November 9, 2009 was the beginning of my five week wine course taught by master sommelier, Guy Stout of Glazier Distributing and Eric Hasting, advanced sommelier from Eddie V in Houston. It was held at Peter Garcia's El Meson restaurant. Peter himself, is a certified sommelier and has two extensive wine cellars that he built at his popular Spanish restaurant in the Rice Village. He is so passionate about his wines which he is well known for, and it reflects in his extensive wine list.
Our sessions were divided into areas of the world where most of the varietals of grapes are made for wine. The first week started with the American wines from California,Oregon etc., and ended with wines from the French Champagne, Burgundy, Alsace, Rhone Valley and Provence region.
I was glad to help Peter and Guy out with some cheeses we had open in our refrigerator at work along with olives, nuts and fruit provided by El Meson. Such fun doing this!
Here we tasted some great wines from the Southern Hemisphere like Wolf Blass Shiraz from New Zealand and Dona Paula Malbec from Argentina. My, there are so many wines to learn and decided to keep it simple and write a diary of which wines I liked. Fun were the wines of Italy especially the Mionetto Prosecco and Bonfi Brunello which retails for $60 in the stores.
Our last class was exciting as we went thru the French region of Champagne, Alsace, Burgundy and Rhone. Our tip was to buy the Perrin Bros. Cotes du Rhone 05,06,07.
Guy brought a bottle ofVeuve Clicquot 1998. Never thought I'd be drinking a $200 bottle of bubbly!
As I leave my classes on wine, I know I need to take a few more courses which will help sink some of this knowledge in. Do I have another 10 years to learn wines like I have cheese???
Here we tasted some great wines from the Southern Hemisphere like Wolf Blass Shiraz from New Zealand and Dona Paula Malbec from Argentina. My, there are so many wines to learn and decided to keep it simple and write a diary of which wines I liked. Fun were the wines of Italy especially the Mionetto Prosecco and Bonfi Brunello which retails for $60 in the stores.
Our last class was exciting as we went thru the French region of Champagne, Alsace, Burgundy and Rhone. Our tip was to buy the Perrin Bros. Cotes du Rhone 05,06,07.Guy brought a bottle ofVeuve Clicquot 1998. Never thought I'd be drinking a $200 bottle of bubbly!
As I leave my classes on wine, I know I need to take a few more courses which will help sink some of this knowledge in. Do I have another 10 years to learn wines like I have cheese???
