Friday, January 20, 2012

Viva Italia!

This was the name of the class that Meg and I attended this week at the Atlanta Wine School. As you might have guessed by the name of the class, it covered Italian wines as well as many other things Italian. The class was taught by Kelly Wheeler who is not has several wine certifications but he is also a chef so he had some delicious cheeses and a special Italian sausage and peppers dish he served with the wines.


The class included an overview of the different wine regions in Italy, some tips on how to speak Italian, along with some history facts and personal stories of his many trips to the beautiful country of Italy. Mr. Wheeler was very knowledgeable and entertaining and he did a great job of explaining the differences in the grapes, the style of the regions, the different techniques of wine making and of course nuances of the wine. Some of the descriptions he threw out there I really wasn’t getting but his pallet is much more sophisticated than mine so that make sense. For example, he said he could smell some brioche in one of the wines where I wasn’t getting anything resembling bread at all! I did get it when he said he smelt some road tar. I totally got that one!

Anyway, I wanted to share the fact that there is a wine school in Atlanta and they do a great job. I have been to several classes there now and I have never been disappointed. If I had the time I would definitely go more often and might even think about getting certified in wine there, but that just isn’t in the cards now. The wine school is a great place to learn more about all aspects of wine and I highly recommend taking a class or popping in for one of their wine and cheese tastings. I hope to post some reviews of the wines we tasted soon.

Cheers!

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