On Friday; January 17th, we held our first sensorial wine tasting class by Qtalgourmet and Bodegas Vegamar.

There was a great show up. We really enjoyed it and hope to have many more.

Our sommelier was Elizabeth Bravo representing Bodegas Vegamar. Her CV is very impressive since she is a writer for El Mundo Newspaper and has a Master in Molecular Coctails and has achieved many awards. What we liked most about Elizabeth was that she began by telling us she wasn´t going to use complicated wine terminology so that we could actually learn and appreciate the different aspects of wine with simple tricks. Everything was set up with special wine glasses and an assortment of cheeses and bread and most importantly, the props to begin and enjoy the wine tasting.

Our first surprise was a vermouth with no artificial additives or sugar added: ¡Oh La La! Vermouth Rouge. I must say it was very interesting to begin the tasting with this vermouth since it opened our senses.

Two white wines followed. We were taught how to value the acidity in our mouths by swallowing the wine and tucking our chins to our chest. If our mouths watered in the back and sides, the acidity was natural and if our tongues watered at the tip, the acidity was artificial, like a sour candy. We actually tried some acid powder candy to prove her point and smiled when we saw this was true. Another thing we learned while trying the white wines was how to lean the glass against a white napkin or piece of paper to see if it was a young wine. It was interesting to see that if you looked at the wine holding the glass in the air, it was a golden color and when we tipped it towards the napkin it bécame totally transparent. This is what indicates that it is a young wine. If it maintains the golden color, then it would be a more aged wine

Our last wine was a 100% red Garnacha. With this wine we also did the tipping trick and saw how the color was ruby red with purple highlights. This indicates a young wine, if not it would have orange or burgundy hues.

At this point we put our blindfolds on and smelled the different little bottles with colored liquids that were on the table to see if we appreciated the different aromas used in wine making. Some were easier to guess that others. Fruity or flowery aromas and even chocolate or coco were a few examples. We also had to try and guess what was in the little baskets with fruit and candy while being blindfolded.

We finished with a cava (a white sparkling wine similar to champagne produced in Spain, especially in Catalonia). Elizabeth explained how to tell if a cava or champagne is good by counting the minutes it takes for the bubbles to rise and also by the size of the bubbles. The slower they rise, the more quality it has. We ended making a toast with the cava, it was a wonderful way to end our first wine testing together.

I´m sure we all went home knowing a little bit more about wine.

I would like to thank all of our ÁbacoClub clients who attended for the great company and would encourage you to get to know one another outside of these meet ups. We will definitely be doing alot of activities with the AbacoClub but this can be the beginning of new friendships.