UnCorked
  • Home
  • The Blog
  • Who and Why
  • Contact Me

Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept...

2/16/2013

3 Comments

 
Picture
We clearly felt passionate about Chilean wines that night...
By far, the most fun (and voluntary!) homework assignment given me from Washington State University was to start a wine tasting group with my friends. One of my favorite Enology professors (holla Jim!) told us of an assignment he was given as a grad student: in order to figure out where you want your wines to stand on a global scale, start a monthly tasting group where each month you select a different region of the world. My Chicago group has been going for well over a year and we've all learned a ton!

So, if you’d like to start one of your own, your assignment is as follows:

- Select a group of friends (any size will do- ours fluctuates from about 6-12 people) who are interested in learning about wine and not afraid to nerd it up.

- Each month, or every other month, or quarterly (whatever works best for your schedules,) a different person or couple will choose a region of the world. They will study this region and create a presentation for the rest of the group (we use Powerpoint- no joke.) It should cover things like – what are the typical characteristics of wines from this region? Why are they like this?  Are there any famous wines from this region? etc. 
The fun part is that the hosts purchase a selection of wines from this region for people to taste. The cost of the bottles should be split evenly amongst the group. This means it stays relatively fair from host to host. A tip I'm going to suggest is for everyone to take notes on each wine as they're poured (it is impossible to remember them all when you get home.) This is something this month's hostess did, and I wish we'd started it from square one!

-Each host (or any member really) should feel free to invite new members to the group- the more people you have, the larger variety of wines you can taste! Plus, it is a great way to make new friends! We’ve had people come and stay on as regulars, or come every few months when they are able. It’s been great.

Our group has evolved into the non-hosting members bringing a little snack to share- though I’m a stickler, and when I host, I encourage people to wait to eat till after they’ve tasted a little of each wine- keep those tastebuds pure (with the exception of bland crackers.) But there've been some yummy treats!

After almost a year and a half, we’re starting to feel as if we might run out of regions, so now will also be moving to comparing varietals- such as, "let’s see what the differences are between Cabernet Sauvignons from California, Australia, Chile, France, etc." I'm also hoping to do one on boxed wines. 

So far, we've done the following: Bordeaux, California, Argentina, Chile, Germany, Sparkling, Sake, Portugal, South Africa, Australia, Spain, and Italy (I hope I'm not forgetting any- hopefully my group members will comment if I am!)

This group has taught me a lot about pinpointing what characteristics are common to specific varietals (and contrastingly, which characteristics are flipped totally on end from region to region,) what I like and don’t like, and just how much climate and location really can impact a finished wine! It is also a great way to find new wines you like and would want to buy 
again. There's usually a keeper or two at each meeting.

Go forth! Have fun! Drink responsibly!

(A little tip to the hosts- ask people to pay up before they start tasting- things usually get a little too fun and people often forget till the next day.)

Oh, and for scheduling, we use Doodle. It’s very useful!


Picture
Just a few of our awesome regular attendees. I had more pics, but they were blurry... my photo skillz do not improve with wine.
Did you know? 
Australian and German Rieslings taste nothing alike. I was never a big fan of Riesling, but the only ones I’d really had were either German or German style sweet or off-dry wines. While hosting the Australia night, I discovered that their Rieslings are often very tart with citrus notes- not sweet at all, and just what I like in a nice, food friendly, white wine. The more you learn...

3 Comments
Jenna Rabideaux
2/17/2013 12:21:48 am

It's pretty terrific that you guys take actually learning about the wines seriously enough to put some thought and attention into it. Very cool. Kudos to your group! It almost makes me wish I still drank wine! :)

Reply
Meryl link
2/17/2013 01:42:05 am

I love our group! We need a database of all of our power points, that would be awesome. I hope you're having as much fun writing your blog as I am reading it.

Reply
Rebecca
2/17/2013 06:34:28 am

Jenna, thanks for the props! We could always do a tea or coffee tasting group :)
Meryl, I love it too! We SHOULD get all of our powerpoints in one place. I bet we could share them as google docs... I'll investigate.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Wanna receive updates in your inbox?
    Enter your Email:
    Preview | Powered by FeedBlitz

    Author

    I'm a wine-loving actress in the Windy City who holds certificates in Enology and Viticulture from Washington State University. I also own a hilarious cat.

    Archives

    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013

    Categories

    All
    101 The Basics
    Alcohol Content
    Grape Growing
    Media/Pop Culture
    Pests And Diseases
    Sugars
    Tasting
    Vocab
    Wine Making

    RSS Feed