{"id":2054,"date":"2022-02-27T18:39:37","date_gmt":"2022-02-27T18:39:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=2054"},"modified":"2023-06-30T14:08:39","modified_gmt":"2023-06-30T14:08:39","slug":"group-tastings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=2054","title":{"rendered":"Group Tastings"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Sometimes you consume wine standing up.\u00a0 At a bar in a tasting room.\u00a0 At a barbecue.\u00a0 At a party.\u00a0 More often, for most people, you drink wine sitting down.\u00a0 At the dinner table or in a restaurant.\u00a0 Increasingly in wineries at tables in a tasting room.\u00a0 On our porch on a late summer afternoon.<\/p>\n<p>In almost all those cases, you drink wine with others you know or at least would like to talk with.\u00a0 But in a certain type of wine tasting adventure, you find yourself sitting at a long table in a luxurious room, sipping wine with complete strangers.\u00a0 A number of wineries offer seated tastings, by appointment only, often with accompanying foods, usually combined with a tour.\u00a0 These are generally tastings at wineries that are (or aspire to be) among the elite, including wineries such as <a href=\"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=583\">Jordan<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1142\">Cain<\/a> in California and <a href=\"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=89\">Biondi-Santi <\/a>in Italy.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/group_tasting.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2055 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/group_tasting-300x224.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"589\" height=\"440\" srcset=\"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/group_tasting-300x224.jpg 300w, http:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/group_tasting.jpg 433w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 589px) 100vw, 589px\" \/><\/a><em>Photo courtesy of Visit Napa Valley.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>There is an etiquette to these gatherings that is worth thinking about.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>It\u2019s really not a cocktail party<\/strong>. Some people are chatty and others are more interested in enjoying their wine with the person they came with.\u00a0 If you\u2019re one of the talkative ones, be respectful of the more silent types.\u00a0 And if you do find other guests who\u2019d like to converse with you, keep it down so as not to dominate the room.\u00a0 That room may be like a fine dining room or a library, so speak as you would in one of those places.<\/li>\n<li><strong>You\u2019re not the wine expert.<\/strong> There\u2019s always a server\/guide who leads the proceedings.\u00a0 Let that person explain the wine and the history of the estate.\u00a0 Even if you really <em>are<\/em> a wine expert, it\u2019s best not to take over.\u00a0 You\u2019ll just come across as overbearing and intimidating.<\/li>\n<li><strong>If there\u2019s food, wait to be told when to eat it<\/strong>. This is a tasting, not a party.\u00a0 The foods are often little bites of p\u00e2t\u00e9, cheese or crackers. \u00a0They are chosen by the winery to complement and accompany specific foods.\u00a0 So wait until your server suggests a pairing before you take a bite.\u00a0 We have often found it interesting to leave a little bit of each food to try it with other wines after the pairing.\u00a0 It might clash or it might bring out a quality in the wines that may surprise you.<\/li>\n<li><strong>As always, you have no obligation to buy any bottles.<\/strong> You are bound to be asked if you\u2019d like to purchase some.\u00a0 The winery knows that you\u2019re at your most receptive, having been treated like visiting royalty, with a little peer pressure added to the mix.\u00a0 Remember that you have paid to be there.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Make sure to enjoy the ambience as well as the wine.<\/strong> Our experience has been that these group tastings are often held in beautiful rooms in buildings that either are or are meant to look like grand ch\u00e2teaux.\u00a0 And the wines are often top of the line, often with a little extra from the library collection offered as well.\u00a0 You may not come this way again, so soak it in while you\u2019re there. Cheers!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sometimes you consume wine standing up.\u00a0 At a bar in a tasting room.\u00a0 At a barbecue.\u00a0 At a party.\u00a0 More often, for most people, you drink wine sitting down.\u00a0 At the dinner table or in a restaurant.\u00a0 Increasingly in wineries at tables in a tasting room.\u00a0 On our porch on a late summer afternoon. In &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=2054\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Group Tastings<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2054"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2054"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2054\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2056,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2054\/revisions\/2056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}