Wine 101 (Pre Kiddos) @ Copia of Napa

Back in June of 2007 Carmen had a conference up in Berkeley, CA and I was off from my Adjunct Professor job for the summer, so I went with her.  After the last day of the conference we had time for a quick trip to Napa before our flight out the next afternoon but could only visit one winery.  After some research we decided to visit the Copia in Napa Valley.  It was a great concept a museum/winery dedicated to food and wine.  It also  had a wonderful restaurant attached to it called "Julia's Kitchen."

The food and presentation were top notch and Carmen was quite pleased with our lunch there. 

Copia  had tours, rotating exhibits and classes.  Carmen and I only had till the afternoon before we flew home so we signed up for the first class available.  Luckily for us we Wine Tasting 101 was available.

The instructor lets call her, "Jane" was a no nonsense young woman in her early twenties from a small Napa wine growing family who was working at Copia to increase her general wine knowledge and marketing savvy.

Carmen and I were ushered into a wonderfully appointed room, she had serious wines, a serious slide show, serious wine glasses divided into sections for different wines and only us as students for that class.  

Unfortunately for Jane, my sense of humor just like my palate had not yet matured.  Jane did her best to  instruct Carmen and I on the basics of observing the appearance of the wine, smelling the aroma in glass, tasting and experiencing the sensations in mount and finally paying attention to appreciate the aftertaste (finish).  In return Jane had to endure endless jokes about; "the wine looking like wine," "smelling like grapes," "tasting like grapes," and "still tasting like grapes..."  Jane showed great patience that day.

All joking aside, (apologies to Jane) I learned a great deal about my wine preferences that morning.  I prefer red wine over white.  I prefer sweet over dry.  I also typically prefer medium bodied to full bodied wines.  Sadly I recently read that Copia had closed.

If I ever bump into Jane again or if you happen to remember Carmen or I and are reading this blog, we apologize and promise to be better next time...  And can we start with a flight of red wine?