Midwest Grape and Wine Conference

I'm currently looking out over my balcony taking a short break from all the happenings at the Midwest Grape and Wine Conference held at the Lake of the Ozarks in Osage Beach, Missouri. As always, the educational opportunities are wonderful but its the human element that make this event worth attending year after year. Those outside of the Missouri wine industry would hardly guess that professionals from UC Davis, VA Tech, Ohio State, Cornell and around the world frequent this conference. Last night I was overjoyed to find myself in conversation with Dr. Ann Noble, an expert in the sensory evaluation of wine. She's best known for her development of the Wine Aroma Wheel , a wonderful tool that helps identify aroma characteristics of wine. Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned lover of wine, the Wine Wheel is a must-have gadget guaranteed to help you fully appreciate what you're sipping.

I was also happy to finally meet Dr. Marco Li Calzi who recently joined the Institute for Continental Climate Viticulture and Enology at the University of Missouri. Marco relocated from Italy to head the enology program at MU. I've already hinted to him about presenting an Italian wine tasting. Last but not least, Kendall Jackson was kind enough to send us the fun Allan Samuelson. Not only did he present a tasting of some great chardonnay and pinot, his gregarious nature and obvious devotion to food and wine has put him on many "friends" lists at the conference. He's just one of those guys you can't help but like.

Next up - more presentations and finally the Grand Banquet. Stay tuned.

Smelling Grasse

We had a wonderful afternoon in Grasse. They were celebrating their annual Rose Festival and while the streets were lively they were surprisingly pleasant and uncrowded.

The Musee International de la Parfumerie or Perfume Museum was fascinating, not only because of the history of fragrance but also because of the displays on olfactory science. So how does that fit into a blog about food and wine?? I truly have no interest in drinking or eating perfume products, but I will wholeheartedly promote the importance of smell in the culinary world. As anyone with head cold congestion can tell you, our sense of taste is almost completely dependent on the olfactory system. When it comes to the things we consume, olfactory is so important to humans that companies like ScentSational Technologies, are popping up to use artificial means to manipulate the sense of smell in the marketing of food and drinks.


Of course, anyone in the wine industry can vouch for the importance of smell. The human tongue can only detect four taste sensations but when we swirl that glass we're awakening thousands of nerve cells or chemoreceptors in the upper part of the nasal septum. I love the process and ceremony of discovering a wine's bouquet; speculating, deciphering and discussing the smells. Enologists have taken that process to new levels and have isolated certain compounds that are responsible for a particular odor in the wine. For example, its not really fruit, apple peel or strawberry that you smell in your glass but chemicals called ethyl butanoate and ethyl hexanoate. But don't let the science detract from the romance and camaraderie of parsing out a wine with friends - breathing in a great bouquet will always be a coveted experience no matter how chemicals are identified.The final photo (below on the right) we took to keep as a reminder. Trust me, there are some American pop songs which should never be sung in French. :)