I've realised I'm not giving off a very good impression right now, you probably have an image of a lip-stained, obsessive wine-aholic. So I hope I will redeem myself by saying that my interest for wine goes far beyond just drinking it. Over the past year or so I have become more and more interested in the whole etiquette and history around wine. I guess you could say it's turning into a little hobby of mine!
Knowing this, my lovely boyfriend was generous enough to give me a wine course with the Oxford Wine Company for my Christmas present. It was a one-on-one 3 hour introduction to wine, learning about grape varieties, terroir, how climate affects the grapes, how wine is made, and finally- my favourite bit- tasting of 7 different wines. So, after waiting in anticipation since December 25th, it was finally the weekend I was booked in for my course- I was very excited but also very nervous (those who know me, concentrating for 3 hours is a nearly impossible task!). However the lady who ran the course, Nikki, definitely put me at ease and it was such an enjoyable few hours, they flew by.
The last hour of the course was all about the tasting of wine: how to actually taste wine but more
importantly how to analyse the flavours, colours, velocity etc of the wine once you've tried it.
This has taught me a lot more about tasting wine indeed. Beforehand, and I am sure many will agree with me, it is often difficult to tell the difference between a very good wine and an okay wine. However, when they are all lined up next to each other and you taste them all individually, it turns out to be really very obvious and overall this day turned out to be a great success! Don't get me wrong- I can't afford to pay for more expensive wines seeing as I'm still a student, however I will make sure I save up every now and again for a nice bottle, in order to really appreciate it. I would highly recommend this course to anyone. A very enjoyable and informative few hours from someone who is genuinely passionate about wine. If anyone is interested, here is the chart which I used below, let me know how you get on!
Appearance
|
|
Clarity
|
Clear-
Dull
|
Intensity
|
Pale-Medium-Deep
|
Colour
|
White:
Lemon-Gold-Amber
Rose:
Pink-Orange
Red:Purple-Ruby-Garnet-Tawny
|
Nose
|
|
Condition
|
Clean-Unclean
|
Intensity
|
Light-Medium-Pronounced
|
Character
|
Fruit-Floral-Spice-Vegetal-Oak-Other
|
Palate
|
|
Sweetness
|
Dry-off
Dry- Medium- Sweet
|
Acidity
|
Low-Medium-High
|
Tannin
|
Low-Medium-High
|
Body
|
Light-Medium-Full
|
Character
|
Fruit-Floral-Spice-Vegetal-Oak-Other
|
Length
|
Short-Medium-Long
|
Conclusions
|
|
Quality
|
Poor-Acceptable-Good-Outstanding
|
Check out the website for the Oxford Wine Company here. They do regular events which are relatively inexpensive and informal which I hope to attend sometime soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment