WINE TASTING EXPERIENCES

     In today's blog, I have two distinct experiences to share about wine tastings. When the Hubster and I walk into a winery tasting room, we are greeted by a wine "sommelier," in colloquial terms, a wine guide. There are beer sommeliers as well; they are called "Cicerones." However this post is about wine tasting experiences, and so, no beer. But, I promise to write about breweries and beer flights in a future blog.

     The word, tasting, first appeared around 1519; and, formal wine tasting started in the 18th century.
To me, wine tasting is an experience that is organic as well as historic. Remember grapevines have been in existence for centuries. Today's hybrids are connected to those historic grapevines. Even in the sky, grapevines are given credit. The third brightest star, Vindemiatrix, in the constellation of Virgo, means grape gatherer/harvester.

EXPERIENCE #1:

The refurbished barn that housed the tasting room of winery.

     When you walk into a tasting room, you rely on the sommelier to guide you through their collection of wines. This brings us to a situation that happened while visiting a winery in the Finger Lakes in New York. I will not name the winery.

     Upon entering a barn, now renovated as a tasting room, our nostrils burned from the permeating mildew odor. We met our sommelier, who upon hearing we were from Wisconsin quickly dismissed us as "hicks from the sticks." We Wisconsinites do not dress up to taste wine at 11 in the morning. There was an Illinois couple in attendance as well. The Hubster and the Illinois fella were dressed in polo shirts and cargo shorts. While the woman and myself were casually attired. Our sommelier immediately schooled us about their wines in a condescending tone. Condescending tones give wine tastings a bad rap as snooty. He(the sommelier) elaborated on how the wine was honored by the New York Times and Food and Wine Magazine. It was difficult to be impressed after driving a pot holed dirt and gravel road to get to a smelly barn.

     So how did the wine taste? The winery is known for their dry wines: Riesling, Pinot Noir, and Chardonnay. As expected, they were very good, crafted in the traditional wine making way. However, our wine tasting was tarnished by the cavalier attitude of our wine tasting guide. As we tasted, our wine guide had already dismissed our presence. This was because a well dressed New York City couple had entered.

     As we left the winery empty-handed, my take away was that the sommelier behaved like a jerk. However, he was just one person in a wine barrel of many lovely people in the business. It is just best to move on, and plus  this gives me material to write about. So Thank you for that.

Experience #2:

Art sculpture at the second winery. Not sure of the significance for a winery. It is interesting. Could mean don't drink and ride.

     We also visited another winery that was comprised of three different wineries and one brewery. The best way to describe it was a theme park goes to the winery. One winery was themed as a swamp/bayou style winery and served sweet wines. Another was themed as a boutique style winery and also served sweet wines and slushies. While the third winery served more traditional dry wines. Their  brewery had a WWII decor.

     This particular winery was a place where the theme or decor was the star, not the wine. In other words, the wine was overshadowed by all the paraphernalia for sale. Probably for good reason, the wine was more like sweet fruit punch meets alcohol. Clearly, this was a place designed to attract 20 somethings, not a mature couple such as the Hubster and me! It is important to note that many novices wine drinkers start out liking really sweet wines and then over time they try some of the drier wines. Do not get me wrong, there are some wonderful sweet wines, but for me, this was not it.

The view from the winery with a swamp theme.

     As I drank my coffee with the Hubster and other mature couples at the cafe, (yes, there was a cafe) millennials were proudly carrying cases of wines to their cars. The Mom in me wanted to yell, "Put that back! I will show you a place with better wine." But the parent in me took over and said, 'Buy the wine, drink the wine, and learn from the experience."

     Because, that is what wine tasting is-an experience. The snooty wine guides or the theme park wineries are a part of the experience-good or indifferent.  As with all things, there is more wine out there to taste and sommeliers to guide us. As Ben Franklin said, "Wine makes daily living easier, less hurried with fewer tensions, and more tolerance." And, there is nothing wrong with that!!!!

Until Next Time,
Minnie and the Hubster