By LESLIE CRAMER Special Writer
Most wine tastings are given by local wine merchants or clubs and are often educational in nature; meaning they are workshop-like and led by a speaker, some sort of professional in the field. Liquor and wine wholesale distributors, liquor store/wine shops, usually hold them, and restaurants may, too, when introducing a new wine list. The tasting will likely have a theme — a grape variety, a region, a comparison of two or more wines, etc.
As you enter the tasting you are often welcomed with a glass of champagne or sparkling wine. You then proceed on to the lightest wines (generally whites, often a sauvignon blanc) and move through maybe two other whites. When the whites are finished, you move on to the reds, again starting with the lightest, working your way to the heavier, full-bodied wines. With any luck, you will finish the tasting with a dessert wine, or a port or sherry, to wind up the evening.
You’ll probably be seated at a table with several glasses in front of each taster in order to sample the different wines being presented. Each taster should have glass of water, as well, to cleanse the palate between wines. There is often a bucket of some sort on the table, too, for those who wish to spit and not ingest everything offered. Serving food along with the wine depends on who is conducting the tasting. Unless you are well enough versed in food-wine pairings, its best to keep it really simple. I’ve been to tastings where the food selection offered with the wine totally overshadowed the wine, and even made it taste “off.”
Such “workshops” are generally excellent ways to broaden one’s viticultural knowledge. They are a good way to decide what you like and don’t like, and to sample wines you may not have considered before. Tastings are often a relative bargain, too. They are sometimes even free (if a local distributor or wine shop has a special promotion going on or the like) or at least low cost.
The expert conducting the tasting offers his or her opinions and knowledge in order to assist you in shaping your own judgment of what appeals (or may not) to you, the taster. They may offer up a question-and-answer session before, during, or after the tasting. And do ask if you are comfortable in doing so. The speaker is there for you, the sampler, to explain things in depth, clarify something you may not understand, etc., if you require more on the topic of what he/she has spoken about. They are there to expound on their areas of expertise.
That’s the whole purpose of the tasting, to sample new and different wines and learn something in the process. This type of tasting is preferable in that it is a learning and sampling experience. Tastings where the bottles are just placed on the table, with no set format on what to taste first, a little history of the wine, a story perhaps of the vineyard or the winemakers practices, and the like, lose the purpose entirely.
The person conducting the tasting needs to keep it light, although it is sometimes a tricky balance, and serious enough for the attendees to get something from the tasting, and have fun at the same time. He or she must keep in mind that the tasters are often sampling six or so wines. They will often lose focus after a few glasses. The noise level in the room rises exponentially and by that point the host has pretty well lost the crowd. This is spoken by someone who’s conducted a few, and attended way more than that. But as an attendee, I’m one of those rare few who pay close attention, right up to the end.
Another bonus of attending a tasting, you are able to meet and socialize with other lovers of the grape. This may lead to formations of new wine clubs and may help with sharing the expenses of cases of wine if the tasting makes purchases of wine possible and if it’s legal to buy straight from the wholesaler.
I’d love to tell you more about the tasting itself, and I most definitely will at a later date — from the setting, to the order of the wines that are poured, scoring the wines, decorum, etc., etc. If you get the opportunity to attend one, by all means give it a whirl. They are fun, entertaining, and a good learning experience. Just remember to give your host your undivided attention and the respect he or she deserves. It’s not easy being up there, with all eyes on you, expounding on your expertise while those watching you are getting noisier and losing focus with every sip they take.
Salud!
Leslie Cramer has worked in many aspects of the wine industry and has received awards for her writing. She was born in North Jersey, raised on the Shore in Bay Head, and has lived in the Virgin Islands for 25 years.

