The second day of school! Carl makes coffee in the morning and school provides breakfast (continental breakfast this morning). I could get used to this, lol!
I can’t tell you how nice it is to be with people who have the same passion for cooking that I do. There are 15 of us, ranging in age from 19 to 60. Although age does not seem to have any bearing on how well everyone gets along. Truly amazing!!
There is so much to learn about wine! Although by the end of the day most of us were able (in a blind taste test) to pick out an Old World Wine (European) vs. a New World Wine (every place else on earth, lol).
During the wine section of our education, lectures start at 9am, wine tasting starts at 10am. Even though we do not drink an entire glass of wine, usually just sipping or spitting , you can feel the effects of sipping wine all day. It causes what Debbie calls “wine”heimers. How true, lol!!
We started out with Into to Wine:
What is wine? It is fermented grape (or fruit) juice.
Wine history: Fermentation started as far back as 4000BC although ancient Greece is credited with beginning the fermentation process.
Wine Regions: Grapes are grown well within the 30-50 degree latitudes. This is as far north as Germany and as far south as New Zealand.
Wine Categories: * Still wines-reds, whites, roses
*Sparkling wines
* Fortified wines (port or sherry)/Dessert wines
* Aromatic wines-infused with herbs, flavors or spices- wine coolers and vermouth (!?)
Wine Styles (Body of the wine):
*Light-bodied (think of skim or 1-2% milk)
*Medium-bodied (think 2% or whole milk)
*Full-bodied (think whole milk to heavy cream)
This last analogy really helped understand what the wines do in your mouth. Amazing!
We also learned how they make both red and white wines (red wines have 1-2 more steps to them than white wine). We will be going on a field trip next Friday to a local Colorado winery to see this process for ourselves (and eat lunch, lol).
Bon Appetit!
“A person with increasing knowledge and sensory education may derive infinite enjoyment from wine.” -Ernest Hemingway
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