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With more choices than ever, the world of wine can be a pretty intimidating place to explore. You walk into a wine shop and scan the labels. Pouilly Fuiss What? Gigondas! Isn’t that what my Doctor told me I would get if I didn’t eat my veggies? Montepulciano… Gazoomtight!
Even with such a vast array of choices, it still is easy to learn one or two types of wine and stay within your comfort zone. How many of us always stick with Chardonnay or Pinot Noir every time we go out to dinner? There is nothing wrong with drinking what you like, but there is a whole world of wine out there waiting to be discovered and explored.
It also can be a challenge getting your head—or lips, or brain, etc.—around the diversity of wine. The fact that most of Europe labels its wine by regions, as opposed to varietal of grape, makes it more mind boggling. This is why wine education is important in today’s world.
Fortunately, just as there are many choices of wine today, there also are many ways to learn about wine. One of the easiest ways to get started is by visiting your local bookstore—they are stacked with books such as Kevin Zraly’s “Windows on the World Complete Wine Course” or Karen MacNeil’s “The Wine Bible.”
When you read a book about wine and where it is produced, visit your local wine shop and buy a wine from that area. This is how I initially began my studies. Don’t forget that your local wine shop also can be a fountain of knowledge and information. The demand for education has become very apparent as more and more grocery stores begin to staff full-time wine stewards.
Being a resident of Oregon has its advantages. Living near wine country makes visiting wineries and talking with winemakers easy for those interested in increasing their vino knowledge. Many wineries will offer tours for those interested in seeing firsthand how wine is made.
There are several places around town that offer wine classes for consumers. You can take one class or a series.
Personally, the most rewarding part about working in the wine business is having the chance to educate people. I teach several types of wine classes to consumers, but my most popular is always Wine 101. This class usually consists of people who drink wine fairly regularly, but don’t know much about the different types.
I begin by going over wine tasting techniques and how to evaluate the wine. First, the look of the wine, the color and how it changes as the wine gets older. Next, I cover the smell of the wine. Does it smell like anything familiar to you? Finally, we discuss the taste of the wine—exploring the fruit character, body, acid, tannin, sweetness, alcohol level and finish.
After tasting techniques, we explore six of the “noble varietals” and the different parts of the world they come from. During this exploration, I like to include a little bit about the pairing of food and wine and how they affect one another.
I will generally start out with a wine very high in acid such as a Sancerre—a Sauvignon Blanc from France’s Loire Valley. I have participants taste the wine and notice the tart, gripping acidity. I then give them a lemon wedge and salt. Then I have them re-taste the wine. Their perception of acidity dramatically changes.
During my classes I field various types of questions. There is one question I can almost guarantee I will get in Wine 101, and it has become a game for me to see when the question will be asked. I never bring up the subject myself, but someone nearly always asks about the “legs” of the wine (aka tears).
The legs are the thick drippings of wine on the side of the glass that appear after the wine has been swirled. There is a common misconception that the legs of a wine represent greatness in quality. The legs are, in fact, nothing more than the difference of evaporation between the water and alcohol in the wine.
I have a politically incorrect canned answer to that question. “The legs of a wine will tell you as much about a wine, as the legs on a woman (or man for that matter) will tell you about the woman. Nothing.”
My single favorite moment of teaching came in a Wine 101 class where I was going to talk about Riesling. I asked the class who liked Riesling and only one person raised his hand. I proceeded to pour a 1983 Reichsgraf Von Kesselstatt Josephshofer Auslese Riesling (say that 10 times fast). After tasting the wine, when I asked the class who liked that wine, they all raised their hands. I held my hands out, looked at the sky and said, “My work here is done.”
Fred Armstrong is the Wine Director of In Good Taste in downtown Portland and the owner of a new business, World in a Glass Wine Consultants.
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