Two years ago, my NY friends gave me a really great 30th birthday gift — a gift certificate for winetasting classes at the Washington Wine Academy here in DC.  I was very touched and excited to learn more about one of my favorite drinks.    It took Frank and me a full year to use the gift certificate, and it has taken me another full year to post what I learned.  True to my promise of 2 years ago, I’m going to share what I learned in the classes.  (Good thing I took notes!!!)

The first class was the ABCs of Wine, which we took on 6/13/07.  I did not have an auspicious start…I had a bit of a cold and I was the ONLY person (in a room of over 50) who couldn’t smell or taste the difference between the first two glasses of white wine.  Me!  With my amazing sense of smell!  It was quite embarrassing.  This realization came after a long presentation about how people always think they won’t be able to smell/taste the difference between wines, but actually they can.  I seriously thought it was a trick question and that the first 2 wines were the same.  Alas, the first was a 2006 Pinot Grigio from Kris Delle Venezie (Italian) and the second was a 2006 Chateau Ste. Michelle from the Columbia Valley in Washington state (one of my favorite wine regions).

The next two wines were for a comparison between “old world” (Europe) and “new world” (anywhere else).  We tasted a 2005 Shaps & Roucher-Sarrazin Blanc (from Burgundy, France) and a 2005 Rodney Strong Chardonnay (from Sonoma, CA).

Then we moved to reds with a new world and old world Pinot Noir (2006 De Loach from CA and 2005 Mark West from Corsica, France).  And finally we tasted a 2004 Chateau de Valcombe (Rhone, France) and a Glaetzer Shiraz/Grenache (Barossa Valley, South Australia).  I absolutely loved the Australian Shiraz/Grenache.

So, what did we learn in that first class?

Temperature

We usually serve whites too cold and reds too warm in the US.  In order to enjoy the best flavor, we should put reds in the fridge for 20 minutes before serving and take whites out of the fridge 20 minutes before serving.  Frank and I have been doing this ever since and we do notice a difference.

Color

When judging a wine’s color, hold it against a white napkin or tablecloth instead of up to the light.  And what are you looking for?  If a white wine has a brownish tinge or a red wine has a rust color or orange around the edges, the wine has gone bad.

Finish

A “finishable wine” has a long aftertaste.  This is a sign of quality — a longer finish shows higher quality.

How to know what you’ll like when shopping

The main clues about a wine’s taste come from where it’s from, how it was made, and what it’s made from.

The soil and the climate matter for the taste of the wine — find a latitude and climate you like, and it’s likely that you’ll enjoy wines from elsewhere along that latitude line.  Of course the soil will be different, which is hard to judge in a wine store, but you’ll at least know if a place is likely to be dry or wet, have long hot summers or cool ones, etc.

Poor soil is a good thing when making wine because it leads to lots of root development.  So look for wines from rocky regions with poor soil.

A long ripening process is also good.  The best wines from the northern and southern hemispheres come from latitudes where there is enough time for grapes to fully ripen on the vine.

How it’s made (oak barrels, steel tanks, etc.) will tell you a lot — an oaked chardonnay is much different than a steel one.

Finally, what it’s made from will be the final clue.  If you learn the characteristics of the top 30 varieties of grapes, you’ll know enough to decide between 90% of the wines sold in the US.  (We have not made much progress on this…)

A varietal wine is almost 100% one kind of grape.  A blended wine will have different grapes in different percentages.

Notes from our second wine course (on 6/20/07) coming up next…