Wine Expert

I learned many things from my dad. One of them is how to test taste wine at the restaurant.

Dad wasn't an expert wine taster, but he would recognize the taste of a good wine, and he also knew how to act when wine is served at a restaurant.

We were at the restaurant on the second floor of La Tour Eiffel and Dad had ordered some wine. With all the pomp and circumstances dedicated to a high class restaurant, the somelier brought the wine to my dad.

The proper procedure, which I learned from Dad, is to let the wine steward open the bottle and hand you the cork which upon receiving you are to smell.

With great flare, Dad sniffed at the cork and turned to the steward and acknowledge that the cork passed the test. In the meantime, every one else at the table had to stifle laughter because even though my dad knows what to do, he doesn't take it as seriously as he was pretending.

The next step is a small amount of wine poured into a glass. At that point, Dad took the glass swirled it, looked at it, snitch it, looked at it again. The final step is to actually taste it. Dad took a small swig of the wine.

To truly get the full flavor, you have to swish the wine in your mouth so that the flavor goes across the taste buds which are located on the side and the tip of the tongue.

Once again, with the flare reserved only for grand occasions, Dad swirled and swirled the wine and made appropriate faces which sent all present into even more of a snuff out laughter.

Eventually, Dad drank the wine and knowledgeably nodded to the steward to pour the wine to every one present.

Being a Frenchman in the United States, I am expected to know about wines, even though I rarely drink, thanks to Dad passing on his knowledge, I too know exactly what to do when the wine steward brings the wine.