{"id":23077,"date":"2022-08-05T18:38:43","date_gmt":"2022-08-05T18:38:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/?p=23077&post_type=story"},"modified":"2022-08-05T19:49:01","modified_gmt":"2022-08-05T19:49:01","slug":"wine-wisdom","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/wine-wisdom\/","title":{"rendered":"Wine Wisdom"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whether you\u2019re a restaurateur making selections for a menu,\u00a0a business associate having dinner with clients, or you\u2019re just\u00a0looking to enjoy a delicious meal at home, Robin Back believes\u00a0everyone could benefit from learning about wine.<\/p>\n

The associate professor has more than 25 years of\u00a0experience in the beverage industry, and his love and\u00a0knowledge of wine stems from the South African native\u2019s\u00a0family, who has been producing wine for four generations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really enjoyed the educational side of my work, and I saw\u00a0teaching wine courses as a huge opportunity. It really can be a\u00a0useful life skill,\u201d says Back, who is one of the instructors for the\u00a0Exploring Wines of the World<\/em> course at the Rosen College of\u00a0Hospitality Management<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With about 50 students in each class, the course teaches\u00a0them about the production of grape varieties and how to use\u00a0their senses to taste and evaluate wine and pair it with food.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s very gratifying to me is that I usually start each\u00a0semester with 50 wine novices \u2026 and by the end of the\u00a0semester, I have 50 wine geeks who can \u2026 evaluate it using the\u00a0correct terminology to describe it,\u201d Back says.<\/p>\n

\n

What makes each wine region special?<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s what we call \u201cterroir\u201d in\u00a0wine speak, which is a French\u00a0term, but there is no English\u00a0equivalent. It basically\u00a0means the \u201csomewhereness\u201d\u00a0of a particular vineyard\u00a0site. What do I mean by\u00a0somewhere-ness? It\u2019s the\u00a0type of soil, the amount\u00a0of sunshine that it gets,\u00a0the slope of the land, any\u00a0shadows from mountains,\u00a0the amount of rainfall, the\u00a0amount of wind \u2014 all of\u00a0these factors come together\u00a0to make every growing site\u00a0unique.<\/p>\n

How should wine be stored?<\/h2>\n

[When it comes to a cork or\u00a0screw cap,] it really depends\u00a0on the wine. Most wines these\u00a0days are not meant to be\u00a0aged \u2026 [and] the screw cap is\u00a0[almost like a time capsule].\u00a0On the other side of the coin,\u00a0[a] cork will allow microscopic\u00a0amounts of air in, and allow\u00a0wine to develop.\u00a0What I thoroughly dislike\u00a0are those plastic \u201ccorks\u201d\u00a0that you sometimes get on\u00a0inexpensive wines. You often\u00a0end up with an oxidized wine\u00a0because as the bottle expands,\u00a0the plastic closure doesn\u2019t.\u00a0It lets air in, and you have a\u00a0spoiled wine.<\/p>\n

What is the proper drinking technique?<\/h2>\n

You want a large enough glass\u00a0that a normal size pour is only\u00a0going to fill a quarter to a third\u00a0of the glass to enable you to\u00a0swirl it without spilling it.\u00a0You want the opening to be\u00a0large enough that when you\u00a0take a sip, you\u2019re sticking your\u00a0nose into the glass so you can\u00a0smell it because most of what\u00a0we taste is linked to our sense\u00a0of smell. You should hold it by\u00a0the stem so you don\u2019t warm\u00a0up the wine with your hand,\u00a0unless you want to heat it up,\u00a0such as in the case of a red\u00a0wine that is too cold.<\/p>\n

What makes a good wine?<\/h2>\n

That\u2019s the first question I ask\u00a0my students at the start of\u00a0every semester. I always get\u00a0blank stares before I tell them,\u00a0\u201cThe answer is very easy:\u00a0If you like it, it\u2019s a good wine.\u00a0If you don\u2019t like it, it\u2019s not.\u201d\u00a0I always use food as an\u00a0analogy. We may go to the\u00a0restaurant and order the\u00a0same dish. I love it; you hate\u00a0it. It\u2019s the same dish, the same\u00a0ingredients, but there may\u00a0be ingredients in there that\u00a0one of us likes and the other\u00a0doesn\u2019t. It doesn\u2019t make it\u00a0good or bad \u2014 it\u2019s just about\u00a0different tastes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":23140,"template":"","categories":[],"tags":[297],"class_list":["post-23077","story","type-story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-rosen-college-of-hospitality-management","issues-1575","issues-fall-2022"],"yoast_head":"\nWine Wisdom: Advice From a Wine Expert at UCF's Rosen College<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"UCF Rosen College Associate Professor Robin Back has spent his life learning about wine. 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