Blend and Bottled: A Wine Course. Weeks Four and Five.
Last night we concluded our five-week beginner’s wine course with an exam and blind tasting.
I didn’t get a chance to write about week four in detail, however we covered New World Wines, their rules (if any), regions, styles and appelations and took home some literature to read in more detail. This was followed by another smell test using the essence bottles, which went worse than the first time (for me) and then concluded with a tasting.
We tried a classic New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and a Chenin Blanc from South Africa, both of which were the nicest whites I’d had so far, and an Australian Yellowtail, which I felt just tasted manufactured - something we read about as being a trait of Australian wine. Most of the time I guess they give the consumer what they want, however if that is the case here, something needs to give when it comes to wants and needs.
The reds were a traditional Pinotage (a mix of Pinot Noir and Cinsault) from South Africa and a Carmenere from Chile. Both of these were nice enough, but not really what I look for in a red wine.
So, onto last night and the last class.
Last week everyone was asked to bring a bottle with the label hidden, so we could conduct a blind tasting. All we decided was who was bringing red and who white or sparkling, so there was an even split. We were also asked to bring some food we thought would complement the wine.
The class began with a 35 question quiz - 32 multiple choice questions and three open-ended. I scored 30/35, one behind the winner with 31. I wasn’t too worried about the ones I got wrong, and will certainly remember the correct answers from now on.
Then we dove straight into the wine tasting, and I’ll do my best to remember as much about all eight bottles as I can.
To get us started was a sparkling wine kindly brought back from Italy from Franciacorta DOCG. My first Italian sparkling wine from Italy that wasn’t Prosecco, and it was lovely. This was followed by a South African white - a Sauvignon Blanc/Chardonnay blend, an Alta Alella biodynamic white and lastly a Catalan white but from where I can’t quite remember. I do remember the label though, so I will update when I next see it.
Onto the reds, and first we had a... Well, here I am struggling. There was a strong Tempranillo from Ribera del Duero, a Priorat, a Bordeaux and mine, ‘Retirement@65′ from South African winery BlankBottle.
This was a hit due to the bottle, the label and that it was from South Africa mostly, so I was proud that I’d brought a bottle everyone enjoyed for one reason or another. It did also taste very nice as well, so I will certainly look at acquiring more bottles in the future.
We ate cheese, meats, bread and even sushi along with the wines, in what was a lovely feast to end the course. My fellow classmates were all lovely and it was great fun getting to know them, and hopefully some of our paths will cross again in the future. Our teacher was excellent and is in the process of setting up a Spanish wine course over a weekend in May which I will be sure to attend.
Overall this course has been superb as an introduction to wine, something I’ve looked forward to going to for the last five Wednesdays and I see it as the first step on a hopefully long, certainly interesting journey in the world of wine.
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