Wine Tasting

This evening I went wine tasting in town with some girls from school. I didn't really know what to expect, as I had never been wine tasting before. But I knew that I wanted to potentially ship wine home, and I figured a wine tasting would be the best place to make those decisions. Before I came to Cortona, I had a preference for white wine. NOW, I prefer red.

At the tasting we tried three different red wines: Vino Nobile di Montelcino, Brunello di Montelcino, and a Cortona Syrah.

I'll be shipping home at least a bottle of each, that is for sure.

The other gain from this experience, is a vast new knowledge of wine and wine production.

Did you know?

• Italy, France and Spain are responsible for 70% of the world's production of wine
• The greatest region of wine production in Italy is the Veneto region - up by Venice
• The Veneto region produces as much wine as America, Chile and South Africa combined
• Wine should be opened hours prior to drinking it, in order to let it breathe. Wine reacts to its surroundings similar to a living, breathing being. It gets jet-lagged from being transported, and needs to absorb oxygen after being trapped in a wine bottle for years
• The flavour of a bottle of wine changes with time. After it opens, the flavour will be different within ten minutes
• A bottle of the same wine from two different years will taste very different from each other. The variance is due to weather conditions from year to year
• The same grape type can make a large variety of wine, based on the region and conditions it grows in
• Wine is not meant to be sipped alone. It's flavour is greatly enhanced by the food it is paired with
• And on and on and on....

All in all, the wine tasting was a great success. I would do it again in a heartbeat!