Spit or Swallow?

I’m talking about wine tasting here, got it?

We had our Superior Cuisine wine seminar today and, I must say, it was a good deal more interesting than the one we had in Intermediate. 

It wasn’t exactly a vertical tasting of vintage Bordeaux, but it was a good introduction to tasting and pairings, and even a relative connoisseur like myself (I mean, relative to the 19 year olds in the class), learned a few new things.

The three wines we tasted were Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi Sauvignon Blanc 2012, Jacob’s Creek Reserve Shiraz 2010, and Sandeman Ruby Port.  Nothing exciting about any of them, but they were helpful in illustrating the characteristics of different styles of wines.

While the school helpfully provided spittoons, it was far more a “sipping” than “drinking” affair, though I did have to remind the student next to me that he shouldn’t drink half his glass before the sommelier’s explanation.

I won’t go into the details about appearance, nose, taste, etc, except to say that I found some of the food pairing advice very helpful.  Want to know why your dessert wine should always be sweeter than your dessert?  Try tasting the Sauvignon Blanc with a slice of pineapple (yuck!) and then try ruby port with dark chocolate (mmmm…. oh yeah!).  That tannic Shiraz?  It tastes a heck of a lot better with a piece of cheese than it did on its own (fat helping to move those tannins along).

And do you want to know if your wine will age well?  Taste for fruit.  You might smell fruit on the nose, but if you only taste the secondary flavours (like smoke, vanilla, etc), it won’t age well.  The sommelier summed it up quite succinctly – “No fruit, no future”.  So if you have any Jacob’s Creek Reserve Shiraz 2010 in your cellar, I suggest you get yourself some good cheese, a rib eye, and start drinking – NOW!

So a wee bit of fun for a Monday afternoon.  I’m hoping that a few of the younger students who made sweeping statements before class like “I don’t like wine.” now have a bit of understanding about how a wine pairing can complement cuisine.

And, for the record, never ask a lady the “spit or swallow” question unless you want the response to be “Well, do YOU?”