This week was “graduation” at Wine 101 class. There were no awards for “Outstanding Junior Sommelier” or even perfect attendance. I’m thinking that a cork on a long, purple ribbon would’ve been nice. Even so, we graduated confident that after four classes (and a number of glasses) we could now converse more intelligibly with the kid behind the counter at the wine barn.
Old World and New World wines
Seriously
All kidding aside, it was an informative, though fast-paced class, with an enthusiastic student body (about 12-14) and a knowledgeable and interesting faculty headed by Stan Komen and assisted by Mike Ward.
Our final session featured Aaron Enskat of Total Wines, Gian Vitale of Deutsch Supplier, and Kristine Grote of Southern Glazers, who compared Old World wines with New World. We tried several of each. I did fine with the swishing and sipping, but had trouble with the sniffing. I just couldn’t isolate the various aromas. More practice needed.
Even so, it was a “wine-derful” class. Now it’s time to get out there and do some serious swishing, sniffing and sipping. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
