I often get asked the question, “How do I learn more about wine?” The first thing I suggest is tasting as much as possible. Developing excellent sensory evaluation skills is paramount in wine education. Of course, the ideal scenario would be to travel to a noted wine region, make arrangements to visit an array of wineries, meet the winemaking staff, taste their selections and ask questions.
Unfortunately, many of us don’t have that luxury. However, your friendly retailer can offer the opportunity to expand your palate with regularly scheduled tastings. Boutique retailers and tasting bars are popping up everywhere, with all different specialties. With all these new opportunities, keeping yourself busy with tastings is a breeze!
Most retail tastings are open to the public and are quite reasonable on the pocketbook. Sampling a variety of wines in one venue is usually much more affordable than ordering a flight at a “shee shee” wine bar or restaurant. As a bonus, you get to take home a little education and in many cases have the opportunity to meet the import representative, winemaker or winery owner. If you’re lucky, the retailer might have a sampling of finger foods, cheese, bread and perhaps charcuterie.
May 1, 2008 marked an exciting new development for Vinfolio, Inc. as we launched our first in a series of public tasting events. This is not revolutionary, but for an online wine retailer, it is stepping out of the “e-box”, so to speak. Being exclusively online, we don’t often have the chance to meet and interact with our clients. This was the perfect setting to thank everyone for their loyal patronage.
Our downstairs neighbor, Coffee Bar, teamed up with us to co-host a “Global Discoveries”-themed event, featuring favorites from Cyrille Hanson’s “Tales of the Vine”. Twelve attractively priced gems from Europe and the Southern Hemisphere were showcased, generating tremendous excitement from attendees. It was the first time many had ever tasted an Italian Grechetto; Tempranillo from Toro, Spain; or a Montepulciano from Abruzzo, Italy, and senior staff members were on hand to field questions. Our first event was so successful that Coffee Bar’s upper lounge was packed to the gills; not surprisingly, everyone wanted to know when the next event would be.
We’re already busy setting up a more events for 2008 and the next tasting is coming up soon. Bay Area locals, save the date! We hope to see you on Thursday, June 12th for a tasting of California and Oregon Pinot Noir. More details to follow, but Doug Wilder, our California and Oregon buyer, will put together a lineup showcasing some of the brightest stars working with this ever-popular varietal. To learn more about the upcoming Pinot Event, contact David Ruvalcaba, Vinfolio Marketing Manager, at druvalcaba@vinfolio.com.
The Vinfolio Team hopes to see you at one of our tastings soon. In the meantime, don’t forget to exercise your palate on a regular basis!
