Food

Thirsty For Knowledge? A New Course Can Make You An Expert When It Comes To Wine

Posted: 7/21/2010

Improving your knowledge of wine can help make you the toast of the town.

(NAPSI)- If there's one thing the movie "Sideways" accomplished, it's that the mispronunciation of the word "Pinot" is down dramatically. But Hollywood's homage to the grape notwithstanding, wine remains a subject most Americans have more questions about than answers.

Is red wine, for example, always best with meat? What, exactly, does it mean if a wine is "badly corked"?

Fortuitously, help has arrived.

In an age when we're all supposed to be "lifetime learners," the same people who brought us "The Great Courses" videos in fields like philosophy, history, literature, science and the arts--taught by many of the nation's top professors--have now extended their purview to include wine. "We listened closely to consumers and designed the course to their exact preferences," says Brandon Hidalgo, CEO of The Teaching Company.

The result? "The Everyday Guide to Wine," a series of 24 engaging, half-hour DVD lectures, intended for connoisseurs and novices alike, taught by Master of Wine Jennifer Simonetti-Bryan, one of only 26 Americans (four of them women) ever to achieve the prestigious MW title.

An inspiring speaker and an expert on all things wine, Simonetti-Bryan leads you through a series of fun, informative, interactive wine tastings that highlight each DVD and are sure to delight both the mind and palate (the course guidebook provides her list of wine selections used throughout the lectures). Her personal recollections add a fun touch to the DVD, like when she retells the fate of a certain expensive 1996 Grands Échézeaux red burgundy she once excitedly brought to a family dinner.

"I went into a long explanation about why it was so amazing, and then left the room," recalls Simonetti-Bryan, who's achieved the highest credentials from both the Society of Wine Educators and Wine & Spirits Education Trust. "When I got back, to my horror, they'd poured the wine into a pitcher and added 7UP to it. A $200 spritzer."

Fully 130 different wines are covered on the DVDs. Plus, you'll find trade secrets for identifying tasting notes, and be treated to tours of some of the world's greatest wine regions.

Of course, just getting your hands on a Master of Wine's personal favorites is probably worth the cost of the DVDs (available at www.everydaywineguide.com). But for now, here are some insights from Simonetti-Bryan to mull over:

• Portugal is the next "It Country" for great value wines.

• The proper way to hold a glass is by its stem--not the bowl. "Body temperature can warm wine way too much, causing it to lose aroma."

And, oh yes, just so you'll know, "badly corked" means a bottle is tainted with a musty aroma. Which, rest assured, Simonetti-Bryan has a solution for.

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