Taste Like A Pro! - Terroir

You have seen the masters do it and it seems incredible. They stick their nose in a glass of wine. They give it a couple of sniffs, a couple of swirls and a couple of sips. Then without so much as a glance at the label they tell you what it is. Sometimes they even tell you what vintage it was from or perhaps even the producer. You like wine. You drink a lot of wine and are pretty comfortable describing it. You even like to think that you know a thing or two about a thing or two. But nothing like this. How do they do it? Out of the oceans of wine out there, both good and bad, how could they possibly know what this one particular wine is?

 

Believe it or not there is an art to tasting a wine blind and then deciphering what it is. Like any query there is a set way to solving the problem. Think of a glass of wine as a jigsaw puzzle with the label of the wine the finished product. The sight, smell and taste of the wine are pieces of the puzzle. Each will give you clues as to the answer of your question: What is this wine?

But first things first: Why taste blind? Tasting a wine blind is one of the best ways to formulate an unbiased opinion about the wine. Any knowledge that you have about a wine can cloud your judgement or influence your assessment. Perhaps you don’t like Merlot? Any Merlot you taste will already have one strike against it before it even hits your lips. Maybe the wine was ultra-expensive. You may be willing to give that wine a better report card simply because it cost you an arm and a leg. These factors and many more can sway your opinion, subconsciously or otherwise. The best way to make an honest assessment is to know nothing at all.

There is another reason to taste blind. Tasting a wine blind forces the taster to concentrate on every tiny aspect of the wine. Since he or she may be struggling to pinpoint the style or origin of the wine they will try even harder to identify aromas, flavors or styles. Most wine professionals taste in either a single-blind (where you may know a piece of information such as the country of origin or grape varietal) or double-blind fashion. Double-blind means that the taster knows absolutely nothing about the wine before it is poured. This is a very good tool to use in honing your tasting skills. 

 

We will taste five different varietals (grapes) and each varietal will have four different wines for a total of 20 tastes!

$15 pp includes: a score card, all wine samples.  Cheese plates and light snacks available.  Please RSVP seating is limited!