My own Stradivarius
I was invited to dinner at a friend's house the other night. Word has got round about my websites Radio 2 appearance, and so naturally the conversation turned to wine.
My friend challenged me (after I had already consumed several glasses of champagne) to a blind tasting of the wine carefully presented in a fine decanter at the meal table. I do not claim to be a wine buff, in fact I claim to be clueless, but despite this, judging by all the expectant faces, the pressure was on. A good wine palate is like a finely tuned Stradivarius, with Yehudi Menuhin at the helm. Conversely I felt like one of the 'chuckle brothers' playing the spoons.
I grabbed the glass, swilled round the wine, stuck in my nose to gather the aroma and sipped. I dragged the wine through my tongue with a dramatic gurgling sound and swallowed. These actions were a culmination of watching food and wine programs and emulating what I had seen with little or no understanding. At this point I 'pondered', as indeed you are meant to, giving an air of intimate knowledge as to the hidden depths within. I then blurted out 'Bordeaux, Cabernet Sauvignon'. My friend's face went pale. He was in shock. I had managed to 'assess' the wine correctly. Wow, the spoons were cast aside. My over excitement would be my downfall as I had forgotten that the word 'assess' should have been replaced with 'guess'.
Later on in the evening I was challenged again, with two more wines. I got these so wrong it was embarrassing, and all the kudos I had just gained evaporated like a red puff of super heated Rioja.
I think I will leave the blind tasting to the professionals, and get on with enjoying the wine rather than over analyzing.
My friend challenged me (after I had already consumed several glasses of champagne) to a blind tasting of the wine carefully presented in a fine decanter at the meal table. I do not claim to be a wine buff, in fact I claim to be clueless, but despite this, judging by all the expectant faces, the pressure was on. A good wine palate is like a finely tuned Stradivarius, with Yehudi Menuhin at the helm. Conversely I felt like one of the 'chuckle brothers' playing the spoons.
I grabbed the glass, swilled round the wine, stuck in my nose to gather the aroma and sipped. I dragged the wine through my tongue with a dramatic gurgling sound and swallowed. These actions were a culmination of watching food and wine programs and emulating what I had seen with little or no understanding. At this point I 'pondered', as indeed you are meant to, giving an air of intimate knowledge as to the hidden depths within. I then blurted out 'Bordeaux, Cabernet Sauvignon'. My friend's face went pale. He was in shock. I had managed to 'assess' the wine correctly. Wow, the spoons were cast aside. My over excitement would be my downfall as I had forgotten that the word 'assess' should have been replaced with 'guess'.
Later on in the evening I was challenged again, with two more wines. I got these so wrong it was embarrassing, and all the kudos I had just gained evaporated like a red puff of super heated Rioja.
I think I will leave the blind tasting to the professionals, and get on with enjoying the wine rather than over analyzing.
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