Wine 101

Last night was fun. Beside getting to leave work at 6:30pm, I was able to register and attend a wine class with Charlene. Always wanted to take a wine class, and this one night, 2 1/2 hour class sounds like a good place to start as any. I often find that even though I understand when I read about wines and the terms that are often thrown around, such as tannins, acidity and etc., I do not truely understand those terms in, since books and articles can try their best to tell me what those sensations suppose to taste like, but, how do you actually translate what we taste in our mouth, often very subjective, to words? Literatures often describe Sauvignon Blanc has having a "cat pee" smell, but seriously, I have no idea what cat pee smells like, thank god to the very advanced technology of litter boxes and those things that you put inside them, and I don't particularly want to know what "cat pee" smell like. In addition, it is often difficult for myself, or even with a couple of friends, to drink several bottles of wines in order to figure out, hmm, this wine is suppose to be more acedic than the other wine, this wine has heavier bodies and etc.

The class I joined was Wine 101 in One Night, hosted by the NYC Wine Company. I encourage you to try it. I am not going to spend time here writing exactly what happened in class, or the exact wine we drank. I think this is soemthing you should experience for yourself. However, I will tell you why I had fun. The class was informal and small, conducted in a setting that is more like a chic, modern, cozy restaurant that is somewhat romantic. The instructers were entertaining and really know what they are talking about, and teaches you about wine not in an old fashion snobby kind of way, but in a relaxed manner, like as if we were just friends going out to dinner and he happens to know a lot about wine and wants to share with you why he enjoys wine so much. I thought the main purpose of the class is to allow us to explore what we like, by offering several different varieties of wine from different regions, comparing them, and let our taste bud decide which grape varietal we prefer, and what kind of wine making style we prefer. For those that are beginners, I think you will walk away with a sense of what certain grape varietals should taste like, and how a regions wine making style can change the taste of the wine to something that you prefer or something that might turn you off completely. For those that already has acquired knowledge about wine, you will walk away with a deeper understanding of subtle nuisances in wine making, definitions and meanings more fully explained, explored wines from different regions that you may not usually think about buying (such as the New Zealand Pinot Noir), and just in generally enjoying good wines and be entertained by people around you who are also pretty enthusiastic about wine.

The class was perhaps not as comprehensive as some other wine course offerings out there, or perhpas not as structured, but given the setting, the way the class was conducted, it was surely entertaining and of course, informative. I think this place might even make a very enjoyable and interesting date.

By the way, did I mention there was cheese too?? Jennifer, one of the instructers, used to be a chef at Chanterelle, one of the top restaurants in New York. She paired the wine with lots of different cheeses for us to enjoy, and provide us with a little lessons about each cheese as well. There were I think 8 different kind of cheese that pairs magnificantly with the wine, with some cheese I have not tried or heard of. Bread were a plenty too, just in case you are hungry. This was truely one of the more enjoyable casual evenings I had in a while.