How to Taste Wine: Mechanics of Flavor
A two-hour tasting seminar of six wines, served with crackers to cleanse the palate. We highly recommend eating a heavy snack or meal before arriving.
Whether you’re new to wine or have been drinking it for years, a guided lesson in properly tasting it will open your eyes to how to enjoy it even more.
This class will give you a solid foundation to explore and enjoy wine without intimidation or hesitation. You will learn how to taste like the professional tasters do, focusing on all the “messages” embedded in the wine. Besides learning to identify components and flaws in any given wine, you will familiarize yourselves with all those hidden elements that separate great wines from average wines.
You will be exposed to a few of the classic grape varieties of the world in order to help you sharpen your palate to develop your own wine vocabulary. Consider this a primer (or refresher) and an ideal way to start the new year!
Sally Kim started her wine career interning at The Underground Wine Journal while majoring in French literature at UC Irvine. She later worked at Domaine Carneros winery and several San Francisco restaurants including Marketbar and Restaurant Lulu. Sally then moved into wine sales for Domaine Select Wine Estates, Trilussa and The Sorting Table. She returned to the restaurant side as a sommelier at Terroni Restaurant Group in Los Angeles and then moved to Toronto to be Wine Director for the group’s six restaurants. She started as Beverage Director at Delfina Restaurant Group in June 2014 to manage the Italian-focused wine and beer lists at Delfina, Locanda, four Pizzeria Delfinas and the cocktail programs at both of the Group’s full-service bars (Locanda and Pizzeria Delfina Palo Alto). In August 2017, she took took a step back to work on her own project to make wine. Sally continues to be the wine director for the Delfina Restaurant Group, but also consults for other clients like A16, SPQR, and A16 Rockridge.
(Photo courtesy of Cynthia Wood)
