Outside of having wine with great friends and a great dinner, the next most enjoyable taste fest one can have is by going to a tasting room.

There is no way to describe the electricity of trying a wine at its home.  We have been to Napa Valley, Carmel by the Sea, Monterey, the Central Coast of California and in the northern lower peninsula of Michigan around Traverse City; just to taste wines.  Each of these areas require several pages each to discus the wines and fun encountered.  If you are going to a wine area, you may even call or email some of them to see if they have special tasting events while you are there, or if you have an appointment, they may even offer some of their premium wines that are not normally poured to the public.  Then there have been wine clubs, some which we have joined, wine bars and even some wine shops have tasting specials.  Never miss a chance to go to any in your travels, because you may meet by accident wine representatives who can give you extensive information about certain wines, and sometimes by happenstance you even get invited to wine tasting dinners, that you would never have known about.

The only caveat that I may mention, is do expect to pay for a tasting, if it is free, consider that a bonus.  On the times where the tasting is gratis, I have always made it a point of courtesy to buy a couple of bottles, and sometimes a case or two.

As strange as it may seem, there is a routine one should get into when doing a tasting.  Start by having a cracker or two and then a glass of wine to cleanse your taste buds.  Look at the glass of wine that has been poured, study the color, is it deep or pale.  Swirl the wine in the glass; this will aerate the wine more, which adds to the tasting.  Now stick your nose into the bell of the glass and smell, you do want to use all of your sensory powers.  You will be surprised what you may smell; it can be a sensory overload.  Take a sip of the first wine, and lay it on your tongue, do not swallow (even though that is your first inclination).  Purse your lips as if you are going to whistle, but inhale air (when you whistle you are exhaling air), this sudden rush of air just before tasting can make the wine explode in taste.  I know if sounds silly, but it works wonders for the moment.  Then proceed to chew this nectar that has been on your tongue (you may feel silly the first couple of times that you do this), then pause and wait to experience the after taste.  Discus what just occurred with your friends, strangers and the servers.  Write your immediate thoughts, if that will help.  Then reach for the crackers and another glass of water, and pour some water into your wine glass and rinse it before getting the next glass of wine.

If you are fortunate to be in an area, where you may be going to several wineries in one day there is a trick you must learn, otherwise you may be useless by the third winery.  You must learn to spit out wine; there will always be some decanter or jug around for this purpose.  Also there may be a wine that you just do not enjoy, free feel to spit it out.  You will not hurt the server’s feelings, as this is common practice.

Occasionally you may see, usually as a decoration on a wall, a silver shallow cup called a tastevin, and it may look line a fancy ashtray.  This cup is used by some in the profession to taste wines out of the barrels before bottling.  You sometimes see a sommelier in a fine restaurant having one dangling on a chain around his neck.  I am not a sommelier, but after seeing one, I wanted one, not that I would use it, but because I thought it would be cool.  I searched several years for one, and then in an antique shop in Calistoga I found one.  I did have to listen to the obligatory, “what do you need that for?” and then I bought it.  It is a great conversation piece in our house.

Below is a picture of my tastevin, next to a corkscrew that has been mounted in an antique wine root.  For background I grabbed a few bottles of wine from my cellar.  If you are interested in the labels they are from left to right: Ch. Mouton-Rothschild ’73, Ch. Cheval Blanc ’92, Dominus ’97, Gaja Barbaresco ’82, Ch. Mouton-Rothschild ’64 and Cain Five ’92.  Please excuse me for some bragging rights.