Waiting to ripen |
The area around Niagara-on-the-Lake is
rapidly being taken over by vineyards. Where they used to grow peaches and
other fruit, the wine industry is encouraging the planting of grapes. The last
peach canning plant closed years ago, and many farmers have cut down the peach
trees and planted grapes. Everywhere you look there are neat rows of tidy grape
vines, and all these grapes are being processed into wine by the many wineries
in the area. Spending three days in the area tasting wine, we found at least two
new wineries that had only opened in the past few years. The production of wine
and the popular tourist wine tasting tours is becoming a major industry in the
area.
Visiting some of the wineries in the area
and tasting the wine has been very entertaining, and I have learned a lot about
wine and wine tasting. One thing I have learned is that the person guiding the
tasting makes a huge difference. On Saturday the wineries were very busy, and
although we did taste many glasses of wine and bought some good bottles, it
wasn’t until Sunday when we actually found some good hosts and did some real
wine tasting.
The difference is subtle but important. All
the wineries have someone behind a bar who will pour wine into a glass and let
you taste it; the good ones have a person who pours you wine, talks to you
about it, decides what you like and dislike and guides your tasting based on
what he and you learn. Some have a list of wines you can taste and start at the
top and work their way through allowing you to decide what you like, and
hopefully want to buy. The good guides (I actually have no idea what these folk
are called), start by asking you what your preferences are in wine. Then
instead of just working through the list, they tailor the wine you taste to
your preferences. They also ask you about the wine and based on what you liked
or disliked suggest different options. I found that servers who expressed their
own preferences and opinions ended up being very helpful. “Oh, I really like
that one too, and I really like this other bottle, would you like to try that?”
Hmmmmmm. . . . |
I enjoyed the knowledgeable servers who
instead of just pouring a little wine in your glass, and stand back waiting for
you reaction, add comments such as telling you what grapes are in the wine, and
even food pairings for the wine. The very best servers had stories about the
wine and how it was developed or how the wine maker developed the wine.
On Saturday I had wine poured for me, but
on Sunday I had at least three servers who actively engaged me in the tasting
and from these people I learned something about the wine and about how to taste
wine. I discovered that I actually have pretty subtle and distinctive taste for
certain wine, and those servers who worked with that were able to sell me some
very nice wine.
No comments:
Post a Comment