One of the requests Maximus has had for me is to get education and training for wine service. Actually, He wants me to become a sommelier, but as i am concerned that would considerably take me away from the time He needs from me (not the training, as i finished graduate school after i moved in, but putting sommelier training to use in a job) and i am enjoying being retired, we have settled on more general wine training. Maximus has collected wine for many years, while i am fairly new to wine. i had gone wine tasting prior to being with Maximus, including a weekend trip i bought at an auction once, but don’t have a big knowledge of wine. Maximus is always impressed on how i can pick up on the nuances of taste and smell when we are tasting, and He makes it a game, with Him comparing the tasting notes while i tell Him what i pick up.
So i found a beginner’s course that is a continuing education class at a local community college. This class meets one night a week for several weeks and introduces wine types, grapes, varietals, many wine regions, as well as the basics of reading a wine label. The sommelier will also go over hints for smart buying, proper storing, and aging, as well as a discussion of wine-and-food pairing guidelines. i am excited and bought a registration for RunnerGirl to go with me as a Christmas present, as we are always looking for fun things to go out and do together.
i think the timing is great as we are planning our wine cellar room and i should get some great tips on what to do in there. We have racking and the wine has always been stored in a sealed, cool closet, our wine cooler, or cool basement, but we have lost some wine to spoilage and i’m not sure whether it’s because of its age (some is over 15 years old) and being stored past its prime, or if we need to store some varietals differently.
The course starts in February and i’m super excited!
The Gift of gabriella 