Wine Week at the
Culinary Institute of America
Episode #104
This episode follows students at Karen MacNeil’s week-long seminar
on wine tasting at the Culinary Institute of America in Napa Valley. The
group is a mix of inspired amateurs and restaurant professionals whose progress
is charted both in the classroom and at wineries and restaurants throughout
the Napa Valley. 
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TIP: Tasting Well
- Swirl the wine vigorously.
- Smell using short sniffs.
- Suggest flavor ideas.
- Color doesn’t equal flavor.
Here are the keys to tasting well. First, remember that you can’t really taste a wine without smelling it. Be sure to swirl it vigorously to release the aroma, then put your nose deep into the glass and take a series of short sniffs. As you taste, don’t wait for flavors to occur to you. Run different flavor ideas through your mind until something clicks. And remember, color intensity does not equal flavor intensity. So there you have it: swirl, smell, suggest flavors, and don’t get caught up on color.
Have you ever had a wine that tastes and smells awful? Maybe it wasn’t the wine at all, maybe it was the wine glass. In fact, many of the wines that are sent back in restaurants are actually fine. What made the wine taste bad was an unclean glass. So washing your wine glasses perfectly is very important. The best way is to wash the wine glasses by hand using warm water and a minimum of soap. Then rinse them thoroughly because even a little bit of soap on a glass can make wine taste strange. When you dry glasses, use a tea towel or a special cloth that won’t leave any lint behind. When you store your wine glasses, store them on their feet rather than on their rims, because a wine glass stored upside-down can often take on the smell of the shelf. Above all, never serve dairy desserts in a wine glass. While a parfait served in a glass may look pretty, it’s almost impossible to get a wine glass clean once it has dairy products in it. And who wants their cabernet to taste like sour milk?
Tra Vigne
http://www.travignerestaurant.comShafer Vineyards
http://www.shafervineyards.comThe Culinary Institute of America at Greystone
http://www.ciachef.edu/greystone
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