President Arnie Biondo welcomed everyone to the Centerville Rotary Club and led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance and PDG Harvey Smith offered a prayer. He mentioned that Dick Hoback has had back surgery and is home.
President Biondo shared these words of wisdom: "Believe you can and you're halfway there". (Theodore Roosevelt)
PDG Harvey Smith removed Bill Menker's "New Member Ribbon" as he completed all tasks to become familiar with our club.
BOD updates: Crissy Allums talked about the "Dayton Diaper Depot" and a possible diaper drive for the club. Arnie said he is coordinating something with the Optimist Club, and he would let us know what develops.
Next Rotary Board meeting is on 7/18/22, 5:30 p.m. at Arnie Biondo's house (6486 Hollowview Trail)
This quarter’s Happy Bucks will support Operation Warm, our annual giving that purchases new winter coats for children in need.
Happy Bucks given this week included:
- Geri Eastabrooks- Operation Warm
- Susan Schell- Found money in her laundry
- Lee Hieronymus- Helping out with the county fair
- Dale Berry- Operation Warm; Visit to Charleston, SC
- Arnie Biondo- Operation Warm
- Mike Weir- Dragons game outing has been rescheduled for 8/4.
- Jim Harris- Just happy!
- Crissy Allums- Operation Warm
- Adam Manning- Operation Warm
- Jeff Senney- grandchildren are visiting
- Frank Perez- 38th wedding anniversary
- Harvey Smith- Operation Warm
- Kelly McDonald- Participation in Soroptimist golf tournament
Our speaker this week was Lauren Gay, WINE DIRECTOR/GENERAL MANAGER of TENDER MERCY & SUEÑO
Lauren Gay is a native Daytonian with wanderlust and a penchant for wine.
After obtaining a Business Management/Musicology degree from The Ohio State University, she shipped off to Kenya with the U.S. Peace Corps to teach business skills to rural youth. Her stateside return landed in Los Angeles, where she had the privilege to work with Chef Nancy Silverton and Joe Bastianich at Hollywood’s chi Spacca. This is where her ultimate career path unfolded, and she pursued sommelier certification through the Court of Master Sommeliers.
The next few years were spent traveling in an RV while creating travel, food, and booze-centric content for several media outlets. A stint in Mexico City sparked a deep love for Mexican culture and cuisine. In an effort to deepen her understanding of wine, she got her hands dirty during a cellar gig in Napa Valley. Lauren returned to Dayton in 2018 specifically to be a part of the Sueño and Tender Mercy team.
Lauren is CMS Certified, WSET Level 2 with distinction, and Certified Beer Server by the Cicerone.
ELEMENTS OF WINE: NOSE
- Flavor mostly comes from smell- the human olfactory bulb can discern 300,000 aromatic compounds
- Swirl, sniff, sip, repeat: swirling exposes wine to air, volatizing alcohol and “opening” the wine
- Take short, quick sniffs…smelling from different distances (different aromas lie in different places in the glass)
ELEMENTS OF WINE: PALATE
- Take a small sip in your mouth
- Coat your entire mouth: tongue, cheeks, roof, etc
- Tilt head slightly forward and draw air into your mouth over the wine
- Spit (ewww…gross)
- Inhale, then exhale
- While tasting wine, look for the following structural elements:
- Sweetness
- Bitterness
- Acidity
- Alcohol
- Body
- Texture
- Balance
- Complexity
- Finish
STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS: SWEETNESS
- MY SOAPBOX: SWEET VS. FRUITY
- Sweet is a technical term, indicating residual sugar
- Most wines are dry
- Wines can be off-dry, medium sweet, sweet, or dessert wine
- Often times, wine with ripe fruit can give the impression of sweetness while still being dry
STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS: ACIDITY
- The amount of acid is determined by grape variety, climate, and winemaking decisions
- Acid and sugar are a team
- The life cycle of a grape on the vine
- The balance of acid and sugar in the wine
- Acid makes your mouth water- use this to help determine levels while tasting
STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS: BODY
- Body is the feeling of weight on the palate
- Based on viscosity, which is related to sugar and alcohol levels
- Think of skim milk vs. heavy cream
STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS: TANNIN
- Tannins are compounds in grape skins, seeds, and wood barrels used to ferment or age wine
- White wines don’t have tannins
- Tannins are not a taste but a sensory experience
- Based on grape variety and winemaking technique
- Easily confused: dry & tannic
- Tannin: tactile sensation with a drying effect
- Dry: lack of sugar
STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS: ALCOHOL
- Alcohol can tell a lot about a wine: where it came from, growing conditions, and FOOD PAIRINGS!
- Relationship between climate and alcohol
- Warmer region = more sugar development = more food for yeast = more alcohol
- How to determine alcohol: the inhale portion of your tasting process
NOW THE FUN PART: PAIRING
My Three Approaches:
- Drink what you like
- Drink that Chardonnay with a steak. Live your life
- Same same
- Rich with rich, fruity with fruity, acidic with acidic
- Wine to contrast food
- Wine can counterbalance elements of food. Take a bite, take a sip. Repeat.
BASIC PRINCIPLES OF PAIRING
THE WINE SHOULD BE MORE ACIDIC THAN THE FOOD
- The lemon wedge rule
- Using wine to “cut” the richness of food
- Best example: Muscadet and oysters
BASIC PRINCIPLES OF PAIRING
THE WINE SHOULD BE SWEETER THAN THE FOOD
- Dessert wines should be sweeter than the dessert
- Sweetness is a great counterbalance to spicy heat, salt, or to take the edge off of tart foods
- Best example: Thai food and off-dry German Riesling
BASIC PRINCIPLES OF PAIRING
THE WINE SHOULD HAVE THE SAME INTENSITY AS THE FOOD
- Delicate to delicate
- Bold to bold
- Alcohol is a factor here since it influences body
- Best example: Red with fish- go with a Pinot or Gamay, not Shiraz
BASIC PRINCIPLES OF PAIRING
RED WINE WITH RED MEAT, WHITE WINE WITH WHITE MEAT.
…there are so many exceptions
- Sauce plays the trump card
- The chicken experiment:
- Soy-based sauce
- Fruit chutney
- Salsa picante
BASIC PRINCIPLES OF PAIRING
RED WINE WITH RED MEAT, WHITE WINE WITH WHITE MEAT.
…there are so many exceptions
- Tannic wines are balanced with fat
- Tannin binds to proteins (in both your mouth and in food you are eating)
- Tannins soften fat, release flavor, and scrape fattiness from inside your mouth
- Best example: Osso Bucco and Barolo
BASIC PRINCIPLES OF PAIRING
RED WINE WITH RED MEAT, WHITE WINE WITH WHITE MEAT.
…there are so many exceptions
- Heavily oaked wines are not great with food (!!!!)
- Oak flavors are exaggerated by food
- Match aging style of wine with cooking style of food
- Best example: Oaked Cab and grilled steak
BASIC PRINCIPLES OF PAIRING
RED WINE WITH RED MEAT, WHITE WINE WITH WHITE MEAT.
…there are so many exceptions
- What grows together, goes together
- Regional pairings
- Similar climate, growing conditions, terroir, culture, traditions, etc
- Best example: Lambrusco and cured meats
BASIC PRINCIPLES OF PAIRING
RED WINE WITH RED MEAT, WHITE WINE WITH WHITE MEAT.
…there are so many exceptions
- Bubbles fix almost everything
- When in doubt, quality Champagne is a good cheat code
- Bubbles fix fatty, greasy, spicy, or just difficult foods (think eggs or asparagus)
- Best example: Champagne and fried chicken
IN SUMMARY
- There are rules and this is based on science, but there are always exceptions and sometimes rules are meant to be broken
- The best way to find a good pairing is to experiment
- Some of the best pairings are unexpected
- HAVE FUN! These sensory indulgences are the best parts of life
President Biondo mentioned that next week's speaker is District Governor Frank Scott. He asked members in attendance to see if they could get other members not in attendance to attend the July 21st meeting.
President Biondo led everyone in reciting the Rotary 4-Way Test and wished all a good week.
GREETER SCHEDULE
Please arrange for a sub if you are unable to greet on your assigned day.
July 14 - Doug Bockrath & Don Stewart
July 21 - Tom Broadwell & Harvey Smith
July 28 - Judy Budi & Jeff Senney
August 4 - Ginger Clark & Kim Senft-Paras
August 11 - Nick Cruz & Susan Schnell
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