Written by: SuperUser Account
11/14/2008 7:46 PM

Event: IPA Journey to the World of Wine
Date / Time: Friday, 14 November 2008 / 7.30 p.m. – 10.00 p.m.
Venue: World of Wines, Novena Square 2, B1-90/92, Singapore
Photos: Click here!

Beyond Red and White by CHRISTINE TJAHJADI

These are what I knew about wines: There are two kinds of wines, red wine and white wine. You serve red wine warm, and best had when you are eating red meat, and you enjoy cold white wine when you are having white meat food. As I'm not really an alcohol aficionada, my knowledge about wines was limited to recognising the wines by their colors alone, plus the fact that the French drink them like water.

I had not known about it, but my coming to Indonesian Professionals' Association (IPA)’s Journey to the World of Wines on 14 November has indeed enriched my modest knowledge about wine subtleties.

The journey of my first wine tasting experience started at 7.30 pm at Andrew Ho’s contemporarily-designed wine store, appropriately named “the World of Wine”, located just next to the Novena MRT Station. The soft-spoken Andrew, and his shop assistant welcomed the early birds who were there with a glass of white wine, and distributed a pamphlet on the wines that will be introduced later.

At about 8.00 p.m. when most of the IPA participants had arrived, Medan-born Andrew gathered everybody inside the shop and properly started the event with a warm introduction. Aloysius, the representative from Deakin, the wine company demonstrating the wine event, then took centre stage.

“Who has never been to Australia?” he asked. Most of us raised our hands. He then referred to the Australian map and pointed to us the wine producing areas in Australia.

Aloysius then explained that to experience the true flavor of a wine requires, one needs to pay attention to one's senses of sight, smell, touch as well as taste.

Aloysius used Moscato; the first wine served that night, to demonstrate the basic etiquette of drinking wine and techniques on how to appreciate it. As he explained further about the specification of Moscato wine, he introduced us on how to identify a wine. Take a glass of wine and slightly bend it to the light direction check the color to see how clear or dark it is. Then, he told us how to smell the wine or ‘do the nose’.Swing the glass, put your nose around the glass and gently smell the wine aroma. He went on his explanation by telling us how to taste the wine. Take a small sip to your mouth; put the wine in your tongue up and down before you gulp it down to catch the palate of the wine.

Here is the summary of what Aloysius shared with us on some famous wine varieties in the world:

Moscato (a.k.a Ladies’ Killer in Australia)
Grape variety: Muscat Gordon Blanco
Taste: Sweet with a feeling of sweet apple aroma
Color: Very pale yellow, crystal clear
Alcohol volume: 4.5%
Serving: Chilled, cooler is better
Palate: Very Light with little sparkling or bubbles
Best paired with: Light desert

Chardonnay
Grape variety: Chardonnay
Taste: Slightly bitter with a feeling of peach, nectarine and pineapple aromas
Color: Pale yellow but not as yellow as Moscato
Alcohol volume: 14%
Serving: Chilled
Palate: Rich and creamy
Best paired with: Steamed fish or seafood and other modern dishes

Merlot
Grape variety: Merlot
Taste: Mellow with a feeling of cherries, blueberries and chocolate aromas
Color: Medium red (Medium/Half Body)
Alcohol volume: 13.5%
Serving: Slightly below room temperature
Palate: Soft and supple
Best paired with: Asian food, spicy food, chicken or pork dishes

Sauvignon
Grape variety: Cabernet Sauvignon
Taste: Strong and bitter with intense blackcurrant and blueberry aromas
Color: Dark red (Full Body)
Alcohol volume: 13.5%
Serving: Slightly below room temperature
Palate: Strong tannins Best paired with: Beef steak and Italian food

At the end of Aloysius’ explanation about the varieties of wines, Andrew mentioned that white wine comes from yellow or green grapes where red wine comes from darker-colored grapes. During the fermentation, wine makers also soak the grape skin to get the color.

Benny, one of the IPA participants, raised a question on to whether it’s true that wine makers use their feet to step on the grape fruits to get the juice during the production. Andrew reaffirmed this – saying that it is how traditional wine production was done.

Coming to the end of the session, Aloysius brought up the issue about Wine Packaging. He mentioned, nowadays wine makers tend to use the Venetian Style Packaging (Screw Cap) more to cut production costs and keep the wine longer after opening. Hence, wine with screw capped bottle packaging does not mean that it is a cheap wine. Later on he demonstrated the techniques to open the wine bottle professionally. Easy. Hold the base of the bottle; twist the neck of the bottle anti-clock wise and Voila! It’s opened.

At about 8.30 p.m. Aloysius and Andrew concluded their presentation and allowed the guests to mingle around and taste the rest of the wine types showed that night: the Chardonnay, Merlot and Sauvignon. We all were so excited trying all the kinds of wine served while Andrew and Aloysius patiently answered further questions about wine from the guests who approached them personally.

By 9.00 p.m., I already saw some red faces following the serving of Sauvignon Wine, the strongest one served that night. All the guests were blissfully chatted more about wine, made new friends and got to know each other whilst enjoying the free flow wines. We really had a good relaxing time and companions until Andrew spoke up again that night at about 9.45 p.m. He gave some closing remarks followed by the closing remark from IPA organizing committee, Yohans Gozal. Time showed that it was already 10.00 p.m. and we needed to call it a night as the shopping mall where the event was held was about to close.

Well, this practically ended our exciting Journey to the World of Wine that night. I was very satisfied with the well-organized and good turn-up IPA’s first wine event as we all had the opportunity to taste good wines, find out more about wines, basic wine drinking etiquette and make some new friends!





(Photo credits: Yohans Gozal)

Cheers!

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