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Sommeliers Share Funny Wine Festival Tips

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We have covered tips in previous articles for surviving a wine tasting festival.  The kind where if you aren’t careful the best case scenario is remembering “yes, that was one of the 100 wines I tasted that night” and the worst case scenario is not remembering at all.

We sat in on a “quick tip” session with two rather amusing sommeliers.  We didn’t know sommeliers were that funny sober.  Thanks to New York “sommes” Rajeev Vaidya from Daniel and Thomas Pastuszac from the Nomad Hotel for these fun tips.

1. The Sexy Bottleneck
     Take a sober walk through.  Notice tables with attractive, confident attendants and sexy labels.  Go there first because they will bottleneck.

2. The Popular Taster   
     Engage the winemaker by asking what, where, and how questions about the wine.  Be respectful of his/her need to interact with the other 599 tasters.  Popular tasters get bigger pours. 😉

3. The Clean Taster
      Don’t block the spit/dump bucket.  Just don’t.  Raj admitted he practices spitting in the shower. Not everyone is as well trained.

4. The Internal Spit
      When something is just too delicious to spit out it is okay to spit “in.”

5. The Sulfites BS
        For those who think you have a hangover from too much sulfites in a wine – well you just drank too much.  Unless of course you also get a hangover from dried fruit which contains more sulphur compounds than any wine.

I think Raj and Thomas could bottleneck a table, don’t you?

Here are some of the tips we have shared before:

1.      Taste something new – Take the opportunity to try new wines without investing in a whole bottle.
2.      Make a plan –  Check your program or the tables to decide which wines interest you most.  Taste your top picks first while you are fresh (and before they run out).
3.      Whites before reds, dry before sweet – tasting in this order will prevent your taste buds from becoming overwhelmed.
4.      Cleansing the palate – If you do taste a wine that lingers longer than you want, eat some plain bread or crackers and drink some water.
5.      Eat –   Don’t go on an empty stomach and take a break midway through the tasting to eat.   Not only will you be less likely to “get drunk” but you can experience food with the wine.
6.      Don’t get drunk –  You cannot taste and spit 100 wines.  You cannot swallow 25.  Don’t try.  
7.      Spit – Yes, I know it doesn’t sound fun.  You don’t have to spit everything.  If it is wonderful, drink it.  But to keep your palate fresh and prevent intoxication find the “dump bucket” or carry a cup.
8.      Preparing your palate –Avoid toothpaste, mouthwash, coffee, cigarettes or any other strong flavors right before tasting.
9.      Be considerate – Skip the perfume/cologne.  It may make it difficult for others to smell/taste their wine.
10.  Have fun – It is just wine.  You don’t have to know anything but what you like and the tasting event is all about discovering your own preferences.

   Photos of Rajeev and Thomas belong to daniel.com and bloomberg.com

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