Cooking
A while back, a co-worker suggested I teach a wine class at work. She knows that I'm just the teensiest bit obsessed with wine and food (see the title of this blog), and she thought people would have fun learning how to be wine snobs. That, and there'd be wine to drink. We got approval for the class, which I'll probably hold quarterly for different groups of people. I've taken a lot of wine classes, but this was my first time teaching one. I'd love to do a ten-week course focusing on different regions and helping people understand their palates, but I had one night and a modest budget. I went to the Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant, told them what I was doing and asked for their advice about particular bottles. I knew I wanted an Old World and a New World Chardonnay to illustrate how wines from outside of Europe tend to be fruitier. I also asked for a German Riesling because, hey, it's me; I'd never miss a chance to turn people on to German Riesling. Finally, I requested red wines that represented common grapes a wine buyer in California might see: a Pinot Noir, a Zinfandel, and a Cabernet Sauvignon. We tasted them all blind so that no one would be enthralled by a pretty label. I started the class with a quick lesson on how to taste wine. It's really not hard. You look at the wine in the glass, tilting it against a good light source or at least a white piece of paper. You're looking for the intensity of color, hints about the age of the wine (as a rule, whites darken as they age, reds get lighter), whether the wine is opaque or clear. "Legs" or "tears" of wine dripping down the glass aren't that useful: they can give you some clues about the wine, but the glass introduces so much variance that they're not worth considering except in extreme cases. You give the wine a swirl and take a sniff. You swirl the wine to aerate it, aging it to a certain extent: a wine glass is a miniature decanter. You also swirl the glass to release the volatile compounds bound up in the liquid; these are what produce the scents. You come up with terms to describe this aroma. Is it fruity? What kind of fruit? Is it earthy? Do you smell the oaky smells of caramel or butterscotch or vanilla or baking spices? Are the different scents intense or weak? For the first glass, I made my students wait before saying anything. Then I called on them randomly, and I let them know that I wouldn't say they were wrong. How do I know what the wine smells like to them? My first wine teacher is Brazilian, and he often uses tropical fruit flavors to describe wine. Another wine teacher I had is a chef, so her tasting comments would be descriptions of dishes: "blueberry creme brulée," "roast chicken with an herb rub." Your background affects your mental map of what things smell like. After you smell, you take a taste. You take a small amount in your mouth and swish it about. You draw in air over the wine and breathe it out through your nose. You're trying to release more of those volatile chemicals into your nasal passage to get a flavor, and the swishing gets the wine all over your mouth so that all your taste buds have a chance to chime in about it. You think about the flavors, the body of the wine, how much acidity or sweetness or tannins. Then, in my case, you spit the wine into a spit cup. You evaluate the finish. How long does it last? What flavors linger? And finally, did you like the wine? After they knew the basic technique, we tasted our way through the wines and people offered their thoughts and asked questions. I brought in ten or so books for people to look through and to answer questions I couldn't. I offered some general advice about wine and food towards the end (I had provided some bread and cheese and olives for people). I made handouts that included Ann Noble's Aroma Wheel, space for tasting notes, plus some good resources for people to take advantage of after the class (Vinography, good local wine stores, my favorite books, and so forth). Everyone seemed to have a good time, and I found it eye-opening to be the teacher. I made myself an outline, but I still forgot some points I wanted to make. There's so much information, and so little time. I'm looking forward to the next class, especially now that I've worked out some of the kinks with my first class as guinea pigs. I'll share some of the points from my handout with you. My favorite all-purpose wine book? Most of you already know the answer: Karen MacNeil's The Wine Bible. My thoughts on wine and food? Here's what I handed out:
- Food And Wine Pairing
Wine goes with food. I know this sounds obvious, but not that long ago I got into a disagreement with a wine blogger about this very subject. Her point was that not all wine needs to be paired with food, some people enjoy wine without food. Well not...
- The Subjectiveness Of Smell
Slate's Mike Steinberger continues his look at the physiology of tasting wine with a probing of the nose. There's some good information there, and it reinforces what I already tell my students: You are always right about what you smell and what...
- Do I Love Wine That Loves?
My friend Phil reminded me about the Wine That Loves line of wines. The idea is that you buy a bottle of wine to go with the food you're eating. The labels show you the food that the wine loves, with bottles for pizza, chicken, steak, pasta with tomato...
- What Every Boy And Girl Wants
Looking for the perfect Valentine's Day gift? How about a cool six-week-long UC Berkeley Extension wine course in San Francisco, starting in early April? You might think this is a hard gift to find, but you'd be wrong. Click the link, pull out...
- Ordering Wine, The Waiter's Perspective
The excellent Waiter Rant has a good post about ordering wine. I disagree with some of his commenters, but only one of his points. As I say in the comments, when I'm approving wine I sniff, then swirl, then sniff. When you swirl, you kick up volatile...
Cooking
Teaching Wine
A while back, a co-worker suggested I teach a wine class at work. She knows that I'm just the teensiest bit obsessed with wine and food (see the title of this blog), and she thought people would have fun learning how to be wine snobs. That, and there'd be wine to drink. We got approval for the class, which I'll probably hold quarterly for different groups of people. I've taken a lot of wine classes, but this was my first time teaching one. I'd love to do a ten-week course focusing on different regions and helping people understand their palates, but I had one night and a modest budget. I went to the Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant, told them what I was doing and asked for their advice about particular bottles. I knew I wanted an Old World and a New World Chardonnay to illustrate how wines from outside of Europe tend to be fruitier. I also asked for a German Riesling because, hey, it's me; I'd never miss a chance to turn people on to German Riesling. Finally, I requested red wines that represented common grapes a wine buyer in California might see: a Pinot Noir, a Zinfandel, and a Cabernet Sauvignon. We tasted them all blind so that no one would be enthralled by a pretty label. I started the class with a quick lesson on how to taste wine. It's really not hard. You look at the wine in the glass, tilting it against a good light source or at least a white piece of paper. You're looking for the intensity of color, hints about the age of the wine (as a rule, whites darken as they age, reds get lighter), whether the wine is opaque or clear. "Legs" or "tears" of wine dripping down the glass aren't that useful: they can give you some clues about the wine, but the glass introduces so much variance that they're not worth considering except in extreme cases. You give the wine a swirl and take a sniff. You swirl the wine to aerate it, aging it to a certain extent: a wine glass is a miniature decanter. You also swirl the glass to release the volatile compounds bound up in the liquid; these are what produce the scents. You come up with terms to describe this aroma. Is it fruity? What kind of fruit? Is it earthy? Do you smell the oaky smells of caramel or butterscotch or vanilla or baking spices? Are the different scents intense or weak? For the first glass, I made my students wait before saying anything. Then I called on them randomly, and I let them know that I wouldn't say they were wrong. How do I know what the wine smells like to them? My first wine teacher is Brazilian, and he often uses tropical fruit flavors to describe wine. Another wine teacher I had is a chef, so her tasting comments would be descriptions of dishes: "blueberry creme brulée," "roast chicken with an herb rub." Your background affects your mental map of what things smell like. After you smell, you take a taste. You take a small amount in your mouth and swish it about. You draw in air over the wine and breathe it out through your nose. You're trying to release more of those volatile chemicals into your nasal passage to get a flavor, and the swishing gets the wine all over your mouth so that all your taste buds have a chance to chime in about it. You think about the flavors, the body of the wine, how much acidity or sweetness or tannins. Then, in my case, you spit the wine into a spit cup. You evaluate the finish. How long does it last? What flavors linger? And finally, did you like the wine? After they knew the basic technique, we tasted our way through the wines and people offered their thoughts and asked questions. I brought in ten or so books for people to look through and to answer questions I couldn't. I offered some general advice about wine and food towards the end (I had provided some bread and cheese and olives for people). I made handouts that included Ann Noble's Aroma Wheel, space for tasting notes, plus some good resources for people to take advantage of after the class (Vinography, good local wine stores, my favorite books, and so forth). Everyone seemed to have a good time, and I found it eye-opening to be the teacher. I made myself an outline, but I still forgot some points I wanted to make. There's so much information, and so little time. I'm looking forward to the next class, especially now that I've worked out some of the kinks with my first class as guinea pigs. I'll share some of the points from my handout with you. My favorite all-purpose wine book? Most of you already know the answer: Karen MacNeil's The Wine Bible. My thoughts on wine and food? Here's what I handed out:
- You want to match weights between wine and food, as well as styles (casual wines go with casual meals and so on).
- A common technique is to "bridge" a flavor between a wine and a food, so serve Chablis with a lemony fish because there's citrus in both of them. This works to some extent but can be overdone. Harmony is nice, but you don't need to be bludgeoned with it. That tactic applied heavy-handedly can begin to make the meal seem monotonous.
- Wines need to be sweeter than the food they're served with
- Wines need to be more acidic than the food they're served with
- Acidic wines and tannic wines work well with fatty foods
- Sparkling wines are food friendly (and they delight and make everything seem like a celebration). So is European Riesling. So is Pinot Noir (which includes Burgundy, but knowing Burgundies is a fetish in its own right). So is Beaujolais. These are good standbys if you like these wines.
- Certain pairings are classic, but most pairings are personal in nature
- Regional pairings often work well with European food. A California Cabernet Sauvignon won't complement Sicilian food nearly as well as a good Sicilian wine.
- In general wines should go from lighter to heavier and drier to sweeter in a meal
- Many soft to semi-firm cheeses actually go better with white wine, while red wines work better with firmer cheeses
- Food And Wine Pairing
Wine goes with food. I know this sounds obvious, but not that long ago I got into a disagreement with a wine blogger about this very subject. Her point was that not all wine needs to be paired with food, some people enjoy wine without food. Well not...
- The Subjectiveness Of Smell
Slate's Mike Steinberger continues his look at the physiology of tasting wine with a probing of the nose. There's some good information there, and it reinforces what I already tell my students: You are always right about what you smell and what...
- Do I Love Wine That Loves?
My friend Phil reminded me about the Wine That Loves line of wines. The idea is that you buy a bottle of wine to go with the food you're eating. The labels show you the food that the wine loves, with bottles for pizza, chicken, steak, pasta with tomato...
- What Every Boy And Girl Wants
Looking for the perfect Valentine's Day gift? How about a cool six-week-long UC Berkeley Extension wine course in San Francisco, starting in early April? You might think this is a hard gift to find, but you'd be wrong. Click the link, pull out...
- Ordering Wine, The Waiter's Perspective
The excellent Waiter Rant has a good post about ordering wine. I disagree with some of his commenters, but only one of his points. As I say in the comments, when I'm approving wine I sniff, then swirl, then sniff. When you swirl, you kick up volatile...