There are 2 kinds of book clubs, those with wine, and those without. If you are anything like me you belong to the one with wine, and generally spend your time drinking rather than talking about the book – sound familiar? If so, you should be tossing the book on your bedside table and inviting a few friends over for a wine tasting. Wine tastings are a clever way to learn more about wine, food pairing and discovering new grapes (aka, drinking).
What is a wine club?
A collection of friends who gather frequently to discuss grape varieties, food paring and learn more about wine.
How does it work?
Each gathering discusses a region of wine, all wine and food served at that event match the geography allowing club members to learn as much as they can about the grape varieties of the region and food pairing to compliment the wine. There are many ways to organize the event, but I have found that keeping the number of attendees to less than 10 works well. The host of the event draws up a list of potential wine varieties for the night, each attendee (or couple) brings a bottle of wine form the list, along with some background information on the grape, and a dish to compliment it.
Do I need to know about wine to host a club?
No, the beauty of the club is that it is a learning process. By the end of it you will know a lot about wine, even more if you buy yourself a tasting book to keep track of your tasting notes.
Tasting: The techniques
Now that you know how it works…and listen darlings, it is so much fun. You need to know how to taste. For some of you this is like teaching you to suck eggs (an English expression that simply means, teaching you something you already know, but then you knew that), but for others, this is a new lesson and an important one if you are going to host a club.
- Eye of the beholder: Hold the glass at a distance and look at the color, is it a new vibrant wine or an old mellow wine? Reds are generally purplish when young, and orange-tinted when old; whites tend to be bright yellowy when young and a soft golden color when old.
- Close your eyes and smell the wine, take in the aroma: Do you smell floral, citrus, spice, berry, et all? What you smell now is an indication of what is to come. There must be balance is the aroma, too much of something will surely imbalance the taste.
- Taste it – balance is key: To much of one flavor and the wine will be imbalanced. Can you taste the smells you encountered earlier? What do you taste? Once the wine has left you, does the flavor linger afterwards?
- Ask yourself: What grape variety is this? What aromas can I detect? What flavors did I expect, did I find? What food would accompany this well? What makes this wine special?
If hosting a wine club sounds like your ideal night in, here are my suggestions for an Italian Wine night to get your started…
2001 Cos from Sicily in the DOCG region of Cerasuolo di Vittoria. Sicillain red wine is very new tasting and one of my favorite red wines of all times. 2001 was a great year for Italian Red wines. Great with a selection of anti-pasta. (Mrs. Bliss drinks this and no doubt you will too once you try it)
2008 Fina Vini Grillo is from the western region of Sicily, near Marsala. This white wine is very fresh lemony taste and perfect for summer. Works well with any fish accompaniment.
2008 Giardini Falanghina is from the region of Puglia with its stunning rolling hills. This white wine offers a subtler citrus aroma and taste, perfect with prawns.