When Your Travels Take You to Tasting Wine

Today is one of those days when my real life travels are getting in the way of my vicarious wine travels, so here, we're going to visit a winery in Somewhereville.My real life travels indicate that in order to get there, you have to fly north to go south. For those of you old enough to remember, it feels like the directions from Fort Courage (the home of F Troop) to the Hekawi camp: take a left at the rock that looks like a bear and right at the bear that looks like a rock.

What we're going to look at today is tasting experience. After all, the better your experience, the more you'll enjoy your day, and, isn't that the whole goal?

When you go to winery, you are the customer and in addition to paying for the tasting, i.e., their services, you are a potential buyer of their wine. That's the way it works. So, while there are rules that need to be followed (they often vary by jurisdiction), you are the boss, or at least you should be. So, you, not the winery should control your tasting experience. Unless what you are experiencing is so spectacular that you don't care, if their idea of customer service is fitting you into their mold rather than them adjusting their mold to fit you, then generally speaking, their message is that you are a number and not a treasured guest. They don't want your relationship -- they want your 5, or 10, or 25, or maybe even 150 dollars. And, if you're a number, they don't want to learn about you to enhance your experience or to help you to understand their wine.

[Before going on, I need to be clear about real-life wine tasting. While we love the experience of feeling like the most important people in the world while sipping wine with a winemaker or proprietor, not all wineries are able to offer that experience. But, there are some that while unable to do that, do provide an experience that is exceptional. On the other hand, I can recount several experiences where we were Wine Club members (theoretically, wineries treasure their Wine Club members) and we were treated so poorly that we both left our memberships and went out of our way to discourage people from every tasting their wine in the future.]

So, what is a great experience like? Someone with knowledge will take an interest in you. They will ask about you, about your tastes, and perhaps your experience with and knowledge of wine. In other words, they will build your experience around you. So, even if they are relatively locked in with respect to what they can offer, they will make it feel as if it's been customized for you.

Now, you are finally presented with your first wine. You have at least four senses that you can use in tasting the wine (if you're tasting outside in or near the vineyards, you might have all five). Use all that you can and ask questions about them.

Start by tilting the wine glass and observing the clarity and color of the wine. Is the wine clear or cloudy? (Yes, some wines are naturally cloudy, but with most wines, that is a sign of a tainted wine.) Is the color what you expect? If not, ask why -- not in an accusatory way, but in an inquisitive one. Smell the wine. Let the aromas really resonate. What do you smell? Is there anything unusual? Ask your host(ess) if they agree. Ask them why that aroma is there. Take a sip of the wine. Do NOT just swallow it. If it's a white wine or a lighter red wine, gently swirl it in your mouth to let it cover your entire palate. If it's a "bigger" red wine, try chewing it. What do you taste? What does the fine feel like? Are each pleasant? Or not? Ask why you get those tastes and feeling. Ask if those are normal for that grape.. 

And, finally, if you are fortunate enough to be outside in or near the vineyard, combine all your senses. Look around. What does the landscape look like? What is the climate like?What do you hear? How does all of this affect your sense of place? Does the wine give you a similar sense of place?

If you get all of these feelings from a visit, you will be hard-pressed to not be a loyal drinker and referrer of the wine you just tasted. It's your time and your money, so make it your experience.

With apologies for not introducing a new grape or rehashing an old one today or even just talking about something that goes into the making of wine, hopefully, things will return to normal tomorrow.