A few weeks ago, one of my colleague send me an invitation
for a so called blindtasting. I had no idea what it could be like, so I decided to sign-up and
undergo this new experience.
As soon as we all sat down, with known and unknown friends
around us, the organizer of the evening asked us to blind ourselves with the
piece of textile, which was left on our chairs. Soon nervous voices started to
joke about the fact that maybe soon we would be robbed of all our belongings.
But these kind of jokes stopped soon as the owner of Cascina Albana, the vinery
that brought in their products, explained us the idea of the evening: by
blocking out one of the five senses, we were forced to concentrate better on
that what we were soon going to taste.
Although the atmosphere was warm and secure, in the
beginning it was difficult to relax. As a person without serious visual
handicaps, you are so used that you can use all your senses to keep control of
the situations you are in, that it becomes strange when this is not the case. It
turned out that it is quite difficult to find your glass, let go of eat, with
no possibility to use your eyes.
When all the glasses were filled and plates served, we were
allowed to taste the first glass of wine, a very delicate and not at all sweet spumante enjoyed with some cold cuts, a
piece of cheese and a delicious focaccia. By the time we finished this first
‘course’ we already felt more relaxed and were allowed to unblind ourselves and
got to know more about the flavours we just enjoyed.
The first tasting was followed by a white and a light red
wine, both accompanied by simple but good dishes. By the time we were at our
third glass we were already feeling the consequences and were happy to have a
short break.
The fourth wine we had was a strong red wine made from
Barolo grapes. Here again they served us some delicious food: a tartar with
apples and lemon. Meanwhile the young representatives of the cascina kept us ‘feeding’
enthusiastically with poetry which is written on the bottles etiquettes and
interesting stories of the winemaking process. It made me really happy to see
these young people having such refreshing ideas about a traditional profession
that asks much patience and dedication in order to survive. The team of Cascina Albana certainly has this and therefore seem to be able to keep this century
old business alive.
After the sixth glass - a delicate grappa from the nebbiolo
grape - most of us were getting slowly drunk. Even though it was meant to be a
tasting, we were all delightfully enjoying everything they poured in our
glasses and thus not only tasted, but also drank.
Did I miss my fifth sense? I don’t think so. But at the same
time I don’t you whether ‘blocking’ it really helped me to concentrate better.
Maybe it even distracted a bit, because the ‘new’ situation asked a lot of
concentration of other things. But anyways it was fun and I met some nice new
people. And that’s also very important when enjoying good food and wines.
