For the first episode of TF Together, our daily online events to help our community stay connected during the coronavirus lockdown, TF’s Alexandra Korey chatted with wine educator Filippo Bartolotta about wine tasting. Far from your simple guidelines on sight, smell and taste, our participatory conversation explored everything from why Bartolotta loves Vin Santo to the best way to describe wine to aliens, how to train your nose, and much more.
This video was recorded with Go To Meeting, where participants who chose to share their webcams were able to communicate, and a chat added to the interactive nature of the event.
Episode summary
0:00 – Introduction
1:12 – Meeting Filippo Bartolotta, wine educator and critic, owner of Le Baccanti wine tours and Mama Florence cooking school
2:27 – Drinking wine during Coronavirus lockdown – tips for “drinking alone”
4:56 – What’s Filippo drinking and why he loves it
8:26 – How to open a bottle of wine with a “waiter’s friend” corkscrew
10:05 – Choosing the right glass for wine tasting
11:39 – Sight and what it tells you before you taste the wine (what do “legs” mean? looking at colour)
14:14 – The aromas of wine and where they come from – “it’s like picking different flowers” – a sweet wine like the top of a creme caramel and crystal ball!
19:40 – What Alexandra’s drinking, how Moscato d’Asti is made, comments from participants about what they are drinking
25:14 – Tannins and antioxidants and how wine will NOT cure Coronavirus
32:10 – How to verbalize the aromas about wine: “what it reminds you of”, finding your own language to describe the beverage, even to aliens!
34:05 – The flavour wheel and unified vocabulary vs. Filippo’s personal method
35:40 – Objective descriptors vs. subjective descriptors (your experience) paralleled to books and the “reader journey”
36:45 – How to train our olfactory senses to recognize the fine points of wine – a game to play at home, even with the kids. “Your senses are awesome!”
42:27 – Another tasting training tip is to have a couple of types of wine back to back
46:05 – Filippo’s book Di Che Vino Sei (buy on amazon.it / Buy on amazon.com)
