under his breath.
"I'm not as sophisticated as you, sue me,"
Steven retorted.
"I wish I could."
Madame Senetsky tapped her cane and they
both came to stiff attention.
"The appearance of the wine gives you an idea
of the type of grape, the age, and whether it is good or
bad. Hold the first glass up to the light," he instructed,
and we all did so. "This is a buttery-yellow white
wine. Obviously either a Chardonnay or a French
Burgundy. The intensity of the wine, whether it is
opaque or closer to transparent, tells us about its age.
Older wines tend to be brownish at the edge. If it's
cloudy, it's probably spoiled.
"Now let us nose... smell it," he said. "Swirl it
in your glass as so, and then take a whiff."
"It smells like apples," I said.
"Ah. yes. It is a Chardonnay. Finally, let us
taste the wine. Take a small sip and suck the air
between your teeth. Hold the wine at the center of
your tongue for a few seconds longer to allow the
character of the wine to be apparent. Let's try this
Merlot." he said, switching to another glass he had poured for us all. Everyone took his or hers. "We are checking for acidity, tannin-- which will tell us if it's bitter or easy to drink-- body or weight, oakiness and
finish, the after taste.
"Now,," he said. "let us continue. First, we'll
finish with the whites..."
There were no less than ten bottles of white and
ten of red. We were supposed to only take a sip from
each and not swallow, but Steven took some good