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year of the bottle
Nov. 7th, 2011 09:44 pmSomething D. and I have been doing in our spare time is go through the Everyday Guide To Wine DVD course.
This was initially D.'s idea, the seed having been planted during the '08 Italy trip where we learned to let red wine breathe. Our aim is not to become wine snobs who look down their noses at everyone else, but to learn what we like, where it comes from, and how to get it (without paying an arm and a leg). D. has been visiting every recommended wine shop in the area for our "course materials" and found some very good ones (wines, and shops)!
We've only done a couple of courses but I'm amazed at how much science goes into winemaking: the flavor is not only reliant on the grape variety but on the preparation and for how long; it's not just the soil that makes a great grape but also what it's grown with and where. Of course the long, long history appeals to me, involving as it does aspects of geography, chemistry, trade, etc.
I've also learned some common words for describing flavor, but find that I lack the flavor experience to use them: blackberry vs. raspberry means little when I can't tell them apart. I find myself using words for texture (round, thin, crispy, velvety) to describe what I'm tasting instead. I also learned that bouquet doesn't always correspond with flavor (we tried one that smelled, I swear, like burnt rubber - but tasted fruity).
Given that we open 3-5 bottles of wine to taste for each lecture and have busy schedules, we estimate it will take us a year to get through the whole thing (and at least a week to get through each lecture's bottles).
This was initially D.'s idea, the seed having been planted during the '08 Italy trip where we learned to let red wine breathe. Our aim is not to become wine snobs who look down their noses at everyone else, but to learn what we like, where it comes from, and how to get it (without paying an arm and a leg). D. has been visiting every recommended wine shop in the area for our "course materials" and found some very good ones (wines, and shops)!
We've only done a couple of courses but I'm amazed at how much science goes into winemaking: the flavor is not only reliant on the grape variety but on the preparation and for how long; it's not just the soil that makes a great grape but also what it's grown with and where. Of course the long, long history appeals to me, involving as it does aspects of geography, chemistry, trade, etc.
I've also learned some common words for describing flavor, but find that I lack the flavor experience to use them: blackberry vs. raspberry means little when I can't tell them apart. I find myself using words for texture (round, thin, crispy, velvety) to describe what I'm tasting instead. I also learned that bouquet doesn't always correspond with flavor (we tried one that smelled, I swear, like burnt rubber - but tasted fruity).
Given that we open 3-5 bottles of wine to taste for each lecture and have busy schedules, we estimate it will take us a year to get through the whole thing (and at least a week to get through each lecture's bottles).
