On tasting many wines

Last week I wrote about tasting 100 Chardonnays over the course of the Cool Climate Chardonnay Festival weekend and I had several people ask how I could sample that many wines and still appreciate what I tasted.  The answer is practice… spitting that is.  

When I first started studying wine, I finished all the wines that I tasted.  By the end of the evening, everything was simply “delicious” and my tasting notes became, well, interesting.  I did, however, have a super fun time!  This year as my first experience at Vinexpo.  My goal was to taste as many wines as I could over the course of the event and still be able to speak coherently at the end of the day.  I had to spit.

While it is sad to taste a delicious wine and end up not only spitting but pouring out what is left in the glass, it is a necessary evil.  I was able to taste 60-80 wines a day, take proper notes on all of them and remain lucid!  And there was a small amount of wine that didn’t quite make it into the spittoon…

Here is a tip – carry a tissue with you for the inevitable mis-spit (aka dribble).  I learned that the hard way.

Cheers,

Michelle