Jan 15 Day at Sea -- Wine Tasting

As befits our status as people who have spent way too much money with Oceania, we were invited to a complimentary wine tasting during our day at sea.  Since the seas were placid, we took the opportunity to visit the sommeliers and see what it was all about.

The tasting consisted of five red wines from Italy.

 The five wines were poured for tasting, and each place setting had a tray of "paired" crudites prepared by Chef Mario to consume with the wines. Cynthia enjoyed the sip of wine and the morsel of food and that all tastes changed when combined at back of the mouth.  Cheese was creamier, tomatoes and baguette were different as well--she marvelled at that experience.

 There was a PowerPoint presentation about the regions and varieties of wine in Italy. (and history!) There was examination of color, swirling to determine its viscosity, and smelling to pick up on the 200 possible scents our untrained noises could detect.  Pretty much every scent was mentioned by participants.  Dirt was mentioned a lot in discussion, although probably not in the marketing materials.

 The only scent I detected was a faint trichloroethylene aroma, an industrial solvent used at the University of Dayton Research Institute laboratory I worked in during my undergraduate years.  Since TCE was banned in 1977 because of its toxic effects, perhaps that explains my sense of smell.

 The hour long presentation ended with an example of "sabering," opening a champagne bottle with a saber.  This was unrelated to any Italian red wine, but was showmanship at its finest.  Leonardo brandished his butcher knife (the cavalry was on maneuvers, and had taken their sabers with them) and dispatched the cork with aplomb. (notice the cork in the picture; Dave's very proud of this shot!)

  A guest attempted to emulate him and managed to cut off the top of the bottle.  Fortunately, only glass was severed in the demonstration.