{"id":1678,"date":"2020-10-30T18:36:29","date_gmt":"2020-10-30T18:36:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1678"},"modified":"2020-10-30T18:49:07","modified_gmt":"2020-10-30T18:49:07","slug":"contrasts-wine-tasting-in-california-and-in-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=1678","title":{"rendered":"Contrasts: Wine Tasting in California and in Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"

In some ways, wine tasting is the same experience wherever you do it.\u00a0 Someone offers you a glass, fills it with wine and tells you what you have in your glass.\u00a0 You sip the wine, think about how it smells and tastes and try to remember how much you liked it.\u00a0 But in many other not quite so fundamental ways, the experience of wine tasting varies greatly depending on what part of Wine Country you are in when you do it.\u00a0 Of course, different places make different kinds of wine but let\u2019s put that aside.\u00a0 We are talking here simply of the differences in the experiences you have, which after all is what Power Tasting<\/em> is all about.<\/p>\n

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Opus One winery, one of the most European tasting experiences in California.\u00a0 Photo courtesy of the Napa Valley Register.<\/em><\/p>\n

Wine tasting in California is rather straightforward, with a few big exceptions.\u00a0 You drive up to a pretty building, enter a well-decorated tasting room and sample several wines.\u00a0 In most places, there are a variety of wines to choose among \u2013 red, white and ros\u00e9 \u2013 and most tasting rooms allow you to try four or five of them.\u00a0 In a few wineries there is a dessert wine to top it all off.\u00a0 If it\u2019s not too busy and if your server has some knowledge of wine, you might also have the chance for an interesting discussion about what you\u2019re being served.<\/p>\n

As to those California exceptions, more and more wineries that sell highly priced wines now only offer seated tastings by appointment.\u00a0 Often a tour is a prerequisite for a tasting.\u00a0 There will be a smaller number of wines available, but they will all be well-made expressions of the terroir and the varietal.<\/p>\n

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Domaine la Soumade<\/a> in the Southern Rhone Valley, one of the most Californian tasting experiences in Europe.\u00a0 Photo courtesy of the Our House in Provence blog.<\/em><\/p>\n

Europe is too big a place with way too many wines to make any meaningful generalizations\u2026but we\u2019ll try anyway.\u00a0 In some places, the experience is quite Californian.\u00a0 Wineries have built pretty buildings (or taken over quite impressive old buildings) and serve their wines at a stand-up bar.\u00a0 In terms of the experience, you could just as well be in Mendocino as Montalcino.\u00a0 The conversation may be somewhat more limited, depending on your language skills and that of the server.\u00a0 The range of wines you may taste could be very much more limited; in some places such as Bordeaux, Burgundy or Chianti they only make a red and a white and the only variety is based on the level of quality.<\/p>\n

There are several other variations in Europe.\u00a0 The biggest, best known producers only offer tastings by appointment, if they do so at all.\u00a0 The service will be in well-spoken English, because you reserved it that way.\u00a0 There may be only one wine to taste and it will be very good.<\/p>\n

At the other extreme, there are many instances in Europe where a tasting, such as it is, is held in the winemaker\u2019s kitchen, with that fellow or his aunt serving you whatever they make.\u00a0 In some places that may be only one wine, but more likely you find a fairly broad selection of the same type of wine from their properties around the region.<\/p>\n

Since these generalizations are so broad, we recommend you do a little homework before you travel to taste wine in Europe.\u00a0 It will save you from misunderstandings and disappointments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In some ways, wine tasting is the same experience wherever you do it.\u00a0 Someone offers you a glass, fills it with wine and tells you what you have in your glass.\u00a0 You sip the wine, think about how it smells and tastes and try to remember how much you liked it.\u00a0 But in many other … Continue reading Contrasts: Wine Tasting in California and in Europe<\/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":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1678"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1678"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1678\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1684,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1678\/revisions\/1684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}