My first of six wine tasting sessions was Tuesday night, and Gabi and I had a blast! The class is through DIS, so there are about 16-20 other DIS students in the class. It is taught by a man who works in the DIS study tours office who just happens to also be a wine enthusiast. He said he tries about 15 wines a week, and he leads wine tasting sessions at places like restaurants for fun. The session started at 6pm, and first we learned how you are supposed to taste and judge a wine.
First, we were taught you have to swirl the wine in the glass to let it “breathe,” then you stick your nose in the glass and smell it. I never really smelled wine before this class, and I was surprised some of the weird scents they have! A lot of reds smell like forest floor, and one smelled like car exhaust! The white wines we tasted smelled more like fruits or had floral scents.
Then we sip the wine, hold it in our mouth, and discuss how it is to our palette. Either the wine gets better than the smell, or it is kind of a let down. Then we talk about the after taste and how long it lasts. We also talked about the tannins in red wine from the skin of the grapes, and the older the wine is, the less tannins there are.
We tasted 6 wines all together, and we started with the lightest ones. Oh, we also talked about wine ratings, and according to my wine teacher, we only drink the best… which he said means isn’t the wine you down before going out to the clubs on a Friday night…. aka the cheap wine Gabi and I buy from Netto haha.
These are the first 3 wines we tried:
- 2008 Jean Claude Chatelain, Pouilly-Fume, Loire, 100% Sauvignon Blanc, Rating: 88
- 2006 Dr. Loosen Urziger Wurzgarten, Riesling ALte Reben, 100% Riesling, Rating: 85
- 2005 Meo Camuzet, “Frere & Soers” Marsannay, Bourgogne, 100% Pinot Noir, Rating: 87
They were all really good! Then we had a break for tapas, which included lots of yummy breads and cheeses, meats, spreads, and olives.
At first, everyone in the class was too shy to say what they thought about the wines, but after the break and and after trying 3 wines, everyone got a little more talkative :)
The last three wines we tried were:
- 2006 Chateau Haut-Bages Averous, Pauillac, Bordeaux, Cabernet Sauvignon dominant, Rating: 84
- 2001 Mas de Theyron, “Les Murettes” Languedoc, Syrah, Grenache, Carignan (This used to be my wine teachers favorite wine, but now it is getting too old. This was actually my least favorite of the night. I thought it tasted really boring compared to the others)
- 2003 Les Cailoux, Chateneuf du Pape, Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre, Rating: 92 (the most expensive wine I have ever tasted, about $75 a bottle, although my teacher said they go for much, much more!)
After wine tasting, Gabi and I were unsurprisingly in the mood to go out, so we went to a bar to watch some soccer game (well, that’s why Gabi wanted to go at least). It was a fun night!
Yesterday I had no classes and no field studies, except for an event from 4-6pm called “Is Islamophobia the New Antisemitism?” which was required for my Muslims in the West class. Honestly, I was super bored during the whole thing and basically zoned out because it was all material we have talked about already in class. Gabi and I were pretty annoyed that it was mandatory.
So now onto why I feel so American while not being in America. I’m sure everyone knows today is St. Patrick’s Day, although you can’t tell at all in Denmark. A lot of DIS students have been talking about celebrating St. Patrick’s Day because they are Irish and how much they love the holiday, and this got me thinking about when, as Americans, do we finally let go of our past heritage. Of course, there are a lot of Americans who may have just recently come to the US, but my family has been in the United States since the mid-1700s, so can I really say that I am Irish? It’s funny to me because it is such a popular question in the US to talk about where your family comes from, but being in Europe, I feel very weird saying I have any European blood or history at all. It wasn’t until I left the United States that I have truly embraced my “Americanness" :) I feel like if I was in Dublin today, and I told a person from Ireland that I was Irish, I would definitely be laughed at. It’s funny how your identity changes depending on your location in the world. I really do love being in Europe, but there are just some things about the good old USA that I don’t think I could ever give up!
Ok, time to seriously start working on some papers I have due in the next week and a half!
Hej Hej!
Emily
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