetings over great wine, their dream of starting their own tasting group came to life and Chicago City Sippers was launched a short time later. Dirty Job, but someone's gotta do it..... The duo are having an unfair amount of fun running the tasting group. These women absolutely love the fact that they are helping to educate women about wine while exposing them to new experiences and new friendships. Both women have a strong business sense and an entrepreneurial spirit which is a perfect match for planning wine related events for Chicago City Sippers. Donna and Crystal are dedicated to helping women learn about wine together in an enjoyable, sophisticated manner. Donna Binbek, President & Founder Donna is a Chicago native and is the founder of Chicago City Sippers. Donna has always had an interest in food and wine. She attended Kendall Culinary School in Evanston, IL, and from there went to do a stint at the famous Gordon Sinclair restaurant, Gordon's. After leaving Gordon's, Donna did some catering and now owns the Personal Chef service, Simply Food Chicago. Being a wine lover with a writing and graphic design background, Ms. Binbek is Editor and Publisher of Pour Magazine Chicago, a wine lifestyle magazine for Chicago, and has served on the board of directors for the Chicago dining group ChicaGourmets! An aspiring food photographer, Donna can always be found on the scene, taking pics of food, wine and anything else that happens to catch her eye. When not writing, attending wine tastings & dinners or cooking, Donna enjoys spending time with her family, their dog Whiskey and curling up with the lastest food magazine or culinary novel, with a glass of wine of course! Donna can be reached at: Crystal Kennedy Lowes, Co- Founder As As director of education & events for the Sam's Wines and Spirits (now Binny's) stores for 8 years, Crystal created hundreds of wine, beer and spirit events including annual grand tastings, winemaker dinners and numerous special experiences at all of their stores. She travels to major food and wine events around the country while working with many local and national talents including the Aspen Classic and South Beach Food & Wine Festival. She has served as the Executive Director of the Chicago Wine & Food Festival. |
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