Hello again to everyone.  I am back again after a short hiatus.  Coming back in to begin again, I had been wondering what to write about—and then it came to me.  I am going to teach my husband how to taste wine.  We have been together 6 years and he always jokes with me that all he tastes are grapes, no matter what wine it is…

Friday night I brought home two wines so different from each other it was going to be an easy start, Maison de la Cabotte (French Pinot Noir) and Shannon Ridge Home Ranch Cabernet Sauvignon (from Lake County, CA). I even used two neutral glasses to keep everything even.

First was the sense of sight, and you could tell the difference in color so he knew they were two different wines.  Before tasting I had him search online for a wine tasting wheel so he had a plethora of adjectives.  Then came to swirl with his nose in the glass…while looking at the adjectives I asked him what he smelled.  I asked for 3 words, and he came up with: berry, fig and prune.  I always say there is never a wrong answer.  Then came taste, he let me know it was light and it didn’t linger too long.  I helped him with some of the wording.  When I asked what he thought it was, he let me know I always get the wine so he didn’t know grape names—now I know I need to give him all my information when I order or bring something home.

We then went to the second glass of wine and these adjectives were Pine-Sol, clove, potpourri and cassis.  After he tasted he agreed it was heavier and lasted longer (I then spoke of tannins and how the thicker skins soak longer in the juice).  He said it felt like it tenderized his tongue. I do have to say, the second night there was Cab Sav left over and as my hubby poured it he looked at me, and actually said “I taste chocolate notes now.”  I grinned very wide; my experiment is working!!!!

He said he liked the first one better which surprised me; I would have thought bigger fruit would have been more his style. Next week we will try two more wines.  I don’t know which two yet.

Kathleen Anderson, North/West FL Wine Supervisor. Follow me on Twitter @abcwinekat