RECORK BY RICCARDO TARABELSI
Recaps occur all the time. Sports broadcasters recap a game. Company managers recap meetings with staff. People recap their vacations on Facebook. I thought I would recap or, in this case, recork one of my favorite classes to teach: Wine 101.
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fter pouring everyone a white wine and red wine, we proceed to do what is called a blind tasting. Doing a blind tasting of wines is probably one of the most effective and educational ways to improve your palate as you try to discern the nuances of a wine using your senses. What tasting blind (it’s not actually done blindfolded) means is tasting a wine that has been poured for you without you witnessing which bottled it was poured out of. Most of us, including myself, rely on our sensory memory to “predict” what aromas we might smell or what flavors we might taste in a Pinot Noir, for example. But when you don’t know anything about the wine sitting in front of you, except for that it is red or white,
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you must depend on your senses to do the detective work. Here are some tips on how to identify a mystery wine by using all of your senses:
First up is your sense of sight. Using your eyes to help you identify a wine is greatly underestimated. There is lots of information that can be gathered by simply looking at the unidentified wine. Start with the color. Wines have a distinct color according to the variety of grape used in its production. Rieslings tend to be very light and almost white, while Chardonnays have a fuller golden hue. Gewurztraminers
