After four flights of sparkling wines, my palate was cooked…13 sparkling wines later, I was getting better and better as the night went one, despite my aching palate.  Tips and tricks from good friends led me to successfully taste, describe, and get the correct wine in two out of the three on the last flight. So, I guess my palate wasn’t doing too badly then! With Cremants and Champagne, Cava, Prosecco, Asti, New World Sparklers, Franciocortas…it was a daunting evening to start, with some challenges with the bubbles in the glass, and to be honest, there were some that completely eluded me.  I had no clue.  But that’s ok. Because the more you taste, the better you get and the MORE you get right tasting blind wine after blind wine!

But when it’s all said and done, the palate is fatigued, I have a headache (moreso from caffeine withdrawal I would think, as I’m cutting back) and I JUST can’t do it anymore, you unwind (or maybe because my brain is just spinning by this point?) by making little bistro chairs out of the cages, and little dudes with fezzes out of the foils and corks!

And he will stay on my desk as a reminder of how hard I’ve worked to get to this point.  In 15 days, I’ll know for sure just how well I’ve done. Until then, here are some pictures of the night it was! Next week….Fortifieds!  Cheers!

Me hard at work with my tasting notes!

Flight # 1

Flight #2

Flight #3

Flight #4

The aftermath…