Throwing the (cellar) doors open
At the winery, the scene is set with a well-worn metaphor: A train wreck of sorts is coming and we are all on board with mouths agape and shoulders hunched, powerless to prevent it.
Wine is poured, and instead of the expected ritual of “the Five S’s” of Seeing, Swirling, Sniffing, Sipping and Savoring of the offering, the glass is instead — gasps all around! — forced through the lips and hastened to the gullet.
What the heck is wine tasting, anyway, and why should we care?
(“We” meaning that great mass of people not intimately connected to the burgeoning wine industry as owners, winemakers, restaurateurs, wine merchants, chefs, or any other subgroup of connoisseurs).
A short conversation with a knowledgeable staff person there will suffice for the novice to quickly come up to speed on wine-tasting etiquette.
People like Maggie Crawford, new owner/manager of Salem’s Grand Vines Wine Shop and Bistro, cuts straight to the heart of things for beginning wine connoisseurs.
Rule Number One? Don’t be afraid.
“Wineries like to help, and many of them will ask a series of questions to help customers get on the path of which wines they want to try,” Crawford said.
For the average wine lover, the tasting ritual can seem to be mainly appearance, so starched in ritual or steeped in ceremony as to make it foreign and frightening.
“People make wine tasting too complicated,” Crawford said. “They should explore wines they’re not familiar with. Ask questions, (but) the main question that needs to be answered is, ‘Do I like it?’ Find the stuff you like, bring it home and enjoy it at home.”
Wine tasting has been around since the 1300s, so the terms used today by industry insiders have gradually evolved to describe the aroma, flavor and other characteristics found in wines.
When a pinot noir is described as having a “raspberry,” “truffle,” “violet” or other characteristic, the intent is merely to define as specifically as possible the essential qualities of the wine.
“Green apple,” “herbs,” “cinnamon,” “black pepper” and “smoke” — as well as several dozen other descriptors — are relatively easy for the layman to understand, as familiar scents and tastes readily come to mind. Other, more esoteric descriptors such as those recently listed by a major Oregon publication’s wine writer as “possessing the essence of snowflakes” or the “impression of wet rocks” can be confusing and intimidating.
Those sorts of descriptions, instead of furthering the knowledge of wine aficionados seeking basic, helpful information, instead tend only to bewilder.
Oregon, and specifically the Willamette Valley, is quickly becoming the Napa of the Northwest — if not the Bourgogne of the U.S. More and more people want to learn about the wines of the region and how to taste, purchase and enjoy the bounty now available.
The teachable moments can be experienced en masse at the traditional Memorial Day and Thanksgiving Weekend winery open houses. At the May 23, 24 and 25 Memorial Weekend in the Wine Country event, sponsored by the Willamette Valley Wineries Association, more than 100 wineries — some of them not open at any other time of the year — invite the public from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. to feature tasting of new and old vintages, barrel tastings and sales of limited-quantity wines.
Caravans of excited tasters — ranging from the first-time tour-goers to those who regularly attend wine-country tasting opportunities — will pour into wineries ranging from Amalie Robert in Dallas to Z’Ivo Wines in McMinnville to sample the wares.
The “Five S’s” of wine tasting are best left to high-end wine-tasting events and competitions, Crawford said. Personal choice and what appeals to the individual is all that matters at winery open houses and other casual events.
“People need to drink what they like and not what they don’t like,” Crawford said. “Everyone has his own opinion of what’s good. That’s why there are so many wineries.”
Claudia Deckelmann, sales representative for Vitis Ridge Cellars in Silverton,Deckelmann and her husband, Tim, are the Vitis Ridge representatives who try to get people interested in the wines made from grapes grown in Tim’s brother, Chris Deckelmann’s, 80-acre vineyard. They attend dozens of festivals, open houses and other events to pour their wines and talk to people wanting to try them out.
“As retired teachers, I think we have a way of making people feel less intimidated [by the wine-tasting process],” she said. “We’re used to reading people.”
Customers approach the Vitis Ridge booth at open houses and other events, she said, often with that “train wreck” look in their eyes as they contemplate interacting with her and husband Tim, waiting behind a solid phalanx of wine bottles bearing tongue-twisting names like Gewürztraminer, Pinot Noir, Maréchal Foch and Pinot Verdot.
“I start by asking them, ‘What do you usually like to drink?’” Deckelmann said. “Say we start with something from the sweeter end of things in white wines, maybe a Riesling. I ask them, ‘Does that taste sweet or dry?’ If it seems sweet to them, we can move on down the line to the dryer whites like pinot gris and chardonnay.
“With the reds, we ask if they like Pinot Noir or something bolder than that, then start there,” she said. “We have 14 or 15 wines (at Vitis Ridge), so the goal is to get customers to taste as many as they can and find one or two they like.”
Deckelmann said she and Tim might use a term such as “fruit forward,” for example, to describe a wine, but not in front of new tasters. However, as former teachers, education is always a part of their pitches to customers.
"For example, our Syrah is a spicy wine,” she said, “so we just let our customers smell a freshly poured glass, then take a sip. Then, we have them swirl it around to oxygenate the wine, then smell and sip again. It’s like two different wines.”
That, they say, is the teachable moment. All that is needed for wine education is an open mind, a willing teacher and a welcoming classroom, which in this case means a booth at a wine event or the tasting room at a winery.