21 DAYS TO WINE: DAY 1Introduction to Wine TastingWINE: San Felice Chianti Classico, 2016

SCENTS: Dry Salami, Fresh Rosemary, Red Cherries

Welcome to DiVino Wine School! I’m so happy you’re here.

21 Days to Wine is an introduction to winetasting, based on my sommelier certification program (AIS) and my experience in the market as professional wine educator, consultant, and writer.

ABOUT ME My name is Annie Shapero. I received my level 3 sommelier certification at the Italian Sommelier Association (AIS) in 2008, in Rome, Italy, where I lived for a decade. In 2009 I returned to the USA, to New York City and founded DiVino. You can read more there about my career as a travel writer turned wine writer turned wine educator.

ABOUT DIVINO DiVino was born in the dressing room of a SoHo boutique. They had just opened the location and wanted to throw a fabulous party. While squeezing into a mini dress two sizes too small, I suggested from behind the curtain that they pair wines conceptually with pieces from their collection based on the personality (and color of course!) of each design. The store manager asked me if I could do that. The rest is history.

DIVINO WAS FOUNDED ON THE CONCEPT THAT WINE IS STORYTELLING. Winetasting in company is a way for all of us to get in better touch with our senses and to share our sensations and emotions. This ritual elevates our state of being alive.

WINE IS A LANGUAGE. LEARN HOW TO SPEAK IT. Like any language, wine begins with vocabulary, but it encompasses history, culture and tradition.

DiVino teaches classes, creates winetasting events with classic and “creative” pairing, for example wine and fashion, wine and art, and wine and perfume. DiVino also writes and produces brand storytelling content.

Visit DiVinohttps://divinonyc.com

HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN THE CLASS Use the comment section! Think of it as raising your hand. Ask questions, send stories and comments. I will do my best to respond in a timely manner.

Let’s get started!I created this course for several reasons,

but my primary goal is to offer you an introduction to the vocabulary of wine tasting so that you

can join the conversation and make that language your own.

DAY 2 of this course is all about learning to smell. Don’t miss it!

21 DAYS TO WINE: DAY 1DIVINOWINESCHOOL

WINE CULTURE IN THE USALike so many aspects of American material culture, wine itself has long been considered a sign of wealth and status, a luxury good, reserved for select members of our society who can afford indulge the pleasure.

Accordingly, knowledge of wine terminology has been limited for far too long. Until recently, wine “experts” were few and far between. Like any other exclusive professional, they’ve been elevated to star status, admirable and untouchable. Sadly, an air of pretension still surrounds much the wine industry in our country. That is something I’m trying to change.

Add to that, our history of prohibition and the moral connotation of “controlled substances.” It’s no wonder so few people feel comfortable talking about wine.

Thanks to modern marketing, wine is more accessible than ever before, however, as a nation of immigrants with roots all over the world, the variety of cuisine and wine available to us, both domestic and imported, is astounding! That can be intimidating. It’s a lot to learn.

In continental Europe, where I studied, food and wine are almost exclusively locally produced. That not only means Italian food with Italian wine, it means specifically Tuscan food with Tuscan wine, like Ribollita, a hearty vegetable-based stew, with Chianti. It’s the same throughout France, Spain, and Germany.

My sommelier course in Italy focused on 90% Italian wines. There are some 3,000 grape varieties growing there, and we studied every region and its traditional wines. Believe it or not there are still Italian grapes I’ve never heard of ! Despite my comprehensive Italian wine education, when I landed in NYC I felt like an amateur. The American sommelier training, like America itself, is completely international, with equal focus on wine regions throughout the world. As you probably noticed, wine lists in the USA are also international. That’s a lot to learn.

WINE CULTURE IN EUROPEIn Europe everyone drinks wine. It is not just for special occasions, or a luxury that working-class people cannot access. It is simply part of the culture. No one except for restaurant wine directors and wine shop owners is expected to know anything, other than what food to serve with it, and even those rules are loose and local. For this reason, my sommelier education consisted as much in history and food and wine pairing as it did on the technical aspects of grape growing and wine production. Italian wine language is just like Italian language itself, florid, expressive and emotional.

We learned the basics and all of the vocabulary, but the most important lesson is always that wine is more than words.

SOMMELIERS ARE MADE, NOT BORN.No one is born with a super nose. That’s a total myth and a great excuse to be lazy about learning to recognize aromas, wink wink. When you hear someone go on about all the notes of berries, and mineral, and earthiness in their glass of wine, that’s not magic. You can learn to recognize those things too, with practice.

Smelling is part of what makes winetasting so exciting!

You’ve probably experienced scent memories, that moment you smell something and it takes you back in a flash. Our sense of smell is linked to the most primitive part of our brains, the limbic system, where memories are formed and emotional responses are triggered, like fight or flight.

When you learn how to identify aromas in wine, not only do you begin to appreciate and distinguish between different grapes and wines from different places, through scent memory and association there is great pleasure in being transported by a glass of wine, to someplace familiar or a place you love. Think of it as an edible souvenir!

PRONUNCIATION: Key-Ahn-Tea

CHIANTI

APPELLATIONS OF CHIANTIChianti wines are classified in accordance with historically delineated growing areas as well as by their standards of production. The DOC is an appellation system, like the France’s AOC, which was created to protect the quality and reputation of wines produced historically in certain areas. The appellation system also designates: What grapes can be used (for historically established wines)

The maximum harvest allowed (to insure only healthiest grapes are used)

Aging standards(How many years, oak barrels versus stainless steel or cement, and bottle aging). It is often indicated by the words Riserva or Superiore.

Chianti wine be made from a minimum of 80% Sangiovese. It may be then blended, as it has been for centuries, with local, indigenous red and white grape varieties, as well a small percentage of international varieties.

The region of Chianti is currently subdivided into three categories.

1) Chianti

The largest area for Chianti production. Grapes can be grown, and the wine produced anywhere within five provinces of central Tuscany: Firenze, Siena, Arezzo, Pisa, Pistoia, Prato. There are fewer restrictions on planting and the aging minimum is only 4-6 months following harvest. These wines can carry the riserva label if they are age for an additional two years.

2) Chianti Classico

Grapes must be cultivated within a strictly delineated area between Florence and Siena. They must follow strict growing and production standards including a minimum of one year of aging before they are released on the market. They can be labeled as Riserva if they age for two years in barrels plus three in the bottle.

3) Chianti Classico Gran Selezione

This is the most recently added classification for Chianti. It is a move toward a CRU quality of wine, that is, wines produced from a single vineyard famous for its characteristics. It was designed to focus more attention on the winery practices themselves and their distinctive geographic and climatic characteristics.

Whereas Chianti and Chianti Classico wines can use grapes grown anywhere within their designated production areas, Gran Selezione must be grown, harvested, and produced on the same property. They are not necessarily from vineyard plot, but they are all property of the same winery.

It also must age for a minimum of 30 months, at three in the bottle before release.

21 DAYS TO WINE: DAY 1DIVINOWINESCHOOL

WINERYThe winery, Agricola San Feliece, is located

in the province of Siena, the heart of the Chianti Classico wine growing and production area.

WINEMAKINGGRAPES:

SANGIOVESE, COLORINO, PUGNITELLO

The wine is fermented on the skins for 8-10 days. It ages in Slavonian oak casks for 10-12 months,

followed by two in the bottle.

WINE NOTES

LOOK: Vibrant ruby red color

SMELL: Notes of red cherry and other red berries, some Mediterranean herbs.

TASTE: Crisp and dry with medium body and peppery, fruity finish.

TASTING NOTES

my notesDISCUSSThis wine is a quintessential Chianti Classico! It’s only a few years old so it is still very bright and fruity, and only beginning to evolve aromatically. The earthy notes like forest floor and leaves, and that salami note will come with time. It would pair wonderfully with traditional Tuscan cuisine, like aged sheep cheese, meaty pasta sauces, hearty vegetable stews, and red meat, including wild boar, a local delicacy often roasted with rosemary. My wine memory: I tried it for the first time with a boyfriend at a place in Florence called Trattoria Fiaschetteria Mario, where you sit with strangers at long tables and eat cheap plates of pasta and share bottles of incredible wine. Highly recommended.

YOUR TURNTell me in the comment section below the video about some of your scent memories! Think about it seriously. Do you have any food, wine, and travel stories?

21 DAYS TO WINE: DAY 1DIVINOWINESCHOOL

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Chianti is not a grape. Chianti is a wine and a wine growing and producing region. The principle grape is Sangiovese. In the same way Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, and Cava, have become synonymous with the wines produced there, Chianti is as much a wine as it is a location.

Cheers!ANNIE SUBSCRIBE