I hope everyone is doing well and surviving the long winter that continues to plague us. My Beloved and I had the wonderful experience of attending the Grand Red Tasting at the Minnesota Food and Wine Show.
We made a night of it--staying at the W hotel in downtown Minneapolis, and the event was a lot of fun--lovely wines accompanied by some fabulous food.
(To the chef at the Manny's carving station--thank you for being so wonderful and non-judgy when I passed through the line three times. I love you. For real.)
Although I am by no means an expert, I enjoy wine, and I enjoy learning about wine. I thought it would be fun to share some tips about appreciating wine, and I'd like to dedicate a few blog posts to choosing wine and food pairings so that you could host your own wine tasting.
(I'll be sticking to mostly red wines because that is mainly what I drink. And to my friends who actually work with wine for real, thanks for indulging me. :) I'd love to have your feedback since these are just my humble opinions.)
Wine is fun. Wine-shaming is not fun.
One thing that is an extreme pet peeve for me is someone being shamed for something that he or she does not know. I attended a wine tasting a few years ago and considered myself somewhat knowledgeable enough to ask educated questions--but I also knew that I had a learning curve (and still do) on quite a few things. The person running the tasting was a bit arrogant and pompous about his own knowledge of wine and didn't really tolerate any other opinions but his own.
I left feeling intimidated. If you find yourself in a situation like this, find another situation. Wine is wine--it's not the space shuttle.
Letting the wine breathe really does matter.
All of that sniffing and swirling and slurping is not just for show. (And I'll be honest--I hate doing it. because I feel like an idiot. ) It really does matter--opening up the wine--allowing it to breathe--open up both the flavor and aroma.
Case in point: I opened up a bottle of pinot noir, and although it was good, it wasn't great. Three days later, I had another glass of it. It was amazing.
Wine hits the senses.
The happiest place on earth is not Disneyland. It's that 2.5 seconds when a cork is popped on a wine bottle. (And speaking of wine bottles, I'm all about the labels! All kinds of pretty.) Take a big whiff of your wine--what do you smell? Hold up your wine to the light. What do you see? And likewise with the taste--but also note the texture--wine has it.
(Notice I'm not including any tasting notes. I once sampled a wine that had a tasting note that said the wine had hints of bacon. Imagine my excitement--my two favorite food/drink coming together!! But, alas, there was a nary a bacon note to be had. Maybe I should have a bacon/wine tasting.)
Visit a vineyard.
All kinds of places have wine tastings: liquor stores, special classes, hosted wine tastings--like the event I went to last night.) But I think the best way to sample wine is to visit a vineyard--even if it's just a small, local one. Here's why: I love wine tastings. They're fun--but like the one last night, they can be crowded, which can be overwhelming. Some of the lines may be long, and you may not have the opportunity to ask all of the questions you want to ask. It's a nice, relaxed environment.
Making the trek to a vineyard allows you to sample wine, tour the vineyard, and learn everything you ever wanted to know about growing grapes and making and aging wine. We have a vineyard by us that allows you to pick the grapes come harvest for all the wine you can drink plus pizza. (I have not done this.)
Food pairing is cool.
Finding the right foodstuffs to pair with your wine is an integral component to enjoying it. I am not a port drinker, but upon trying a port with both a dark chocolate and blue cheese, I became an instant fan.
(And I am definitely looking forward to a blog post on this!!!)
Know the age of (and how to store) your wine.
(Ufff....right now, this is a "do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do" exercise because well, I haven't been doing it very well:) ) Not all wines are meant to age over years and years and can go bad. And note that ones that should age--I had a bottle of wine for my 35th birthday that was 17 years old that nearly made me cry, it was so good. (I'll find out what it was and let y'all know!)
Wines that are high in tannins will usually smooth out with age.
You don't need a fancy place to your wine, either. If you are looking to collect wine and hang onto it, a cool, dark place will do. My Beloved built this wine rack in our basement crawlspace.)
 |
| (image courtesy of Framed in the Doorway) |
More to come!!
xo,
B
Informative and fun read. Inspires me to attend a wine tasting. Your writing definitely has a "voice."
ReplyDelete