The number of people who enjoy wine and the number of people who know it is hugely disproportionate. And that’s no surprise since the topic of wine is not only subjective; it’s also incredibly vast and involved. Understanding it properly requires either a deeply embedded cultural and familial experience with wine or the active seeking out of knowledge about this rich topic.
Sommeliers are just one kind of wine expert who have sought out the training required to understand wine deeply enough to make our dining experiences fuller. Those belonging to Danny Meyer’s portfolio of Union Square Hospitality Group (UHSG) restaurants for example, get to enjoy a rigorous 10-week wine education course held by John Ragan, the company’s Wine Director who is one of 3 Master Sommeliers in the world who also hold a James Beard Award for Outstanding Wine Service.
This year, for the first time ever, USHG partnered with the Institute of Culinary Education in New York to provide the wine-lovers from the public with “Understanding Wine” – the same 10 week course that Ragan teaches to USHG staffers. For $1750, students can learn everything from how to taste wine like a professional, new world vs. old world wines, food pairings and even the defining characteristics of Bordeaux vs. Burgundy wine.
Having sat in on the Bordeaux vs. Burgundy class, this writer can tell you first hand that between Ragan’s charismatic teaching style, the Billecart Salmon Champagne which eases you into the classroom atmosphere, food pairings cooked for you onsite by Union Square Café’s Executive Chef Carmen Quagliata and rounding out with a generous pour of Château Doisy-Védrines, Sauternes, 1988 – students are getting the value they should expect from such a program. This is a course that sits somewhere between school and an upscale French restaurant with a spit bucket, where students will be given more than just the wine essentials and plenty more interesting wine facts that’ll surely bring life to any sophisticated dinner party conversation.
For those interested in joining Ragan’s next semester of Understanding Wine courses starting April 28th 2015, registration has just opened. And to get an initial taste of some of the informational nuggets you’ll acquire over the 10 weeks, Forbes has asked Ragan to share with readers 10 surprising wine facts that students will have discovered throughout the course:
1. No-one really has a gifted palate
Think you are not a ‘hyper’ taster? Think you don’t have a ‘gifted’ palate? No one really does. In fact, most everything a wine has to tell you can be seen with the eyes and smelled with the nose. Studies show that nearly 80% of the personality of a wine comes from the aromas. Take a moment to see and smell, you might not even have to taste to understand where the wine comes from.
2. The best wine often comes from the worst soils
Did you know that the most lauded wines generally come from the poorest soils? While fertile soil might be great for melons and grazing, grapes love the poor soils, generally found on the slopes or côtes. The poor soils cause the vines to work harder and dig deeper to get the nutrients they need and as a result, the vines yield less fruit, often smaller berries but with more flavor and intensity. Whoever said ‘No pain no gain’ was probably referring to their vineyard.
3. New World vs. Old World = Fruit vs. Terroir
At a basic level, wines can easily be parsed out into either ‘New World’ or ‘Old World’ styles. This can be a great tool for understanding what glass will make you most happy. Although some winemakers like to try and buck this idea, most old world wines (read Europe) try to capture the terroir (sense of the earth) in the glass, whereas most new world wines will focus on riper, fruit-focused flavors and can often have a toasty oak influence. Both can be excellent – the question is which suits your palate best?
4. Napoleonic Code Creates a Confusing Fragmentation of Today’s Vineyards
In the old world, the Napoleonic code has created headaches for many wine lovers. Nowhere is this more evident than in Burgundy, where vineyards that are passed down are separated between each of the heirs. As a result, the same vineyard can be bottled by many different arms of the same family tree. Best way to approach it – find your favorite family and stick with them. A great farmer will make great wine nearly every vintage. An absent farmer can manage to ruin even a great vineyard.
5. Don’t always believe what the label says
Most all of the famed regions of Europe are named after a place rather than a grape. Champagne, Chablis, Cognac (and that is just the c’s!) are all place names and true Chablis or Cognac can only come from that one place. Although producers in America and beyond still often co-opt these place names for their own use, know that real Chablis does not come from a box!
6. Champagne is often made with red grapes
Champagne is one of the only white wines in the world that is often made from red grapes. The juice of any grape is essentially clear but most red wines macerate the juice with the skins to lend color and flavor. In the case of Champagne, the juice and skins are separated as soon as the grapes are pressed in order to keep the juice clear!
7. Madeira is the perfect wine for the spatially challenged
No wine cellar? No problem - everyone should have a great collection of Madeira. Not only is Madeira a great glass of wine to finish most every dinner (Thomas Jefferson was its most famous advocate) but it has already been impacted by both heat and oxygen. With this in mind, you don’t need to worry about how you store it or how long it is open for – perfect for a New York apartment!
8. Look for the word “Trocken” on a Riesling label to determine if it is sweet or dry.
Riesling is one of the truly great white wines of the world but many have given up on this grape due to so much uncertainty about sweet, dry or somewhere in-between. If you are a fan of dry Rieslings – I am – look for the word trocken on any German label. You don’t need to worry about all of the other fine print; if you see the word trocken, you can rest easy that it will be a dry wine.
9. Wine pairing 101 for take out dinners
Sometimes your delivery guy is not a great Sommelier – not to worry, bring your own pairings for takeout. Provence Rosé for Indian Cuisine, Finger Lakes Riesling for Sushi and Pinot Noir for Chinese will do the trick – but you still have to wash the glasses….
10. New World Winemaking in the US is the Tale of Two Coasts
New World winemaking was a tale of two coasts as it developed within the newfound continent. It was a lifelong dream for Thomas Jefferson to have a successful vineyard at Monticello, but years of planting and replanting never paid off until long after his death. During the same time period, the Spanish missionaries were climbing their way up the California coast planting what came to be known as the Mission grape at each stop along the way. The missionaries knew what they were looking for as many of these sites are still making great wine today – Santa Barbara, Santa Ynez, even Sonoma.
