Wine Tasting

[CrystalSPF]

Has anyone ever been on a wine tasting?

I've done wine tastings a few times, and I find that I learn something new about wine each time. The most recent wine tasting I had the pleasure of experiencing was at Barrister Winery in Spokane, Washington. The owner used a "Wine Thief" to let us taste wine from the barrels, still aging. It was amazing!

 

[crimsonghost747]

Nah, I buy a bottle and taste it.
I guess it would be great for the information, learning about each and every wine etc. But it seems way too fancy for me, though I realise that some of these events are probably very relaxed and have an unofficial feel to them.

 

[megshoe]

That sounds great! I've only ever been to one wine tasting. When I was studying abroad in France we lived in an area that was a Rosé wine producing center so one day we finally decided to go to a famous winery and have a sampling. It was, to our shock, free and we had a selection of bubbly, light, or dry wines. The lady who did it for us was really informative (and patient with our French!). It was a great experience that I'd love to repeat. Do you spit out the wine when you do a tasting? I think technically you're supposed to, but our lady reassured us that we didn't have to.

 

[CrystalSPF]

Nah, I buy a bottle and taste it.
I guess it would be great for the information, learning about each and every wine etc. But it seems way too fancy for me, though I realise that some of these events are probably very relaxed and have an unofficial feel to them.

I'm not very fancy, haha! Yes, a lot of places are pretty relaxed about wine tasting. I do like your way of wine tasting too.

 

[CrystalSPF]

That sounds great! I've only ever been to one wine tasting. When I was studying abroad in France we lived in an area that was a Rosé wine producing center so one day we finally decided to go to a famous winery and have a sampling. It was, to our shock, free and we had a selection of bubbly, light, or dry wines. The lady who did it for us was really informative (and patient with our French!). It was a great experience that I'd love to repeat. Do you spit out the wine when you do a tasting? I think technically you're supposed to, but our lady reassured us that we didn't have to.

That sounds amazing! What a perfect place to taste wine. There are a lot of places that do free wine tasting because they figure you might buy a bottle. Some of the places that I've been to that charge only charge 4-6 dollars per person, and they usually include crackers and cheese.

No, you certainly don't have to spit out the wine, but if you are tasting a lot, I would suggest thinking about it. You have to be careful, because it sneaks up on you. I've also had a bad experience in which I drank too much, and got sick. I think as long as you know how your body reacts, and adjust accordingly, you should be just fine.

 

[zestery]

I love wine tastings! Around here they vary pretty wildly from place to place in my limited experience. I've been to Sonoma and Napa Valley mainly and found the former a lot more fun than the latter.

I guess Napa has a bigger reputation so a lot of the tasting rooms are built just for that purpose and some almost seem like wine bars, sometimes they had pretty big gift shops attached with all sorts of tangentially related stuff from art to tchotckes. The prices for the tastings are higher and the people behind the bar more more likely to be salespeople.

In Sonoma the trend was a lot more casual, and you were more likely to find the tasting room as part of the winery proper (or at least adjacent to it) and the people pouring were as often as not the growers/owners/winemakers themselves. As often as not there was no fee for tastings.

Obviously I much preferred Sonoma, although I can understand how tourism probably changed the Napa scene and made the more casual mode impractical. But I can also see the appeal of the fancier approach, it was certainly enjoyable enough when I got to go there as a work trip (ie when I was not the one paying!).

I would love to explore other regions too

 

[Shadow]

Been to loads. From quite formal to extremely informal. In Canada, France, Italy, Spain and Portugal. And the UK.

Most memorable was a 2 day tasting of champagnes in Reims, the capital of the champagne region. But it was work!
Most recently, was a blind tasting with 7 friends - great fun.

 

[Foodie2014]

Nah, I buy a bottle and taste it.
I guess it would be great for the information, learning about each and every wine etc. But it seems way too fancy for me, though I realise that some of these events are probably very relaxed and have an unofficial feel to them.

That sounds about right! This should just be copied and pasted as my very own post!