Red wine tasting with students of Spanish

After the success of the previous wine-tasting evening focusing on white wine, students from Instituto Hemingway came together again last Thursday the 9th of June to get to grips with the joys of red wine.
Thanks to Alfredo´s patient explanations, we learnt all about the production process of wine, the origin of different varieties and their qualities and became expert wine tasters as we learnt how to develop our sense of smell and taste.

We discovered that there are 3 basic rules for appreciating wine: looking, smelling and tasting. So, following these three steps, whilst practising our Spanish and learning new words related to the topic, we learnt how to differentiate between the different colours (such as cherry or red brick), the different smells (fruits, grass, spices) and when we finally came to tasting the wine, we were able to recognise these smells and characteristics in the taste of the wine.
We found the first part involving colours relatively simple, but correctly guessing the smells and flavours was slightly more difficult – especially for those without expert sensory palates (the majority)!
Among the different wines that we tasted, there was a whole range of opinions. However, one thing that was quite clear was that price and quality do not always correlate.

After this experience, we will certainly pay more attention when we are served a glass of wine and we will also not forget how the Spaniards toast each other: “up, down, to the centre and down it!” Cheers