Coffee and Wine don’t mix
by Haydn Adams | Beyond Napa Valley Wine Blog

I was standing outside of Cakebread cellar’s tasting room enjoying a delicious Sauvignon Blanc when my friend, Diana, told me to check out the trash can. I thought for a minute why I should see. She told me to just go look.

When I peered in, I was shocked! There, in between the water bottles and orange peels (click on the picture for a larger view) were about 6 Starbucks coffee cups! Wow. I was shocked and bewildered. Shannon (the third person in our tasting trio) was curious as well and went over to look. She looked puzzled, then got it. I was so happy they both picked up on this wine tasting no-no (they had read my book prior to going wine tasting). I walked over to the trash can and photographed its contents, letting my tasting  party know this is so going to be a blog post on the site. I was so excited.

The shock wasn’t the discarded coffee cups. It was the fact that waiting patrons to Cakebread had just recently slurped down the very liquid that will mute their taste buds, and they probably didn’t even realize it. And here we were at one of the best wineries in Napa and their guests can’t fully appreciate their wines.

Don’t drink coffee close to tasting wine

If you want your taste buds running at full strength, do not drink coffee. I admit that I can’t go a day without a cup ‘o joe, but the days I’m going tasting I try to drink it as early as possible. The acidity in the coffee mutes your taste buds and will mask any ability to taste wine. If your first taste of the day tastes a bit like coffee, you’ll know why.

Especially when going to a high-end winery such as Cakebread, you want your taste buds as strong as possible.

I was happy that some of my wine tasting tips has been recognized by Shannon and Diana and that they also picked up on what was in the trash can. It was also fun to promote my book in the very valley I’m trying to get patrons away from.

Shannon and Diana, you guys are awesome!

Cheers,
Haydn

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Haydn Adams is the author of the book, Wineries Beyond Napa Valley: Dry Creek and Alexander Valley, an insider’s tasting guide to the hidden gems region. He also contributes to the Beyond Napa Valley Wine Blog, writes for vinvillage.com, and can be found roaming the hills of Sonoma County looking for the next hidden gems. You can contact him at haydn@beyondnapavalley.com.

Tags: coffee, wine tips

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 14th, 2009 at 9:05 am and is filed under Wine Education, Wine Tasting Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.