A Post-Covid Guide To A Convial Wine Tasting - Forbes

sela.indah.link

An employee wearing a protective mask shows a bottle of wine to customers at the Buena Vista Winery ... [+] tasting area in Sonoma, California, U.S., on Sunday, May 31, 2020. More than two months after shelter-in-place orders began throughout the Bay Area, some wineries have reopened their doors to visitors, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

© 2020 Bloomberg Finance LP

Many years ago in a famous New Yorker cartoon, humorist James Thurber pinioned the pompous nature of wine tastings by depicting a host describing a wine by saying, “It’s a naïve domestic Burgundy without any breeding, but I believe you’ll be amused by its presumption.” Such winespeak can get pretty pretentious, if not downright silly. 

Yet the increased interest in wine among Americans has made the once-unimaginable idea of a wine tasting a capital reason for a good party.  I say unimaginable because such a social event once seemed to be a connoisseur’s game of one-upmanship.  When Covid leaves us, gathering friends to taste and discuss wines has become one of the most convivial ways to get together and far less exclusionary or competitive than a bridge or poker night.

The idea of simply assembling a bunch of wines to taste without any focus can, however, become tiresome.  On the other hand, bringing together people who may know little or nothing about wine and people who think they know everything about wine is very much like inviting people from Madagascar to a Super Bowl party.   It gets . . . awkward.

STELLENBOSCH, SOUTH AFRICA - MARCH 13: Lorraine Geldenhuys (R), the winemaker, lecturer and cellar ... [+] manager at the Elsenburg Agricultural Training Institute, teaches her students the art of wine tasting at the college on March 13, 2020 near Stellenbosch in the Western Cape province of South Africa. According to the biblical narrative, the first vintner was Noah who planted a vine after the floodwaters receded and since ancient times men have dominated viticulture and winemaking, like farming in general. Geldenhuys is one of a growing band of women who have succeeded in recent years in closing the gender gap in the world of wine, both in South Africa and globally, with a blend of determination, passion, a keen palate and an ability to think creatively. (Photo by David Silverman/Getty Images)

Getty Images

So, here are a few guidelines to holding a wine tasting for people who have a general knowledge and interest in wine rather than those who consider discussion of Ph levels and vine trellising fit conversation at a party.

MORE FOR YOU

The first rule of thumb is not to serve too many wines—six is an ideal amount.  Fewer is a sipping, not a tasting. Ten becomes a chore.   

 You might feature wines from a particular region, like Tuscany or New Zealand, Napa Valley or Sicily. Or by varietal grape, like cabernet sauvignon, grenache or chardonnay.  “A vertical tasting is when you taste the exact same wine from the same producer, but in different vintages,” says Gabrielle Waxman, former wine director for Galatoire’s restaurant in New Orleans. “A horizontal tasting is when you taste wines from the same vintage or the same grape varietal, but from different producers.”

Swiss cheese tete de moine on ceramic board, black and green grapes and two glasses of white wine, ... [+] served with bread sticks on pink marble background.. (Photo by: Natasha Breen/REDA&CO/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

REDA&CO/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Next, you should decide if you’ve going to taste the wines blind, that is, without revealing their names—not in an effort to fool or embarrass anyone but to judge their character according to people’s likes rather than mere familiarity with a famous name.    

If so, you should cover the bottles with a paper bag to hide the labels.  The bag should also disguise the shape of the bottle because some varietals, like pinot noir and riesling, are always sold in specifically shaped bottles.  Then, number the bags and reveal the labels only after all are tasted.

TEL AVIV, ISRAEL - January 6: Wine glasses are set for service at the Messa chef's restaurant and ... [+] bar, regarded as one the best places for an all-round wine and food experience in Israel, on January 6, 2020 in Tel Aviv, Israel. The best wine places in Israel are found in the restaurants, hotels and wine bars that are a mecca for wine-lovers from home and abroad looking to savor the award-winning wines produced by the country's leading and boutique wineries alongside some of the world's most acclaimed wines. (Photo by David Silverman/Getty Images)

Getty Images

As to glassware, connoisseurs usually stick with a single shape, even though restaurants may serve different varietals in different shapes, like Alsatian wines in green-stemmed glassware. The best type to use is a thin wineglass in which a four-ounce pour fills about half the glass. This allows for swirling and sniffing the aroma of the wine, itself a point of discussion. 

TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA - 2019/08/08: A small scoop with butter over a group of soda crackers. ... [+] Butter is rich in nutrients and other beneficial compounds, yet, due to the high level of calories it should be used with moderation. (Photo by Roberto Machado Noa/LightRocket via Getty Images)

LightRocket via Getty Images

If you are tasting the wines before dinner, have plain water and crackers or bread available to restore your palate after tasting the wine.  Salted butter on the cracker is also an excellent way to intensify the flavors of the wine, because salt and fat intensify flavors. 

If you are serving the wines with dinner, keep the food simple so that the wine remains the focus.  Simply grilled red meat goes well with big reds, while cheeses or seafood without a spicy sauce bring out the best in whites, and vice-versa. 

You might also consider a Champagne tasting, since there are so many labels, styles and price levels available in the U.S. now. You go by colors, from yellow to golden to rosé, and some have floral bouquets, others are more robust and toasty.  You may also try them by grape varieties: blanc de blancs are made with all white chardonnay grapes, while blanc de noirs are made from red pinot noir.  There are also vintage and non-vintage, and premium prestiges cuvées.

As host, you should try to stir discussion, without any momentous pronouncements.  To set the atmosphere, it’s a good idea to begin with a memorable quotation from a great person, like Thomas Jefferson, who said, “No nation is drunken where wine is cheap,” or Lord Byron, who wrote, “Let us have wine and women, mirth and laughter / Sermons and soda-water the day after.”

December 23, 2020 at 09:54PM
https://ift.tt/3plXHrk

A Post-Covid Guide To A Convial Wine Tasting - Forbes

https://ift.tt/31lUVcw
Wine