The Wine Voyage

Table of Contents - What Is Campari? - How Campari Is Made - Campari vs. Aperol - How to Actually Taste Campari - Building a Group Tasting Around Campari - Why Campari Belongs in a Team Tasting - Planning a Campari-Focused Event - Bringing It Into a Corporate Event - Further Reading Campari is one of those bottles that sits on nearly every home bar cart and gets used for exactly one thing: Negronis. That's not wrong, but it undersells what Campari actually is. It's the original Italian bitter, the drink that built the entire category, and most people who reach for it have never actually tasted it on its own to understand what it's doing in the glass. This guide covers what Campari actually is, how it's made, how it compares to its lighter, more famous cousin Aperol, and how to build it into a real group tasting instead of just another round of Negronis. What Is Campari? Campari is a deep ruby-red Italian bitter liqueur, created in 1860 by Gaspare Campari in Novara and r...

Table of Contents - What Is Campari? - How Campari Is Made - Campari vs. Aperol - How to Actually Taste Campari - Building a Group Tasting Around Campari - Why Campari Belongs in a Team Tasting - Planning a Campari-Focused Event - Bringing It Into a Corporate Event - Further Reading Campari is one of those bottles that sits on nearly every home bar cart and gets used for exactly one thing: Negronis. That's not wrong, but it undersells what Campari actually is. It's the original Italian bitter, the drink that built the entire category, and most people who reach for it have never actually tasted it on its own to understand what it's doing in the glass. This guide covers what Campari actually is, how it's made, how it compares to its lighter, more famous cousin Aperol, and how to build it into a real group tasting instead of just another round of Negronis. What Is Campari? Campari is a deep ruby-red Italian bitter liqueur, created in 1860 by Gaspare Campari in Novara and r...

Table of Contents - What Is Nerello Mascalese? - Why the Volcano Matters - The Pinot Noir Comparison, Explained - What Does Nerello Mascalese Taste Like? - Nerello Mascalese vs. Pinot Noir at a Glance - Key Producers and Regions on Etna - Food Pairings for Nerello Mascalese - Running a Nerello Mascalese Tasting for a Group - Bringing a Nerello Mascalese Tasting to Your Team - Further Reading I still remember the first time I poured Nerello Mascalese for a group that expected "big Sicilian red" and got something pale, perfumed, and almost delicate instead. The room went quiet for a second, then someone asked, "Wait, is this from Sicily?" That reaction is basically the whole pitch for this grape — it upends every assumption people bring to the table about what wine from a hot Mediterranean island is supposed to taste like, and that gap between expectation and reality is exactly what makes it such a great teaching wine. This guide covers what Nerello Mascalese actually...

Table of Contents - What Is Nerello Mascalese? - Why the Volcano Matters - The Pinot Noir Comparison, Explained - What Does Nerello Mascalese Taste Like? - Nerello Mascalese vs. Pinot Noir at a Glance - Key Producers and Regions on Etna - Food Pairings for Nerello Mascalese - Running a Nerello Mascalese Tasting for a Group - Bringing a Nerello Mascalese Tasting to Your Team - Further Reading I still remember the first time I poured Nerello Mascalese for a group that expected "big Sicilian red" and got something pale, perfumed, and almost delicate instead. The room went quiet for a second, then someone asked, "Wait, is this from Sicily?" That reaction is basically the whole pitch for this grape — it upends every assumption people bring to the table about what wine from a hot Mediterranean island is supposed to taste like, and that gap between expectation and reality is exactly what makes it such a great teaching wine. This guide covers what Nerello Mascalese actually...

Table of Contents - What Is Baijiu, Exactly? - The Four Major Aroma Categories - Baijiu vs. Vodka vs. Shochu - How to Taste Baijiu with Intent - Running a Baijiu Tasting for a Group - Bringing a Baijiu Tasting to Your Team - Further Reading I brought baijiu to a corporate tasting once thinking it might be the toughest pour of the night, and it turned out to be the one people talked about on the way out. Baijiu is, by volume, the most-consumed spirit on Earth — it outsells vodka, whiskey, and every other category combined, largely because of how deeply it's woven into Chinese business and celebration culture — and yet most Western drinkers have never had a real introduction to it. That gap between global scale and Western unfamiliarity is exactly what makes it such a compelling spirit to build a group tasting around. This guide covers what baijiu actually is, how it's made, the four major aroma categories and what each tastes like, how it compares to vodka and shochu, and how to...

Table of Contents - What Is Baijiu, Exactly? - The Four Major Aroma Categories - Baijiu vs. Vodka vs. Shochu - How to Taste Baijiu with Intent - Running a Baijiu Tasting for a Group - Bringing a Baijiu Tasting to Your Team - Further Reading I brought baijiu to a corporate tasting once thinking it might be the toughest pour of the night, and it turned out to be the one people talked about on the way out. Baijiu is, by volume, the most-consumed spirit on Earth — it outsells vodka, whiskey, and every other category combined, largely because of how deeply it's woven into Chinese business and celebration culture — and yet most Western drinkers have never had a real introduction to it. That gap between global scale and Western unfamiliarity is exactly what makes it such a compelling spirit to build a group tasting around. This guide covers what baijiu actually is, how it's made, the four major aroma categories and what each tastes like, how it compares to vodka and shochu, and how to...

Table of Contents - What Is Mourvèdre? - Mourvèdre vs. Its Blending Partners - Where Mourvèdre Grows - Mourvèdre Compared to Other Structured Reds - How to Taste Mourvèdre - Food Pairing with Mourvèdre - Bringing Mourvèdre Into a Team Event - Buying Mourvèdre: What to Look For - Further Reading Mourvèdre is the grape everyone drinks and almost nobody can name. If you've had a Châteauneuf-du-Pape, an Australian GSM, or a big, brambly red from Paso Robles, there's a good chance Mourvèdre was doing serious work in that blend — usually the third letter in "GSM," standing quietly behind Grenache and Syrah, adding the structure and grip that keeps those wines from turning into fruit juice. I get why it stays under the radar. Mourvèdre is late-ripening, thick-skinned, and genuinely difficult to grow — it wants heat, patience, and old vines before it shows what it can do, which means a lot of the world's Mourvèdre ends up as a supporting player in a blend rather than a he...

Table of Contents - What Is Mourvèdre? - Mourvèdre vs. Its Blending Partners - Where Mourvèdre Grows - Mourvèdre Compared to Other Structured Reds - How to Taste Mourvèdre - Food Pairing with Mourvèdre - Bringing Mourvèdre Into a Team Event - Buying Mourvèdre: What to Look For - Further Reading Mourvèdre is the grape everyone drinks and almost nobody can name. If you've had a Châteauneuf-du-Pape, an Australian GSM, or a big, brambly red from Paso Robles, there's a good chance Mourvèdre was doing serious work in that blend — usually the third letter in "GSM," standing quietly behind Grenache and Syrah, adding the structure and grip that keeps those wines from turning into fruit juice. I get why it stays under the radar. Mourvèdre is late-ripening, thick-skinned, and genuinely difficult to grow — it wants heat, patience, and old vines before it shows what it can do, which means a lot of the world's Mourvèdre ends up as a supporting player in a blend rather than a he...

Table of Contents - What Is Dolcetto? - Where Dolcetto Grows - Dolcetto vs. Barbera vs. Nebbiolo - How to Taste Dolcetto - Food Pairing with Dolcetto - Bringing Dolcetto Into a Team Event - Buying Dolcetto: What to Look For - Further Reading Ask most people to name a Piedmont red and they'll say Barolo or Barbaresco — both made from Nebbiolo — and if they're a bit deeper into wine, they might mention Barbera too. Almost nobody says Dolcetto, which is a little strange, because in the vineyards of Piedmont, Dolcetto has historically been the grape growers actually drink with dinner. Nebbiolo gets planted on the best south-facing slopes and aged for years before release. Dolcetto gets the cooler, less prestigious sites, gets bottled young, and gets opened on a Tuesday night — and that's exactly its appeal. I've poured a lot of Dolcetto for groups who came in expecting "the third Piedmont grape" to be a lesser version of Barbera or Nebbiolo, and it consistently su...

Table of Contents - What Is Dolcetto? - Where Dolcetto Grows - Dolcetto vs. Barbera vs. Nebbiolo - How to Taste Dolcetto - Food Pairing with Dolcetto - Bringing Dolcetto Into a Team Event - Buying Dolcetto: What to Look For - Further Reading Ask most people to name a Piedmont red and they'll say Barolo or Barbaresco — both made from Nebbiolo — and if they're a bit deeper into wine, they might mention Barbera too. Almost nobody says Dolcetto, which is a little strange, because in the vineyards of Piedmont, Dolcetto has historically been the grape growers actually drink with dinner. Nebbiolo gets planted on the best south-facing slopes and aged for years before release. Dolcetto gets the cooler, less prestigious sites, gets bottled young, and gets opened on a Tuesday night — and that's exactly its appeal. I've poured a lot of Dolcetto for groups who came in expecting "the third Piedmont grape" to be a lesser version of Barbera or Nebbiolo, and it consistently su...

Table of Contents - Why Bakersfield Works Better Than People Expect - What a Tasting Competition Actually Looks Like - Bakersfield vs. Standard Team Building Options - Planning a Bakersfield Team Building Event - Where to Host in and Around Bakersfield - Common Questions - Bringing a Tasting Competition to Your Bakersfield Team - Further Reading I've said this before about other Central Valley cities and I'll say it again here: Bakersfield gets written off as a wine market way too fast. When HR teams start searching for team building activities Bakersfield companies will actually enjoy, the results skew heavily toward the same generic lineup — escape rooms, trivia nights, maybe a cooking class if you're lucky. Nobody's pointing them toward the fact that Kern County sits inside one of the largest wine-grape-growing regions in the country, with warm-climate reds coming out of the ground practically down the street from downtown offices. That local identity is exactly the ...

Table of Contents - Why Bakersfield Works Better Than People Expect - What a Tasting Competition Actually Looks Like - Bakersfield vs. Standard Team Building Options - Planning a Bakersfield Team Building Event - Where to Host in and Around Bakersfield - Common Questions - Bringing a Tasting Competition to Your Bakersfield Team - Further Reading I've said this before about other Central Valley cities and I'll say it again here: Bakersfield gets written off as a wine market way too fast. When HR teams start searching for team building activities Bakersfield companies will actually enjoy, the results skew heavily toward the same generic lineup — escape rooms, trivia nights, maybe a cooking class if you're lucky. Nobody's pointing them toward the fact that Kern County sits inside one of the largest wine-grape-growing regions in the country, with warm-climate reds coming out of the ground practically down the street from downtown offices. That local identity is exactly the ...