Ciao Italia! Our February 19, 2009 class took us to Tuscany where we sampled four different Tuscan wines that moved up the quality scale. We enjoyed one so much that one of our students ran out and acquired another bottle. Here’s what we found on our tour:
We started with a 2006 Castello di Farnetella Chianti [...]

At our December 18, 2008 class we explored different rankings of white and red burgundies. Wines in Burgundy are actually ranked according to the quality and prestige of the neighborhood in which the wine is produced. So in our blind taste test to determine whether we could distinguish this quality we compared a 2006 Jean [...]

Our November 20 wine class took a trip to Alsace to taste four quite different white wines from the region – a Riesling, a pinot gris, a gewurztraminer and a muscat. All were from the same producer, so we were confident we could distinguish the four in our blind taste test. Once again we were [...]

Thanks to a big turnout, our October 23 wine class was a blast. This time we were comparing white Bordeaux with California Sauvignon Blancs, and we came up with some pretty eclectic descriptions.

Beads you say? Why look for beads in France? Well that’s what the bubbles in champagne are called because they look like strings of beads as they stream up to the surface of the glass.
What a great introduction to French wine we had on June 19 when we explored the world of champagne, first comparing [...]

But that’s not a bad thing. Our May 15 wine class dove into the four most popular red grape varieties with relish, in fact. This was a fine review of what we’ve learned in the past year about red wines to prepare us for our upcoming tours of France. Here’s how it went:
First, we tried [...]

On April 17 a small group of us began our exploration and review of the most popular wine varietals (that’s grape varieties) by comparing some of the big three whites – a Riesling, two sauvignon blancs and a chardonnay. After just 14 classes, we’re able to talk about color, body, mouth feel, acidity, aromas and [...]

Our usual wine class attendees may have found their favorite red so far as we began our second year on February 21 reaching into the Old and New Worlds of merlot and cabernet sauvignon. We began our tour this month comparing a 2003 Chateau Brun-Despagne Heritage from the Bordeaux region in France (13% alcohol) with [...]

The red-wine fanatics in our wine class were skeptical as we explored Old World (i.e. France) and the New World (in this case, California) white wines on January 17, but they were in for a surprise. And the white-wine enthusiasts, of course, were in heaven.We began our trip this month with a 2005 Chateau de [...]

Our wine class continued our world travels on December 20 skipping back and forth between the Old World (i.e. Europe) and the New World (in this case, Washington and California). We expected to find subtlety in the Old World wines compared to boldness in the New World styles. And, boy did we! We started out [...]