This is a story of a wine novice trying to learn a little about wine. This is actually my second or third attempt at this depending on how I count. The first attempt was from a book named "Great Wine Made Simple
," by Andrea Immer. I thought was actually an excellent book and I really liked her approach. The book starts out by teaching you about what she calls the big six varietals which are Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Merlot, Pinot Noir, and Cabernet Sauvignon. This was great introduction and taught me that there was lot more than Merlot and Pino Grigio. Unfortunately, I never really made past that chapter in the book. That left my wine world at the six varietals plus one or two others learnt about on my own.My second attempt to learn something about wine was really more of a social exercise than a real attempt to learn something about wine, at least that is how it turned out. My wife and I signed up for a wine class at the Boston Center for Adult Education (BCAE) with another couple we are friends with. It gave us an opportunity to get together once a week and sample a bunch of wines. The one thing I can say that I learnt in that class was that wine has many strange smells and tastes...or least that is how they are described. I remember when the instructor explained how the wine smelt like a barnyard or wet rocks. Well, I don't particularly care for the smell of a barnyard and don't know what wet rocks smell like. I don't want to do any disservice to the BCAE. I think it is great institution and I would recommend the class to anyone in the Boston area. I had a great time at the class I just don't feel I know much more about wine today because of it.
Now to my third and current attempt to learn something about wine. I was sitting in a bookstore one day and came across the new addition of the "Windows on the World Complete Wine Course
," by Kevin Zraly. I thought that would make a good Christmas gift for me so I asked Santa for it and low and behold I got it. So my plan, at least for today, is to work my way though this book, slowly, and hopefully learn something about wine. So far, from what I have read I like. In the first few pages of the book the author talks about the smell of a wine. He explains that when asked what the wine smells like he prefers not to use subjective words and instead says "the wine smells like a French white Burgundy." He suggests that over time and through lots of practice you should try "to 'memorize' the smell of individual grape varieties." This approach seems to make a lot of sense to me because I would rather spend my time drinking and smelling wine as opposed to hanging out at barnyards and rock quarries to memorize those smells. So why blog about it? At the least it is way for me to keep track of what I did and learned through the process. And maybe, who knows, someone else will learn something from it or find something useful.
