Vine to Wine: The Fundamentals | Week 1

About me:

Hi, I’m Erin S., and I’m currently completing the best homework assignment I’ve ever been given: drinking a glass of wine.
 

It’s the evening after my first day in “Vine to Wine: Wine Fundamentals” offered by UNLV Continuing Education. I’ve always enjoyed wine, but found it difficult to articulate what exactly I liked about it, aside from generic terms like “dry” or “sweet.” However, as an enthusiastic home chef I was looking to get a better understanding of how to pair wine with food and other practical knowledge to help me better understand and enjoy what the Romans called the juice of the gods!

 

Review:

The class is held every Sunday at one of two Total Wine locations (Henderson or Summerlin) from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The classroom was a very clean, comfortable space with everything you might need to learn and taste. During the first part of the class, we went through PowerPoint slides covering the class material, and then afterward we’d do a tasting of 6 wines. We had an hour break for lunch, then came back and did it all over again – more class instruction and another tasting.

Our instructor, Heath Hiudt, was outstanding from the very first few moments, telling the class that he would assume that everyone has a beginner’s knowledge of wine and that we’d build our expertise together. There was a wide variety of knowledge in the classroom – a few casual wine drinkers myself, but also those working in the service or beverage industry. Heath is very organized and it’s obvious he has an incredible wealth of wine information, but he also makes everyone feel extremely comfortable in his presence. The world of wine is rife with jargon, and Heath made sure that everything was clearly and thoroughly explained, while also adding in a lot of humor and practical, real-world experiences. You can tell he was teaching us so that we would really get a deeper understanding of wine and apply it to our everyday lives versus worrying about “trivial pursuit” items that might be on an exam. (But there will be an exam!)

The class was very interactive and with only 15 students, everyone felt comfortable asking questions or asking for additional info. In week one, we covered the history and origins of wine, the wine production process,  the life cycle of the vine, and how to complete a comprehensive wine tasting – a format we’ll be using a lot throughout the 13 weeks!

I’ll admit, I was a little worried about having so many tastings in one day (I’m a cheap date!) but unless we were really ‘wowed’ by a wine, everyone in the class used the spittoons during the tastings. We focused on how you can use the senses to determine the grape, climate characteristics, vintage and more. If you ever told me I’d be describing wine with words like “sawdust,” “dill,” “barnyard” or “chalky,” I wouldn’t have believed you, but after one class I started to understand how to seek out those subtleties. My olfactory senses aren’t quite as good as others, but it’s a learning experience, right?

And as they say, practice makes perfect. I am happy to keep practicing and be a good student by doing my “homework!” Next week when we reconvene, we’ll bring the empty bottle of wine we chose, along with any tasting notes using terms we covered this week. Next Sunday can’t come fast enough!