PlumpJack Squaw Valley Inn employee, Jay Sawczak, tells PlumpJack Blog readers about his tough day at work... tasting wine!
Being a part of the Plumpjack family, you'd never guess to be so fortunate as to have supervisors that insist you drink wine while working...regularly. In fact, it's such an integral part of the restaurant life here that the managers will peer pressure you into the trainings. Sounds crazy, right?
This past week the crew was invited to sign up for a training that involved taking different cabernets and blending them together to get a more balanced and friendly wine for the palate. Differences such as soil quality, altitude, slope aspect, climate, and vineyard. The wines ranged from very tannoned to deep dark fruit to flavors of olive. Some similar, others very different, and unique in their own way.
Our guide was a local wine buyer named Kevin who gave us samples and a "map" to show us the area where each grape was grown and harvested. The map would highlight the major points of each sample while Kevin would help us to pick out the finer points of each. It gets fun when your guide says, "there's no wrong answer" and the crew starts throwing out their own perspectives. Younger, less experienced members of the crew, such as myself, are trying to rememeber what Kevin told us about the climate and characteristics of each wine and use more official descriptions like tasting "mocha, volcanic hints, petroclor, blah blah blah." The more experienced crew members are throwing out tastes they've had a million times...Coca Cola and cookie dough were two of the favorites of the day.
The training ended with the blending. Who would've thought a cabernet with an olive and mineral taste to it could be mixed with deep dark fruits and chocolate to make something super tasty? All the while Kevin is chiming in that the next time we get to the last of a bottle we'd do ourselves a favor to pour it on top of a different wine freshly poured from a different bottle.
A truly eye opening experience and just one of the reasons why the Plumpjack ship has a very dedicated, happy, and observant crew.
Cheers, Jay Sawczak
Ready to visit PlumpJack Cafe at Squaw Valley Inn? Make a reservation for our next Winemaker Dinner with Nicholson Ranch on March 25. Your reservation will also give you 20% off of your night stay at Squaw Valley Inn. Ramona Nicholson will be in attendance and has just been selected as Woman of the Year for the 6th Assembly District of California. Congratulations Ramona! Call 530.583.1578 or visit www.plumpjackcafe.com for your reservation.
0 comments: