Day 21: Boire, Boire, Boire!

Drink drink drink! This was the catchy tune that our witty and funny professor exclaimed to us at the beginning of todays class, which revolved around wine tasting, growing, and more. By far, I learned more about wine in this lesson than any other that we've had yet. We began by discussing wine, it's origins, cultural use, purpose, etc. Then, the professor went into his theory of the "Twelve Commandments"... of wine!
Look
Sniff
Swirl
Smell
Tilt
Prolonged sniff
Sip
Chew
Swallow a little
Spit (or swallow!)
Breathe out
Score
Each of these steps are used to evaluate, appreciate, and analyze a wine. We evaluate and discussed six different wines in class today; two whites, two reds, a rose, and a dessert. It was pretty difficult at first to be able to swirl, slosh, and run the wine across my gums, but it's supposed to give the full character of the wine. It's funny because if you do it correctly, you'll have purple teeth after the tasting! The whites were very dry and had a strong presence of the soil that they were grown in; somewhat rocky, chalky, etc. The reds we had were full of Tannin; the chemical formed from the grape's skin that gives the numbing/burning sensation that one feels when red wine touches their tongue and gums. However, they each delivered quite a nice floral essence. The rose was okay, "Demi-Sec" meaning, semi-sweet. The dessert wine was too sweet for me, because it basically tasted like grape juice with wine mixed in. After the lesson, we headed to lunch and returned for the second part of the lesson which took place at an independent vineyard; a viticulturist who sells directly to customers and not through wholesale. The vineyard was great! We got to walk into the vineyard and see the blue schist, a rock, that was native to the area. The rock gives the wine a specific taste that's typical of the region. I actually learned about blue schist in geology, so it was exciting being able to apply my knowledge here. We toured the winery and then sat down for another tasting. I'm learning real quick that you don't have to drink the entire glass and its okay to spit and throw your wine in the designated bucket!