Today was the first day of school!!! Yeah!! Jordan rode the bus with me today on his way to the airport and took pictures of me next to the house and by the bus stop (which is right outside my door!) Just like kindergarden, lol. After arriving at school, my class (there are 15 of us) was served a continental breakfast and then started class at 9am (how civilized). After a short orientation, our instructor, Debbie, got right down to it. She said we would start wine tasting by 10am so we should make sure we ate our breakfast every day! She also told us to go home and practice our wine drinking(who wouldn't want THAT homework?!). Hmmmmmm.......let me think......
We learned about wine bottle types (Bordeaux, Burgundy, German), bottle sizes for champagne and Bordeaux, corks and closures, glassware, serving temperatures (Americans usually serve their white wine too cold and their red wine too warm) and wine etiquette: serving order (3 simple rules: Dry before sweet, Young before old and Light, Medium, Full-bodied). We also learned about the basic tools: openers, serviettes, tasting glass or Tastevin. We all received a Cook Street corkscrew otherwise known as the "waiter's friend". We also learned the Cook Street way and the Sommelier way to open a bottle of wine and how to open a bottle of champagne. Debbie covered decanting (only really two reasons to decant wine: 1. To aerate young, tannic red wines OR 2. To separate sediment from mature reds or ports.) then she finished with the Top 10 Wine Taboos.
At 12 Noon, it was time for lunch. We were served pappardelle pasta (a wide flat pasta) with a bolognese sauce (meat sauce), roasted asparagus and a green salad with vinaigrette dressing. Yummy! I've told all my friends, I may be poor going back to school, but I will never starve!
After lunch we "challenged" our palates with the "three tastes of wine"-sweet, sour, bitter. We poured into four cups: sugar syrup, acetic acid, bitter tea and grain alcohol (vodka), then mixed and matched these liquids to see where on our tongue we tasted each one. A little crazy on the palate but very interesting. Next we did a blind trial of smelling extracts and trying to guess what they were. I had only two correct guesses out of 13, but I think I was not the only one (thank goodness). All this to get us thinking about different flavors in our mouths. We got out early today but will have to make it up over the next two days as this is a short week.
I did learn that at the end of this course, we can all take our first level sommelier exam with the ISG. Not sure how many levels and classes there are to take before you become a master Sommelier but it is a consideration. All this will help us learn about how wine is made, how complex it can be and how to pair it with food so that both the wine and the food compliment each other. I hope I can remember all this!!!
Two things show little wit,
the full or empty cup;
If full, then empty it;
If empty, fill it up!
-Kenneth Hare
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