So, I decided to become a wine connoisseur...
Without knowing it, I guess, I started my journey in my teens drinking cheap white zinfandel and white wine spritzers - my mother's drinks of choice. In college, my now husband and I had a "friend" buy us a bottle of white wine to celebrate our 4yr dating anniversary. We were so excited to drink wine that we went out and purchased a new corkscrew and wine glasses. Unfortunately, our "friend" came back with a $3.99 bottle of grocery store wine. We both swore off wine forever.
When I started law school, I decided to become "sophisticated", so I started drinking wine again. I discovered that I liked red wine better than white wine and that wine glasses could be beautiful, so I started amassing what would eventually become a 100+ wine glass collection. Even though I knew that I like red wine, I could not tell you what merlot tasted like, and it was my drink of choice.
While in law school, I went to my first wine tasting at the Goose Watch tasting room in Lake Placid, immediately followed by my second wine tasting at the Swedish Hill tasting room in Lake Placid. I discovered that the experience of tasting wine, all different kinds of wine, could be wonderful. It was the first time that I thought about the wine that I was drinking. If I had to pin point the start of my love of wine, it would have to be at these first tastings.
After my trip to Lake Placid, on every vacation, I started to seek out wineries. I visited the Williams burg Winery in Virginia, small fruit wineries in Vermont, farm wineries in Massachusetts, and eventually, began to tackle some of the wine trails in New York and Canada. While in Greece, I visited a winery in Santorini and even attempted to tackle Napa and Sonoma on a 10 day trip to California. But, even after all of my travels and drinking, I still did not feel as though I got wine or was really tasting it. I knew that I liked many red wines, but if you asked me to pick out a merlot from a Syrah, I could not do it. If you asked me the floavor profile of a grape, I could not tell you. How is it that I could spend years drinking a beverage and not know what it tastes like?
So, I decided to become a wine connoisseur, i.e., someone who knows, understands, appreciates, and evaluates wine. I had no idea how to go about doing this.
I enrolled in and completed several classes through Wine Spectator and joined two wine clubs (not sure whether this will advance my understanding of wine) and have enrolled in a wine class for this fall. I have planned trips to Long Island, the Finger Lakes, and Napa all with the hope of learning more about wine.
So far, the Wine Spectator courses have made me realize that I did not know what many foods actually tasted like. Think of what a blueberry or a strawberry tastes like and you might conjure up a thought of immitation flavors.
I have begun to find flavors in wines that I did not notice before. I pay attention to to the color, clarity, aromas, flavors and finish.
I am not sure where this journey will take me, but so far it seems like a fun jounrney to be on.
We will see where this leads...
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
A Dinner at Benmarl: An Extraordinary Evening
Tired of the usual bachelorette parties, the ones where you go into New York City, get drunk and dance on a bar, my girlfriends and I decided to plan an intimate dinner for 5, just the bride and the bridesmaids at Benmarl Winery in Marlborough, New York.
As we walked up to the winery, the white lights illuminated the rustic winery, where we would have our dinner. The door was open, beckoning us in. We entered to find a small table set in the tasting room, right in front of a wood burning stove, which fortunately was not burning given the unseasonably balmy weather we were having.
We seated ourselves, knowing the table had to be set for us as it was the only one around. The lights were dimmed and white lights twinkled about the room. Out hosts, Wendy, a food and wine pairing expert, and Bethany, the events coordinator at Benmarl greeted us. They would escort our taste-buds on a fanciful flight through the evening.
They offered us sparkling wine to start, but not wanting to seem too anxious and a bit overwhelmed by the prospect of the meal ahead of us, we accepted water. Wendy explained the menu and returned to the kitchen.
The next time she appeared, she served shrimp, stuffed with gorgonzola cheese, wrapped in pancetta and filo dough. She opened the sparking wine, announcing that it was a chardonnay based sparkling wine. I thought to myself (knowing my friends were thinking the same thing), but I don’t drink chardonnay. The sparkling chardonnay was light and crisp, nothing like the traditional buttery oaky chardonnays that leave a coating in your mouth. We dug in, eating and drinking every last bit, fearful of wasting any of the delightful combination.
Next, Wendy served a salad topped with panko crusted goat cheese and a muscat wine. The muscat was fruity with hints of orange and tangerine. It complimented the goat cheese fabulously. After, again, cleaning our plates and emptying our glasses, and yes, re-filling our glasses with the bottle that Wendy was kind enough to leave behind, we eased into our chairs and our conversation.
Wendy and Bethany brought out the main course: chicken in a buttery sauce with spinach, potatoes, carrots and squash, and the crus de gras of this course was the baco noir, a light to medium bodied peppery wine with hints of red cherry.
As the evening went on, my girlfriends and I glanced at each other in delight. The twinkling lights added to the magic of the evening. Never once did we wish that we were in the City on top of a bar.
The molten chocolate cake with raspberry sauce served with Cassis, a sweet dessert wine, with hints of raspberries was the perfect and decadent end to the evening.
As we walked to our car, one of my girlfriends commented that it was the best meal that she ever had. Not to offend my mother, but I think I have to agree.
As we walked up to the winery, the white lights illuminated the rustic winery, where we would have our dinner. The door was open, beckoning us in. We entered to find a small table set in the tasting room, right in front of a wood burning stove, which fortunately was not burning given the unseasonably balmy weather we were having.
We seated ourselves, knowing the table had to be set for us as it was the only one around. The lights were dimmed and white lights twinkled about the room. Out hosts, Wendy, a food and wine pairing expert, and Bethany, the events coordinator at Benmarl greeted us. They would escort our taste-buds on a fanciful flight through the evening.
They offered us sparkling wine to start, but not wanting to seem too anxious and a bit overwhelmed by the prospect of the meal ahead of us, we accepted water. Wendy explained the menu and returned to the kitchen.
The next time she appeared, she served shrimp, stuffed with gorgonzola cheese, wrapped in pancetta and filo dough. She opened the sparking wine, announcing that it was a chardonnay based sparkling wine. I thought to myself (knowing my friends were thinking the same thing), but I don’t drink chardonnay. The sparkling chardonnay was light and crisp, nothing like the traditional buttery oaky chardonnays that leave a coating in your mouth. We dug in, eating and drinking every last bit, fearful of wasting any of the delightful combination.
Next, Wendy served a salad topped with panko crusted goat cheese and a muscat wine. The muscat was fruity with hints of orange and tangerine. It complimented the goat cheese fabulously. After, again, cleaning our plates and emptying our glasses, and yes, re-filling our glasses with the bottle that Wendy was kind enough to leave behind, we eased into our chairs and our conversation.
Wendy and Bethany brought out the main course: chicken in a buttery sauce with spinach, potatoes, carrots and squash, and the crus de gras of this course was the baco noir, a light to medium bodied peppery wine with hints of red cherry.
As the evening went on, my girlfriends and I glanced at each other in delight. The twinkling lights added to the magic of the evening. Never once did we wish that we were in the City on top of a bar.
The molten chocolate cake with raspberry sauce served with Cassis, a sweet dessert wine, with hints of raspberries was the perfect and decadent end to the evening.
As we walked to our car, one of my girlfriends commented that it was the best meal that she ever had. Not to offend my mother, but I think I have to agree.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)