Vivienne described where wine grapes are grown and how wine is made. She went on to discuss the various styles (aromatic, sweet, medium, dry, fortified and sparkling) and what makes the variations taste like they do: the grape variety, the soil type, the microclimate and the making. We were told about Old World and New World Wines. She explained how to read a label and what vintage, names and letters will appear. She discussed how to store and serve wine to its best advantage.
In the second part of the talk Vivienne started to educate our palates and we began tasting. We started by looking at the colour, before sniffing and finally sipping.
Vivienne demonstrated how to breathe in whilst sipping, explaining which sensations in the mouth indicated which characteristic in the wine (acidity, tannin and alcohol). She told us to ask ourselves questions whilst tasting before we proceeded to match food with wine.
There were 3 white wine grape varieties and 3 red wine grape varieties to taste. Each wine was sampled with fruit, mature cheese, blue cheese, umami, chilli and cake. Vivienne discussed the influence each wine had over the food or the reverse. This led to discussing which wine/grape variety was best to serve with specific foods. A delicate dish should be matched with a light wine, a rich dish with a robust wine and a sweet dish with a sweeter wine.
The girls were fully engaged in the process, listening to all the information and asking pertinent questions. Good and relevant discussions struck up and the 2 hour talk passed quickly. I hope, and suspect, that everyone present will taste wine and pair it with food more thoughtfully in the future.
Vivienne left in the howling wind and rain to return to London, leaving us all much better informed and suitably enthused.