From Vine to Wine: Unexpected Treasures from the Cellar at Ocean House

From Vine to Wine: Unexpected Treasures from the Cellar invites wine lovers to look beyond famous labels and familiar regions during a guided tasting at Ocean House in Watch Hill on Saturday, August 22.

Beginning at 3:30 p.m. in the resort’s Center for Wine & Culinary Arts, the $95 tasting turns the spotlight toward bottles that can be easy to overlook: lesser-known producers, wines from unexpected regions and selections that Ocean House’s sommelier team believes are drinking particularly well right now.

It’s less about chasing prestigious labels and more about one of the pleasures that keeps wine interesting in the first place: finding something you didn’t know you were looking for.

Finding the Bottles Hiding in Plain Sight

A large wine cellar inevitably develops its sleepers.

Some bottles arrive from regions that don’t have the name recognition of Bordeaux, Burgundy or Napa. Others come from smaller producers, or simply get overshadowed by more familiar selections on a wine list.

For this edition of Ocean House’s From Vine to Wine series, the sommelier team has gone into the cellar specifically looking for those wines.

Each selection has been chosen because there’s something worth discovering in the bottle now, whether that’s its quality, its value or the way it has developed with time. The tasting is intended to introduce guests to wines they might otherwise pass over when choosing from a restaurant list or browsing a wine shop.

The actual bottles aren’t being announced in advance, which is part of the point. Guests arrive without a list of celebrated labels telling them what they’re supposed to like.

A Tasting for the Curious, Not Just Collectors

Despite the cellar-focused premise, this isn’t being presented as an event exclusively for experienced wine collectors.

Ocean House describes the tasting as relaxed and lighthearted, with both collectors and curious wine drinkers welcome. The resort’s broader wine program similarly uses guided tastings to help guests explore different regions, styles and approaches to winemaking with its sommeliers.

That makes Unexpected Treasures particularly approachable for someone who enjoys wine but wants to move beyond ordering the same varietals or regions every time.

There’s also something useful about tasting this way. A famous name can create expectations before the cork ever leaves the bottle. An unfamiliar producer or region forces the wine to make its own case.

Inside the Center for Wine & Culinary Arts

The tasting takes place in one of the more unusual spaces at Ocean House.

The Center for Wine & Culinary Arts serves as the resort’s home for cooking demonstrations, culinary classes and wine education. Ocean House runs programming there throughout the year, ranging from introductory tastings to more focused explorations of particular wine regions and styles.

The wine program is overseen by Matthew MacCartney, whose background bridges both sides of the kitchen door.

MacCartney is a chef by training and has worked at restaurants including Daniel, Gramercy Tavern and Craft in New York, Les Prés d’Eugénie in France and Cibrèo in Florence. He later co-owned Jamestown Fish in Rhode Island, where the wine program received Wine Spectator’s Best Award of Excellence five times.

Today, he oversees the wine programs at Ocean House and Weekapaug Inn along with the wine experiences presented through the Center for Wine & Culinary Arts. He holds the Wine & Spirit Education Trust’s Level 4 Diploma in Wines and also serves as Wine Director for the Newport Mansions Wine & Food Festival.

That depth helps explain why Ocean House can build an entire tasting around bottles sitting quietly in its own cellar rather than simply assembling a lineup of recognizable names.

Part of a Full Wine Program at Ocean House

Unexpected Treasures is one installment in Ocean House’s continuing From Vine to Wine programming.

Other 2026 tastings have explored questions of wine value and specific regions, while the following Saturday’s class, Uncovering Wines of Europe, turns toward lesser-known European selections including Grüner Veltliner, Etna Rosso, Chinon, Franciacorta and Mencía.

Ocean House also offers shorter Sippin’ with the Somms sessions as part of its regular resort programming. On August 22, a Seasonal Wines session is scheduled for 2:30 p.m., followed by Unexpected Treasures at 3:30 p.m.

Event Details

Event: From Vine to Wine: Unexpected Treasures from the Cellar
Date: Saturday, August 22, 2026
Time: 3:30 p.m.
Price: $95 per guest, plus tax and service charge
Location: Center for Wine & Culinary Arts at Ocean House
Address: 1 Bluff Avenue, Watch Hill, RI 02891

Tickets are non-refundable.