The first wine tasting event I attended today was a portfolio tasting for Skurnik wines. I was invited as a perspective customer (as I work on moving forward with the Wine bar project) and was very happy to have been included. What an amazing tasting. I tasted a whopping 139 wines – by far a new record for me. I tasted California wines, Oregon wines, French wines, Italian wines, young wines, sweet wines, old wines (I had an AMAZING 1967 Barolo that was very much alive & a 1993 Chardonnay that sadly tasted oxidized).

I met & re-met winemakers, winery owners and all kinds of great people. I will try to write some specific notes soon, but I want to segue from the warm & amazing people at this tasting to the second tasting I attended.

The second tasting was a formal wine education class led by a woman who holds these educational events in NYC. The woman is very knowledgeable and does many things great. BUT… Wine is supposed to be FUN. Yes people go to wine tastings to learn, but they want to enjoy themselves too. When speaking to many people in the industry, their love of wine and passion for it is very evident. This woman, who MAY have been having an off night, just did not seem to posses that passion or the warmth necessary to really engage those in attendance or get them excited about wine. She even snapped at our table when a whispered side conversation started.

So that is it in a nutshell. One great experience and one less than great. I do hope the woman who led the class was simply having a tough night – something that is entirely possible as it has been a dark dreary day & she is seemingly stressed while studying for various wine related degrees.

I’ll write about some highlights from the Skurnik tasting as soon as I get the chance.

Happy wine studies & tasting!!!

WTG.