Dear All
Welcome to Koh’s Virtual Wine Tasting!
Everybody has the ability to Taste. Not many know how to use it! I am here to help you understand how it’s done! I will introduce you to the world of wine tasting using a simplified step by step guide.
Please bring in your wine of choice. You may bring as many as you like. As a general rule the more the better but I usually recommend two different ones, like a red and a white. It would be nice to ‘flash’ taste the wines at the beginning before anything else. This practice will give you a basic understanding of the wines. Then you can move back and forth and examine them against each other.
If in doubt have a look below for recommendations and inspiration on how to customize the experience to your personal wine taste and please share your notes at the comment section to get the Q & A going and get a basic direction of what you want to take with you from this experience.
During the event I will be sharing on my screen a presentation with personal media files so please make sure you have a good internet connection.
This is a Bring Your Own Wine (BYOW) Online Tasting which means you can bring along any wine you want. In short I recommend wines that trigger your curiosity. I will take you through the method I use to taste a new wine, using a simple Sensory Analysis Procedure.
There is no right or wrong and tasting is not a competition of any sort. It’s all about understanding the fermented beverage in your glass.
Check out the Q & A tab to find answers to questions discussed during the sessions.
Online Experiences are hosted on the Zoom video conferencing platform. Follow the link to the time slot that you’ll join using a web browser or the Zoom app. Experiences use both audio and video, so check out these system requirements to make sure your device will work.
Video conferencing is interactive, so you’ll be able to communicate with yours truly and other guests as much or as little as you’d like. Test your connection and join a few minutes before to make sure everything is working smoothly.
First of all I’d love to see you using the Comment Box bellow to leave your thoughts and questions. That would give our experience a great kickstart.
Choose your wines and if you have a moment to spare, send me the name so I can add them to the wine list.
• Please prepare to serve white wines at fridge temperature and red at 60 f/15 c. –Starting at low temperatures allows the wine to gradually release the aromatic reactions as temperature naturally alters.
• Optionally and if you are a wine geek you may want to use the Tasting Sheet to mark down your notes. Please have it ready on a separate device for in-depth tasting experience:
Test your connection and join a few minutes before to make sure everything is working smoothly.
There is a sequence of steps used to evaluate a wine, and they are done in a specific order. However tasting a wine is not a once-off event but a repeating series of the procedure going back and forth.
Please have the wine served when we start and feel free to refill as to your liking.
Glassware: use your preferred glass, the ones that you feel comfortable drinking wine in. Ideally I‘d like you to have a different glass for each wine or at least two glasses. So you can perform a comparative tasting.
Have some water and dry bread to rinse your palate if necessary.
Interaction on this experience is vital… so do ask whatever comes to your mind, even if you think it might sound silly, go for it, the Wonderful World of Wine is full of surprises.
Check out the Q & A tab to find answers to questions discussed during past sessions.
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Join again any of my Online Experiences. Over the next 6 weeks use code —- at check out and get a 20% discount.
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Resources:
Q:- What is an Appellation?
A:- In short it’s a combination of the Region, Geographical Indication and Designation of production of a wine. A well known appellation is Champagne in France while the word’s oldest wine with a designated origin, still in production, is Commandaria wine from Cyprus
A wine’s origin is a key part of its identity, as it implies something about its style and likely quality. Many thousands of official placenames are used on the world’s wine labels. Some of these indicate only the wine’s origin, while others combine origin, style and quality all into one.
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Q:- What do the tail-terms ‘Classico’ in Italian wine and ‘Village’ in French wine mean?
A:- These terms refer to a smaller designated area within another appellation (e.g. Chianti Classico DOCG / Cote du Rhone Village AOC). Wines classified as ‘Classico’ / ‘Village’ must meet higher standards than those of the generic appellation title. They are from vineyards in areas that show potential to produce distinctive wines of good quality.
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Q:- Can big producers make great wines?
A:- In short the answer is: Yes! They have the means and the money to access the best resources in scientific knowledge and latest equipment. They also have the motive of reputation to stand up to.
Besides their honest and reliable entrée range like Koonunga Hill, Penfold’s is a good example of a giant producer who has a unique great wine of the world in its portfolio. That is the highly collectable ‘Grange’.
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Q:- What does Reserva mean?
A:- While outside of Italy the word “reserve” can mean many different things depending on where the wine is made, Italian wine law stipulates that Riserva wines are aged for a longer period of time than wines that are not labeled riserva. Riserva wines also tend to use higher quality grapes.
Some common standards for some of Italy’s most popular Riserva wines:
Amarone della Valpolicella Riserva: Aged for at least 4 years
Barbaresco Riserva: Aged for at least 4 years
Barolo Riserva: Aged for at least 5 years
Brunello di Montalcino Riserva: Aged for at least 5 years
Chianti Classico Riserva: Aged for at least 27 months
Vino Nobile di Montepulciano: Aged for at least 3 years
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Q:- What’s Ladybug taint in wine?
A:- Ladybug taint is a wine fault caused by the unintentional introduction of Coccinellidae beetles into the winemaking process, and is characterized by the presence of undesirable peanut, green pepper, asparagus, earthy, green beans and musty aromas and flavors in affected wine. You can read about it in this scientific study
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Q:- What’s an easy way to learn some basics about wine tasting?
A:- WineMasters Class is a complete wine course for all sort of wine scholars, professionals and food & wine enthusiasts.
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Wine Tasting is a very personal experience and you can do as you please especially in the privacy of a zoom meeting! however I’d suggest you try and give your wine selection a structure and a theme. Comparative tasting is the way I learn about wine. Observing two wines at the same time focusing on what is different and where applied what is common between them.
Terroir, pronounced “tehr-wahr”, is a French term that expresses the combination of soil, weather conditions and style of winegrowing and winemaking. These three elements bring a specific identity and a sense of place to the wine. A terroir can be spread as a region or be as specific as a small part of an estate.
I recommend choosing wines from the same origin if you want to focus on what a region has to offer. Keep things simple and equal by picking from the same Country > region > county > village > winery.
If you like a grape variety and you want to understand it better then choose the same single-variety wines but as diverse as possible. e.g. East coast vs West coast or New world vs Old world wine.
You may want to get a bit deeper into your glass and compare different wine styles like Oak-aged vs Young wine or Dry vs Semi-Dry.
Use the search box to find wines near your location
here is a list of recommendations!
Please Help me complete this list! I will be updating this wine list every time someone lets me know of the wine they want to bring along on this tasting experience. With details about the wines and where to buy them. If you have any information that can help me complete my post feel free to pass them over... 
