anna-corso-vino

«La conoscenza è un processo di costruzione continua» Jean Piaget

Some time ago we hosted at Corte Sant’Alda about thirty students from a vocational school for tourism and catering from Bassano del Grappa. This school trip is organized every year by a teacher who is a friend of ours; starting from the study plan related to the waiting service, she enthusiastically takes the students to our cellar to show them how a winery works, compelling them, although in a friendly way, to get off the bus in the main square in Mezzane di Sotto and walk all the way up a steep dirty road to Fioi.
I must confess I was feeling a bit uncomfortable as I had never talked to an audience of minors, aged around 16-17. The visit for sure wouldn’t be followed by a wine tasting, but by a snack with fruit juice, sandwiches and water.
It was a delightful surprise, not only for the energy that the students put into climbing their way up to the winery, but even more for the great amount of questions they asked me during the visit, about how wine is made and about how to “properly taste” like a professional. The group was rather miscellaneous, with students coming from India, Africa and Romania. Their curiosity and intelligence came together with an understandable insecurity, leading them to the inevitable question “Will I be able to taste wine? Why do sommeliers find all those scents in wines? Does it require a particular talent?”.
I like to recall the wonderful words from the book Il piacere del vino (The joy of wine) by Slow Food: “Tasting food or wine means first of all using your sensory system in a free, attentive, unconditioned way: therefore, we rediscover the universe of senses”.
The art of tasting is trained, the ability to express sensations is built, searched, refined. One thing I can’t accept, and which happens often, is that people feel intimidated by the presence of “wine experts” and come to the wrong conclusion of not being good enough at tasting. When they shyly bring the glass closer to their nose, they tell me “How do I do it? I can’t smell anything”. That’s not true, it’s that evolution has dulled our senses, we all have olfactory neurons, the difference lies in a conscious examination, in training our organs and nurturing our sensorial memory. I always mention an example of a tasting course I attended in London, with students from different parts of the world, and different cultures. When a French commented the scent of a wine comparing it with that of French peas, an Australian shouted “Not fair!”, as he didn’t know what the French was talking about. Understandable.

Our sensations can become words, which don’t necessarily have to be those of the experts. Ours are good enough.

Finally, let’s not forget the main purpose of wine: joy, conviviality, sharing.

Anna Caprini

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