World of Wine
I drink wine from all over the world, however, my favorite wine region is France. I am intrigued and profoundly motivated to learn more about the French culture, the history and gastronomic adventures, not to mention buy, taste and drink with gusto the amazing wines of each region, especially Burgundy. When I blind taste my wine students on delicious offerings from this region, the room heats up with emotion! How could a wine smell and taste like that, they ask. "Are you kidding!?" I reply, gleefully, knowing that they are in for a real treat as well as eye-opener.
Of course globally, you must try other wines, not just develop a palate for the wine region that you live in, if lucky enough to live in that one.
As part of my duties as sommelier for a restaurant in Las Vegas, I was fortunate enough to meet, chat and taste the wines with great negotiants, proprietors and winemakers from the world over. The most memorable tasting was a food and wine pairing with a German winemaker and viticulturist, tasting through their wines all made from Riesling. We tasted eleven different styles of Riesling, one served with each course! I was completely blown away by the diversity of these wines and it certainly made a huge impression on me, even to date.
The wine world is vast in some respects, but getting smaller all the time in the sense that wines from other world regions are becoming readily accessible to all of us as well as quite affordable.
My advice to all wine drinkers is to experiment and taste wines from all over the world. Places like South Africa and South America are making some terrific wines due to obtaining and using the latest technology by matching vines to their unique soils and climate. The resulting wines have shown great leaps in quality, well worth the time and investment made.
So, have some fun, and TASTE, TASTE, TASTE!
