What To Expect At The Festival
With all this talk about wine festivals I thought a little blurb about what to expect or look at might be interesting (or amusing). I saw an article actually mentioning that some wineries will run out of wine at the festivals. I am not saying this phenomenon will happen in the Old Dominion but it is interesting to find out why it could happen.
According to the Wine blog Tablas Creek this is by design and is an element of branding. Building scarcity gives the effect that the wine is:
And that image is vital when you consider there are twenty or thirty other vineyards serving as comparison markers. I guess I can see the logic. At the very least it forces you to hit certain wineries first when you go to the festivals. Obviously you are fresher at the beginning of the festival. This discernment may give wines sampled early a tactical advantage. You figure as the festivals go on some of the wines may begin to blend with each other in the patrons mind.
Moving On...To Spittoon Or Not To Spittoon
There were some really good tips. From swirling the wine around to aspirate to open up flavor you could see why there is such an air of class surrounding this industry. Until you get to the section on cleansing your palette. Cleansing your palette is a code phrase for spitting out the wine.
This sounds gross and undignified. On the other hand you are not going to be sharp enough to continue judging wines after you have swallowed for a while. So what do you do? I would look at the people with me. If I was with real wine experts I would ask them what they plan to do. If they spit I would not feel as weird.
Now if it is Saturday at the Vintage Wine Festival at Bull Run I might think twice. That is just me.
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| Will The Wine Run Out? |
According to the Wine blog Tablas Creek this is by design and is an element of branding. Building scarcity gives the effect that the wine is:
- rare
- extremely popular
And that image is vital when you consider there are twenty or thirty other vineyards serving as comparison markers. I guess I can see the logic. At the very least it forces you to hit certain wineries first when you go to the festivals. Obviously you are fresher at the beginning of the festival. This discernment may give wines sampled early a tactical advantage. You figure as the festivals go on some of the wines may begin to blend with each other in the patrons mind.
Moving On...To Spittoon Or Not To Spittoon
There were some really good tips. From swirling the wine around to aspirate to open up flavor you could see why there is such an air of class surrounding this industry. Until you get to the section on cleansing your palette. Cleansing your palette is a code phrase for spitting out the wine.
This sounds gross and undignified. On the other hand you are not going to be sharp enough to continue judging wines after you have swallowed for a while. So what do you do? I would look at the people with me. If I was with real wine experts I would ask them what they plan to do. If they spit I would not feel as weird.
Now if it is Saturday at the Vintage Wine Festival at Bull Run I might think twice. That is just me.
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