I decided to take advantage of the 25 dollar promo and attend the East Van Wine Academy put on by the Waldorf. What I expected to be a bunch of people sitting in a circle talking about tanins and lignins was quite the opposite. We walked in and we were immediately greeted with a glass of proseco, four drink tickets and a wine zine. We had a seat in the back of a full room where slides of Spain where illuminated on the side walls and our host stood in front of his Powerpoint slideshow talking about Spanish wines.
The host covered geography, climate, the labelling system, ageing and wine pairing. I found the presentation to be quite informative and I was very impressed by the fact they printed a zine for this event (especially since I didn't have to take notes). The wines selected were all tasty. Some had a little too much spice in it and I wouldn't consider purchasing however other members of our crew really gravitated towards it. I am a wine rookie and I mostly pick my wines based on recommendation and prices so having the basics explained to me was really beneficially. Next time that I am at the wine store with a friend, if I can regurgitate any bit of what I learned at the East Van Wine Academy, I might be able to convince some people not to buy the Naked Grape or the Wolfblas.
Having a 7:00pm wine class means no time for eating after work, which means that after a few glasses I become red in the face and loud. Thank goodness right after the presentation appetizers were being served in numerous vollies. Not enough to get full but enough to tide you over until dinner upstairs at Nuba (not included but delicious).
