Some more things to consider while at a large tasting...

Another thing I would recommend is to take notes. This slows down your consumption somewhat, and the vendors pouring will take more time telling you about their wines. Another reason to take notes is that the end of a two or three hour tasting your memory is not going to be too sharp. It's far better to refer back to your notes, particularly if you want to remember your favorite wines at the end of the evening.

The third recommendation would be to eat some of the food that will be available. Flavors of wines change when you are eating food and wines that you might not particularly like alone often taste great with the right food match. Also, putting food on your stomach will reduce the effect of the alcohol.

Finally, there is almost always water available. I advise you to drink a lot of it. It will help clear your pallet, dilute the wine volume, and keep you hydrated.

 Big wine tastings can be big fun. They offer excellent opportunities to learn more about which wines you really like, learn more about wines and wineries and often, meet very interesting people.   

Cheers,

Michael

Recently, I attended a large wine tasting where over 300 wines were served. Tasting that much wine is a challenge itself and I will share with you that I did not taste every wine.

Luckily, most of the wines were very familiar to me as were the styles of wines produced by the different wineries. So, even with so much wine available, I only tasted about 40 wines. I assure you, that quantity was enough for me, even practicing recommended techniques. Should you get the opportunity to attend one of these functions, here are a few things you should consider to make the most of the experience:

When attending large scale tastings, there is a tendency to want to taste everything. In "tasting", most uninitiated would be tempted to drink rather than taste. If you swallow even small amounts, at best, you are going to end up speaking in tongues. I have seen too many inexperienced wine lovers actually get sick after their first big tasting. That's why I would advise you to practice spitting. In that way, you roll the wine around in your mouth, then pick up the spit bucket and spit the wine out. You still get the flavor of the wine without consuming the volume.

Next week I will tackle a few more things for consideration.

Cheers,

Michael    

You can't judge a book by its cover, nor can you judge a bottle by its label.

On the flip side, if you have one wine you like, drink it.  Don't apologize for always drinking it.  Whether it is on ice, out of the bottle, out of the spigot or out of a shoe, enjoy.  Think about your friends who like scotch... do you think that they are going to give up their brand or their set up, ever?

Enjoy wine like you enjoy life:  At your own pace and for your own pleasure.  It truly is no one else's business but your own.   And one last note: While you are at it, you don't have to spend more than 10 dollars to find something good.

If anyone tells you that in a wine store or a wine bar or restaurant, walk out the door and never look back... chances are, you know more than they do already.  Drink what you like, not what your told, after all, it is just a @#%%$%* fruit.

Seriously, think of all the complex luxury goods in the world.  Some of the top ones:  Gold, diamonds, platinum, gem stones, essences, truffles, ice in your Scotch in Europe....what do all these items have in common?  Scarcity, or at least perceived scarcity.  They are hard to get, therefore they are expensive and require a vocabulary of their own. 

How the hell do grapes fit in here?  Grapes are grown in every state, every country and even on islands we have not found yet.  Fermentation is a natural process, in fact, near impossible to stop (elephants make it for fun).  So we have every country with the right tools to make this beverage at will....and it is a luxury?  It is misunderstood?

Wine is actually easier to make than beer, and yet you don't see Bubba down at the Dew Drop Inn hesitating between Bud and Bud Light because ordering one or the other is confusing or might make him look less than worldly do you?  So, once again, how did wine get the rap of being an elitist drink, expensive to own, difficult to maintain and terrifying to order?  Beats the hell out of me, but it is time to say enough is enough.

No more cowering in wine aisles, hiding behind lists or asking an eighteen year old server, who has never tasted the stuff, to recommend what you should be consuming.  No one is going to think less of you, make fun of you or take away your country club membership because you do not know the difference between a gewürztraminer and a gruner.  Try them, try them all and only through trial and error will you find what you like. 

There is nothing like actually working in the wine business to convince you that this liquid diamond has lost its luster (except perhaps a three bottle Chardonnay hang over, but that is just part and parcel of the dream).

I am continually amazed at the people who can sit and pontificate for hours about wine:  How it looks... is it brick, red, salmon, amber, garnet, browning, ruby, purple, inky, blood like?  How it smells...is it blackberry, blueberry, raspberry, boysenberry, strawberry, cherry berry, grapey?  How it tastes...leathery, smoky, chocolaty, brambly, peppery, saddled pony?  How much it costs, who rated it, when and where, who the winemaker was, what type of dirt is was grown in, at what altitude and how the wind was blowing when it was picked.

It seems, like most of human drama, most people - when it comes to the fruit of the vine- forget the basics.  It is grape juice.  It is a squished grape that has been poisoned.  Period.

How wine got so romanticized, I have no idea, but I truly would like to meet the first person who held a glass up to the light and said "My, this presumptuous little draught is highly complex and terribly misunderstood, I think I will make it difficult to understand and scary to drink",  and pop him right in the nose... and we know it was a him, simply because only a man ignored at a party could believe that if he talked about a beverage he would seem interesting.