The Art of the Spit

By Heather Rankin, http://vaguelyvinous.wordpress.com/

There is no real way around it – becoming a Sommelier and learning about wine requires tasting a lot of wine… which, as it turns out, is actually not as glamourous as it sounds. Per class, it’s not uncommon to taste upwards of 10 wines, with each pour being roughly 3 oz. This may not sound like much, but having swallowed the full flight once or twice I am always surprised to learn how quickly inebriation sets in. By about  wine #6 you stop smelling or tasting much in your glass, and by the end of it – you’re likely pretty drunk. (Actually, worse than drunk. Out-of-context drunk. Like, public-transportation drunk, or dinner-at-your-grandparents’ drunk.) There you are: pen in hand, an alarming sense of confusion fused with shame blurs your thoughts… there’s a sudden desire text your ex… Except you’re at a tasting, and you’re supposed to be taking notes about the wine. Tsk. You just try writing something down that makes sense in this state. Not possible.

So, to avoid disaster you must spit. And like everything else worth doing, there is a way to do it properly. I have not yet perfected “the art of the spit” – which is why I’ve not posted a video – but here are the steps as I’ve learned them:

1. Take a gulp of wine as you normally would, leaving some extra space in your mouth.
2. Make an “o”shape with your mouth (as if about to whistle) and take some air into your mouth.
3. Do the tasting/swishing thing.
4. Position the spittoon about 5-6” away from your face.
5. Make the “o” shape again with your mouth, but instead of taking air in, push the air out – along with 3/4 of the wine – in a steady, narrow stream into the spittoon.
6. Swallow the remaining wine.

The idea is to form a neat, quick, trajectory into the bucket while minimizing splash and dribble. Do not place your face on, or near the bucket. (This position not only looks bad, but puts you in danger of getting either splash-back or germies.)

This takes a huge amount of practice, so don’t get discouraged if you don’t master it straight away. (I am still working on it, and imagine I will be for some time.)

Happy spitting!

We are seriously happy to have discovered Heather’s blog. Her writing is fresh,  invigorating and joins our quest in demystifying the wine world.  Heather  is also a Sommelier in training and is about to open a wine bar in Canada.

Tags: Bloggers, sommeliers

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 8th, 2010 at 3:00 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.