"Enjoyable, intuitive, and memorable. The most enjoyable wine courses online"

Wine Tasting

Wine Tutoring began as a group of instructors and wine enthusiasts that enjoyed wine education and attending wine tastings. Later, we began to help individuals, businesses, colleges and other groups, host wine tasting events, plan the occasion and ensure that the materials needed were purchased and provided for the guests. Today we are doing this on a much larger level. We will consult with you, via telephone, or video audio and help you plan every step of the way. Our consultants are professional, courteous and experienced. We hope you will contact us with any questions you might have.

Sincerely,

Bart Massey
CEO / Wine Tutoring

P. S. Our next scheduled wine tasting is for customers of a wine and garden store. The owner wishes to thank her loyal customers with a wine and cheese evening. We are helping host the event and are providing the following services.

1. Recommend 6 wine varieties of good quality and affordable price.
2. Recommend cheeses that pair with each wine
3. Recommend additional materials needed
4. Provide booklets for the customers with the wine varieties, a short informational about each variety, and general information about wine tasting and food pairing.
5. Pour 3 to 4 oz of wine for each customer and be available for all questions at the tasting.

The following information was provided for our customer for the purchase of the products needed.

Gewurztraminer - This grape variety is noted for it floral fragrance and its spicy flavors.  It is grown most successfully in France (especially Alsace), the United States (California, Oregon, Washington), Germany and New Zealand.  It does better in cool climates that in warm ones.
It is often paired with spicy foods and can be made in styles that range from completely dry to semi-dry.  Gewurztraminer can also be made in a late harvest dessert wine style that is delicious.  This is especially true in Alsace.
WIne

CHATEAU STE. MICHELLE Gewürztraminer Columbia Valley
DE LOACH Gewürztraminer Russian River Valley Late Harvest or
ALSACE WILLM Gewürztraminer Alsace

Cheese

Swiss and / or chevre

Riesling - is considered on of the 'noble' grape varieties for wine making.  It can produce wines of high acidity and elegance in very cool growing conditions.  Its wines usually show fresh fruit flavors and a zesty character.  Riesling has the ability to produce wines that run the gamut from bone dry to very sweet but are usually made in dry of semi-dry styles.  It has perfumey aromas with peach and honeysuckle notes and can develop a 'petrol' nose as it ages.

Riesling does best in cool climates and is very resistant to frost.  It is planted very widely in the northern European growing regions but is less popular in other areas of the world.

In the right circumstances, some of the finest sweet wines in the world can be made from Riesling that has been affected by Botrytis Cinerea.  This mold attacks the skin of the grape and concentrates the sugars in the grape by allowing the water to evaporate.  This is especially true in the Moselle and Rhine river valleys of Germany as well as the Alsace region of France.  These wines are at the same time:  wonderful, rare, expensive and long-lived.

Wine

HOGUE White Riesling Columbia Valley Late Harvest

Cheese

Gouda / Cheshire / Colby

Chardonnay - is grape variety is a classic white wine grape grown all around the world. The original fame of Chardonnay comes from it's success in the Burgundy and Champagne regions of France. White Burgundy must be made from the Chardonnay grape unless the label indicates it was made from a much less well known grape, Aligote

Chardonnay takes oak well, and many higher priced Chardonnays are typically fermented and/or aged in oak barrels. When Chardonnay is aged in oak barrels, it may pick up vanilla overtones in its aromas and flavor.

Chardonnay also ages well in the bottle, though it will not age as long as many red wines. It likes slightly cooler climates (warm days/cool nights) and develops less acidity than Sauvignon Blanc. Some producers put their Chardonnay (or some of it) through malolactic fermentation which reduces crispness and brings out a rich, buttery taste. This usually shortens the life of the wine as far as aging is concerned.
Wines made from the Chardonnay grape are usually served chilled. Chardonnay matches very well with chicken and with dishes that are served with a lot of butter or a cream sauce. Most Chardonnays lack the acid to match as well with seafood as Sauvignon Blanc or Riesling.

Wine

Chateau St. Jean Chardonnay - Sonoma

Cheese

Baked Brie / Mild Cheddar / Provolone

Sangiovese - is the primary grape used in Northern Italy in the region of Tuscany to make Chianti and also for Brunello di Montalcino.  Sangiovese produces wines that are spicy, with good acid levels, smooth texture and medium body.  In the right climates and with controlled yields, Sangiovese can be made into very structured and full bodied wines.  It is usually blended with other grapes for best results and in northern Italy is blended with Cabernet Sauvignon in the 'Super Tuscan' blends.
Sangiovese is experiencing increased interest and plantings in California and elsewhere.  Because of its ability to create smoother wines with acid levels that pair well with many foods, a great deal of experimentation is taking place with it as a blending agent with several red varieties.

Wine

CASALE DEL DUCCIO Chianti Classico
Luigi Cecchi Chianti Classico

Cheese
Gruyere

Zinfandel - is a grape variety that has been important almost exclusively in California.  The Zinfandel grape can make solid red wines with good fruit and structure.  It was a popular variety with home winemakers during the American prohibition era because its thick skins allowed the grapes to ship without damage.  It later (late 1970's and early 1980's) became popular for the wines produced from it with forward fruit flavors and spicy overtones.  Zinfandel declined in popularity in the mid 1980's and became unprofitable to grow until "White Zinfandel" was introduced.  White Zinfandel is a Zinfandel rose that is left slightly sweet with an acid balance.
Recent DNA tests indicate that Zinfandel is actually the same as the Primitivo grape found in Italy.

Wine
Seven Deadly Zins

Cheese
Munster

Cabernet Sauvignon -  is the premier red wine grape in the world.  Cabernet Sauvignon is the dominant grape in the Bordeaux region of France and has spread to every other major growing region.  The Cabernet Sauvignon grape produces distinctive wines that are tannic and can have long aging potential.  Average aging potential for Cabernet is 5 to 10 years in order to achieve peak flavor.   It is usually blended with other varieties to make wines with increased complexity.
Cabernet Sauvignon is a small dark thick skinned grape that gives average yields.  It needs slightly warmer growing conditions than many other varieties in order to achieve maturity.  DNA testing shows that it is descended from Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc
Cabernet Sauvignon Taste characteristics:  dark cherry, cedar, tobacco, black currant, cool climate growth can give green pepper or olive.  Up to 18 months of aging in small oak barrels before bottling Cabernet is common in order to achieve more complexity.
When you think of the finest red wines in the world, you often are thinking of wines made with Cabernet Sauvignon. Cabernet Sauvignon is known in some parts of the world by other names including: Petit Cabernet, Sauvignon Rouge, and Vidure.

Wine
LINDEMANS Cabernet Sauvignon South Eastern Australia Bin 45

Cheese
Blue Cheese / Sharp Cheddar

Other items:

Crackers without salt

• Bread (Basic, but nice)
• Water to drink at stations
• coolers to keep white wines cool
• small plates
• cups to drink water from (Clear plastic)
• Cups to spit in (Colored Plastic)
• Wine Bottle Opener (Rabbit or ask Bart)
• 2 bottles for door prize
• Wine glasses

1. 2003 Baron Philippe de Rothschild Mouton Cadet

• Water to clean wine glasses