Feast

Have you ever wanted to spend a gorgeous summer day eating perfectly paired food and sipping perfectly poured wine, all while getting to make new like-minded friends!? Duuuuuuhh!

Not only did I get to do all of those wonderful things, I got to educate people in the slightest of ways that will change the way they look at, smell, taste....EXPERIENCE wine. Thank you FEAST Portland and Dobbes Family Estate Winery for the possibility! 

(This is Paxton --- friend, co-worker, all around cool dude-man)

We've all seen the guy swirling the wine around ostentatiously then sticking his face FULL-ON into the glass, and thought: "OK buddy, we get it, you know wine, you smell fancy things and make greeeaaaat slurping noises before you (sometimes) swallow it..."

But guess what? If you like wine, you should be doing what he's doing..... You don't have to follow up with gargling and swishing and spitting and such, but a few healthy sniffs can change your entire perspective, and can enhance the flavor more than you'd ever imagined. Here's why:

When you swirl the wine around (with great fervor of course ;)), you're allowing oxygen to get into the wine....it likes to swim around in the glass and break the alcohol smells and tastes away from the flavor profile smells and tastes.

 So now that the oxygen has done its thing....the first time you smell the wine should help clear out the alcohol smell on your newly "decanted" wine.

The second time ---when 'that guy' starts to look pretentious...(we all SAW you smell it already dude)---is when you can really start to smell the fruits and juiciness---the true "nose" of the wine is coming out to play.

Number the third--where all the newcomers really start to feel silly because aren't you supposed to TASTE the wine eventually?!--- This time, give it a second, really clear your nasal palate, and SMELL the wine...now you are smelling the flavors you will taste :) ! 

(What a pleasure to work next to so many fantastic wineries--this was only the teensiest tiniest little bit of us out that day)

There is nothing sadder than a wine with a beautiful bouquet (the fancy word for the smell of a wine---I got tired of saying smell :) ) that is followed by a flat, characterless flavor. The reason all of us wine snobs swirl and sniff and swish (to get MORE oxygen into the wine) is to coax out the myriad different fruits and spices that the humble grape can "become". So let your nose prepare you for the fun flavors your mouth is about to partake in ~~ internal dialogues be damned!!

If you wanna hear more, come see me out at Dobbes on Saturdays-- about an hour from Portland, in Dundee, OR! Until next time, eat deliciously, drink opulently (though safely), and send me pictures of both!
I am Love *Toni