On Monday as well, I went Wine tasting as another (partially) subsidized EDUCO event!!  We arrived a lovely woman’s home and she had a huge table set for all 10 of us.  She taught us about the geography of France, and the different climates, and what that means for the wine!

For the first wine, she brought it out hidden in a sleeve.  She then proceeded to pour a small amount a glass for each of us.  We started by analysing the wine by simply looking at it still.  It was a white wine and you can tell how old the wine is based on how dark/opaque/intense the color is.  Then we swirled the wine to see the viscosity.  Next we took “the first nose” and what that means is to take a quick smell to see if there are any huge defects with the wine.  Next we swirled the glass (this is easiest done on the table!!) and smelled as the wine was still moving… this gave a much more intense smell.  We then classified what odors we smelled (for exemple: fruity, floral, spicy, smoky, minerale, animal, etc) .  Then we took a small sip to get a quick first flavor.  Then we learned how to properly taste wine.  You take a reasonable sip, swish it all around your mouth and inhale (this makes a funny noise) a few times.  Then you spit out the wine and see how long the wine lasts and what types of flavors are experienced by which parts of the tongue. We also analyzed these flavors and the length of the flavor.  Then we had to guess what wine it was !!

She then served us a plethora of cheese ! We got to taste so many different types of cheese… I think I ate enough cheese that night for a week!! We then were served 3 more wines and we did a similar tasting technique.  I found this experience incredibly educational since my wine knowledge is practically non-existent!  The only downside (heh) is that I had dance practice directly afterwards and wasn’t as coordinated as I’d like to be 🙂

Here is a list of the wines I tasted:

1. Riesling from Alsace
2. 30% Cabernet-Franc 70%Merlot from Bordeaux
3. Grenache from Languedoc
4. Chenin from la Loire

The last two were my favorite.  The 3rd is a Red wine, that is great for pairing with chocolate!  The 4th is a sweet white wine… and I love the juxtaposition of acidity and sweetness!!