Sommelier Insight for hospitality professionals and wine connoisseurs.

IN THIS ISSUE:

A. Feature: Thought-Provoking Interview on GrapeRadio
B. Event Highlights:  January's Wine Tasting Dinners
C. Wine Elite Philosophy: The Psychoanalysis of Wine Appreciation


This is Sommelier Insight, the Wine Elite's monthly update for corporate meeting planners, event managers and wine aficionados.

Each month, we deliver new wine event ideas and objective perspective on wine from independent sommeliers and other wine experts.
 

We are Your National Resource for Wine Events, Sommelier Expertise and Wine Education.

In our last newsletter, we introduced our Keynote Speaking program on Wine, check out our brand-new 3-minute audio overview here. Also review our recent corporate event video below (click on photo) to get ideas for your 2014 event pipeline.

We partner with several leading speaker bureaus to deliver these keynotes, for example All American Speakers and MGM Speakers.



You can email us anytime for more information, or call 310 467 5582, and review the newly updated website with many useful materials at www.WineElite.org.



A. Radio Interview: GrapeRadio Show with Jörn Kleinhans

GrapeRadio is the most important radio talk show in the United States. Many legends of winemaking and journalism have been on the show.

Take an hour of your day and enjoy the one-hour discussion about wine tasting methods that work well in groups, and how to best learn about wine in tasting societies. Jörn Kleinhans discusses in detail why the tasting of European wines can give a wine student an easier entrance into the field.

Many important concepts of wine philosophy are shared in this interview, please don't miss it. Email us with your feedback.

Here is the website of GrapeRadio, and here is a direct mp3 link to Jörn's interview about the value of wine tasting societies. Please share this interview on facebook if you like it.

 

B. Upcoming Public Wine Tastings 


The Wine Elite Society hosts an ongoing series of sommelier-guided wine tasting dinners for the public, often in our signature blind-tasting format.

Here are a few January tasting opportunities that still have open seats available: If you own a restaurant or special event venue, and want to offer a more competitive wine program, here is how.



C. Wine Elite Philosophy: The Psychoanalysis of Wine Enjoyment

Dr. Michael Pariser is one of the most requested and admired speakers in the Wine Elite Society tastings.

After many years in the Hollywood movie industry, he became a full-time psychoanalyst with a successful practice in Los Angeles. Michael is an advanced-level member of the Wine and Spirits Educational Trust and takes a unique psychological approach to our wine tasting presentations that beginners and expert wine tasters find equally insightful.

1. Michael, why is wine fascinating?

While I may have been disappointed with an individual bottle of wine, I am endlessly intrigued by wine overall, with its boundless complexity and limitless variations. There is so much to know about even the simplest glass. What grapes was it made from? How and where were they grown? What approach did the winemaker take? How was it aged, and for how long? And of course, most importantly, what is the experience of drinking it? What aromas emerge from the glass? What is its character on the palate? How does it evolve over time? There are always more questions than answers, which is the ultimate source of my driving curiosity.

2. What have you learned from the countless blind-tasting seminars you have been involved with at the Wine Elite events?

Like many people, I used to detest blind tasting, because I could never guess the wines correctly, so the only thing I learned was just how ignorant I was. When I started the Wine Elite seminars, I expected the same results, so I was startled to find myself beginning, over time, to grasp important aspects of wine and wine tasting. In particular, I started to be able to identify a wine’s revealing visual characteristics, detect its key aromas, pull apart its tactile qualities (like body, tannin, and acid,) and ultimately to assess its overall merit and identify its source. Of course, my tasting skills are still very much a work in progress, but I’m happy to say that Wine Elite seminars have given me a tremendous leg up in this regard.

3. What were milestone experiences in wine that brought you to a higher level of understanding?

I have had many key experiences that elevated my grasp of wine, but the foremost for me was one that, I think, almost all wine aficionados have had: the one where I first fell in love with wine. It was at a dinner with my family at a ski resort in Vermont, and I goaded my father into buying a bottle of the 1980 Chateau Latour – not a great year, but of course, a legendary producer. One sip brought epiphany. In that instant, wine changed completely for me: from a pretty interesting beverage to a powerful emotional experience, one I’ve longed to have again and again. And although my search has rarely yielded oenological events of that magnitude, on the whole, wine has never disappointed me. I don’t think it ever will. 

You can reach Michael via [email protected].
 


Resources for Wine Aficionados, Corporate Meeting Planners, Hotel and Restaurant Managers

NEW: Topic Suggestions for Private Events

NEW: GrapeRadio Interview

NEW: Speaker Profile at GigMasters

NEW: Public Speaker Program on Wine One-Sheet


KEY IDEA SOURCE: Catalogue of Wine Elite Special Event Programs


Wine Elite Corporate Event Video

Essential Wine Tips 2pager

Special Events Idea One-Sheet


December 2013 "Sommelier Insight" Newsletter

November 2013 "Sommelier Insight" Newsletter

October 2013 "Sommelier Insight" Newsletter

September 2013 "Sommelier Insight" Newsletter

August 2013 "Sommelier Insight" Newsletter
Jörn Kleinhans, CSW
Certified Sommelier, Public Speaker on Wine, and Chief Sommelier of The Wine Elite.

The Wine Elite is an independent sommelier company specializing in high-end wine tasting experiences, with nationwide availability.

Our sommelier network spans across all 50 states and the Caribbean, with the strongest presences in Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego and Las Vegas.

For more information, go to www.WineElite.org.

 

Featured Noble Wine:

Mosel Riesling, Grosses Gewaechs - Single-vineyard Riesling from the top German hillsides along the Mosel river is home to the most complex white wines in the world.

Great Riesling doesn't have to be sweet, the fairly new 'grand cru' classification ("Grosses Gewaechs") is always fermented dry. Once you try a GG, you will be addicted to the unbelievable depth of Riesling, forever.


 
Dr. Michael Pariser is known for his lively and passionate discussions of systematic wine appreciation. His signature "essences and essentials" presentation has opened the eyes of many society members.
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