Some establishments like Athens Uncorked and Pleasant Hill Vineyards aim to help people explore their wine palettes.
While many college students may be content with the taste and price of Natural Light, a few Athens wine enthusiasts hope to help people step outside of their comfort zones and teach people how to experience wine.
“Wine is grown — it’s really not made,” Ross Corder, the owner of Pleasant Hill Vineyards, said. “If you have poor ingredients, you have poor wine.”
Corder explained that wine varies from dry to sweet, but a dry wine does not necessarily mean it is bitter or harsh. A wine is “dry” when there is residual sugar left in it. He added that red wines and white wines can both be dry or sweet. It just depends on the process in which the wine is made.
“You always want to taste wine from dry to sweet,” Corder said. “(If you don’t) it’s like having chocolate cake and trying to drink lemonade afterward.”
The idea behind wineries, Corder said, is for people to have a chance to taste different wines and find out what they like through tastings.
Pleasant Hill Vineyards, 5015 Pleasant Hill Rd., offers different pairings of food and wine, each meant to enhance the flavor of the other.
Along with two sous chefs, Corder’s wife, Sandra, makes several courses that each pair with a different wine, and the entire meal usually lasts about two and a half hours. The types of dinners change month to month — currently it is an Italian style meal, but is subject to change in the month of February, Corder said.
Different people like to enjoy their wine in different ways, as some people are “obsessed” with pairing wines with foods while others just enjoy drinking the wine itself, Nate Hayes, co-owner of Athens Uncorked, said.
Athens Uncorked, 14 Station St., provides wine novices an opportunity to learn about different kinds of wine and explore their taste palettes, Hayes said. Customers can experience wine through “flights,” which are a series of 2-ounce pours that allow the customer to try different types of wine without ordering an entire glass.
“My favorite customer that comes in says to me, ‘I don’t know the first thing about wine. I’ve never even tasted it, and I don’t know where to start,’” Hayes said.
Hayes said it is really important for people to be honest with someone about their wine knowledge, so places like wineries and wine bars can help beginners figure out what to buy without wasting money.
If a person wanted to bring a bottle of wine to a dinner party, Hayes suggests finding out first if they are red or white wine drinkers. However, he said there is never a guaranteed home-run wine that everyone at a party is guaranteed to like.
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Corder said he notices people tend to drink more reds in the winter and more whites in the summer, but it all depends on someone’s individual palette.
“White wine is usually more acidic, so you have a crisper feel,” Corder said.
Corder said to make a bottle of wine, the grapes are crushed and lay on the skins. The skins give the wine its color and antioxidants. After a few days on the skin, the grape juice is then pressed off of the skin.
Tannin also comes out of the skins. Tannin is what gives a wine a dry sensation and the more tannins in a wine then the drier it usually is. It can be a little bitter, and gives the wine structure, Corder said. Tannin also helps preserve wine, which is why red wines usually have a longer shelf life than whites.
A rosé is a mix between a white and a red wine, Corder explained. It tends to be lighter and has less tannin than most wines.
Appearance and smell have a lot to do with how a wine will taste, Corder said. The sense of smell is the reason why there are different styles of wine glasses, as some glasses are designed to get the aroma of the wine directly to a person’s nose.
“Your tastebuds are in your tongue,” Corder said. “But the flavor is in your smell.”
Hayes said he hopes more college-age students come to Athens Uncorked to experience something different than the “loud” bars Uptown.
“I would love the students to understand that this is not a snobby place,” Hayes said. “We would be really happy to share the world of wine with them because it’s so fun.”
@_alexdarus
