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| Photo by: Randy Litwin |
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Celebration of Hope
The Children’s Hospital at Memorial Health Children’s Hospital 5h Annual Celebration of Hope benefiting children with cancer, bleeding disorders, and sickle cell disease will be held on Saturday, October 2, 2010, from 7:00 pm – 10:00 pm at Harborside Center at the Hyatt on River Street. The event consists of a Silent Auction, Wine Tasting with 75 specialty wines, and live music. Proceeds are used to provide support services to local families with children treated at The Children’s Hospital. Websites for information and to purchase tickets online: memorialhealth.kintera.org/celebrationofhope and kidshope.memorialhealth.com. Call 350-8194 for more information.
The Celebration of Hope is the primary fund raiser for Kids Miracle Designs, which is a grassroots fund that was founded by medical staff and oncology parents at The Children’s Hospital. The fund provides helps local families who are experiencing medical, financial, and emotional hardship due to the critical illness of a child in the family.
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| Photo by: Randy Litwin |
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Sponsors:
Grand Wine Master ($5000)
Master Wine Sommelier ($2500)
Wine Chevalier ($1000)
Wine Collector ($500)
Wine Enthusiast ($250)
Others (Gifts in Kind Valued at $250 - $5,000)
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| Cheers To The Trumpeter |
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Etiquette & Suggestions for Wine Tasting
A “Wine tasting” describes the process by which all the senses come into play to determine how inspiring a wine may be to a particular taster. Rules no more make wine tasters than sermons make a saint. Wine, like art or stargazing, is best studied for its splendor, for its haunting mystery, for the miracle of its existence; such exquisite beauty with such simple origins.
Wine tasting should be loads of fun! But, whether you are at a private wine tasting or at a vineyard, the rules of etiquette for wine drinking and tasting are the same.
And they exist to make your time at this event more profitable -- like doing your homework in advance, having a plan enhances your tasting experience.
Following are 10 tips that will help guide you through the evening and make you be a wine pro.
Order of Tasting
You will usually taste from light to heavy and from dry to sweet — that is, you'll have white wines, then reds, then dessert wines. For your palate's sake, generally follow the staff's suggestions when it comes to the order of the wines you taste. "It's like drinking orange juice after you brush your teeth: "Some wines don't follow others well."
Handling a Wine Glass
The proper way to hold any style of wine glass is by the stem, gripping the glass gently between the thumb and the forefinger. This keeps fingerprints off the bowl and keeps your hand from heating the wine. Swirling the wine gently in small circles aerates the wine, bringing out its volatile elements, or “nose.” Place your nose above the brim of the glass and gently smell the wine’s emerging aroma. Tilting the glass to a 45 degree angle using the white table cloth as a background, note the color, aroma, legs, etc. which will give hints about how and where the wine was grown, harvested and made.
See, Swirl, Sniff, Sip, Swallow
Take a small sip. Move the wine around in the whole mouth, to warm it slightly. You’ll quickly get the hang of how much time it takes you to complete this all important process. Don’t try to taste too may wines at one tasting. There is a point where the palate becomes less sensitive to distinguishing varieties. If you’ve tasted ten wines, you may not remember the eleventh or twelth.
Now it is decision time: “To spit or not to spit.” That is the question (answered below)
Spitting, Swishing and Slurping
After you've savored the flavor of your wine, it's acceptable to eject it in a more direct way. Spitting of the wine is not necessarily required at an informal tasting, but if you plan to taste several wines, either spitting or taking just a tiny taste will help your ability to assess flavors. If you're going to spit, spit like you mean it." Never use the dump bucket, since this could result in an unpleasant backlash from both the bucket and the people around you. Ask for a disposable spit cup.
Slurping and swishing are a bit more controversial. Loud displays of gurgling is a no-no; but making some noise is acceptable and even encouraged. Gentle swishing allows the wine full access to those eagerly awaiting taste buds on your tongue.
Take Tasting Notes
You don't really know what you think until you write it down. Taking tasting notes forces you to pay attention to what's in the glass -- and let's face it, the better part of wine tasting is just paying attention. A note should be short, to the point, and useful. Name the wine completely, identify the vintage, then comment briefly on what you notice (color, aroma, flavors, texture, concentration, etc.). Conclude with a mark indicating overall appeal: a check, check plus, or check minus, for example. If a year hence your note conjures some modestly accurate memory of the experience, you've got it.
Read A Good Wine Book
Wine is something to drink, but it's also something to think. And although there's way too much information for any one person to absorb, there's plenty to be gained from running your eyes over good wine books. Perhaps your local wine distributor can suggest some essential reading. Also searching on the internet can produce some enlightening thoughts about the “wine experience.” But no matter how much you research, an educated palate is always the final arbiter of quality.
Sensual Piggyback
Appropriately good food and music can enhance the wine tasting experience. Make sure the taste of the food does not negatively interact with the taste of the wine. Aurally, jazz piano or a jazz trio seems always to be a good match. But music, like food, should not distract from the focus of the wine –but should enhance the experience.
Ambient Tastes and Smells
Bubble gum, chewing gum and breath mints will alter the taste of wine. Be sure to rinse your mouth well with water before beginning a tasting.
Don't wear perfume or cologne or use lotions with strong fragrances when attending a tasting. The scents interfere not only with your senses of smell and taste, but also with those of the people around you. There is nothing worse than trying to taste a 1985 Stags Leap Cask 23 standing next to someone that is wearing 2 ounces of Polo! Toning down your lipstick, says Schafer, will lessen your chances of leaving a rim smudge.
Pouring Your Own Wine
You may think nothing of reaching across the bar and helping out the hassled tasting-pourer, but in truth, the establishment could be fined or even shut down for allowing you to pour for yourself. Never touch an open bottle.
Wine Sales
State Law prohibits the sale of wine at these events. The pourer will be able to tell you where you might pick up a bottle of wine that you’ve found simply irresistible.
ENJOY!
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