Wine Tasting
Posted by Bill Molesworth
Yvonne introduced a long time friend of hers, Mary Boucher. Mary started at the LCBO in 1975 and has worked in a variety of positions and locations. She's in Barrie now and has been a Product Consultant since 1997. She's taken in house courses in knowledge of wine and wine appreciation. She has a Certificate from the Wine and Spirits Trust of Britain. She does staff training, classes in appreciation and offers a men's cooking course at Georgian.
Mary said it was her first Rotary meeting and thanked the Club for the invitation. She said she participates in a monthly wine tasting with other employees, looking for quality and value in products the stores may carry. There are several steps to think about while thinking about 'the information the wine provides'. She looks first at the appearance, the aroma, the flavour and the finish.
Colour varies depending on the region and the age of the wine - with white, darker colour usually means the grapes are from warmer climates but it could also mean an older wine; with red it's usually lighter with age and darker for warmer sources.
Mary doesn't think people want wine with bits in it, so she looks for clarity. She swirls the wine around and watches how it clings to the glass. Sometimes there are crystals on a cork, but they are harmless. It means the bottle has had minimal handling and the tartrate has been able to settle out.
Generally we underutilize our sense of smell. We can, with training, put a sense memory to as many as 5,000 odours. There are variations in the same types of wine, depending on where they come from and trained people can tell if it comes from France or California.
Sweetness in a wine is a result of fermentation and the sweeter they are, the less alcohol they have. Acidity gives balance - a sourness to counter the sweetness. We can only really detect 4 tastes - sweet, salt, sour and bitter.
Body is described as weight on the palate; like the difference between cream and skim milk. And finish describes how long the flavour lasts.
The LCBO has a lab that tests all the products before being put on their shelves. They prefer the surety of knowing that they meet certain standards.
We had a chance to follow the process with a small (very small) glass of red and of white and see if our judgements matched our guest's.
This was obviously a subject of some interest to the Club, as demonstrated by the number of questions. Rob asked about warning labels in NZ which declared they had been filtered with milk or fish products. Mary thought that would be a warning to allergy sufferers but said she had not seen such labels.
Rod wondered how long to keep a wine and Mary said white wines should be consumed within a year except, maybe, for those aged in oak - they'd last longer. A browny yellow colour would indicate oxidation, which is not good.
Jerry wondered about laying down a wine and she thought a good Beaujolais or a port would last well.
Fred had a hypothetical question - if somebody, say, was celebrating a birthday and somebody's son-in-law, maybe, came over and drank most of a special bottle that somebody had been saving for the occasion, what, hypothetically, should be done? Mary thought a new bottle should be provided, maybe two.
Duncan thanked Mary on behalf of the Club
Colour varies depending on the region and the age of the wine - with white, darker colour usually means the grapes are from warmer climates but it could also mean an older wine; with red it's usually lighter with age and darker for warmer sources.
Mary doesn't think people want wine with bits in it, so she looks for clarity. She swirls the wine around and watches how it clings to the glass. Sometimes there are crystals on a cork, but they are harmless. It means the bottle has had minimal handling and the tartrate has been able to settle out.
Generally we underutilize our sense of smell. We can, with training, put a sense memory to as many as 5,000 odours. There are variations in the same types of wine, depending on where they come from and trained people can tell if it comes from France or California.
Sweetness in a wine is a result of fermentation and the sweeter they are, the less alcohol they have. Acidity gives balance - a sourness to counter the sweetness. We can only really detect 4 tastes - sweet, salt, sour and bitter.
Body is described as weight on the palate; like the difference between cream and skim milk. And finish describes how long the flavour lasts.
The LCBO has a lab that tests all the products before being put on their shelves. They prefer the surety of knowing that they meet certain standards.
We had a chance to follow the process with a small (very small) glass of red and of white and see if our judgements matched our guest's.
This was obviously a subject of some interest to the Club, as demonstrated by the number of questions. Rob asked about warning labels in NZ which declared they had been filtered with milk or fish products. Mary thought that would be a warning to allergy sufferers but said she had not seen such labels.
Rod wondered how long to keep a wine and Mary said white wines should be consumed within a year except, maybe, for those aged in oak - they'd last longer. A browny yellow colour would indicate oxidation, which is not good.
Jerry wondered about laying down a wine and she thought a good Beaujolais or a port would last well.
Fred had a hypothetical question - if somebody, say, was celebrating a birthday and somebody's son-in-law, maybe, came over and drank most of a special bottle that somebody had been saving for the occasion, what, hypothetically, should be done? Mary thought a new bottle should be provided, maybe two.
Duncan thanked Mary on behalf of the Club