Vino Roma Ladies Night

Vino Roma Ladies Night

Top Row: Eliza, Mac, Amy, Danielle and Ali

Bottom: Me, Katie and Abby

This past Thursday, I was one of the eight ladies to attend a private tasting at Vino Roma, organized by my lovely roommate Mac!

This past quarter, Mac has been interning at this wonderful establishment, and has learned miles upon miles about wine culture, tasting, and the business as a whole. I have been honored to have her around to always pick out the wine that will best accompany the many meals we have shared together. She was adamant about having people from our program come to a tasting, and be educated by her enthusiastic boss, Hande. Since our program is 90% girls, it was easy to make this into a "Ladies Night." Least to say, it was a wonderful success, and all of the gals walked away with big smiles, and a greater appreciation and knowledge about wine!

Abby and Ali; Note-Taking; Me and Danielle

This was my third tasting at Vino Roma. I blogged about my first experience at Vino Roma, when Mac and I attended a tasting for her 20th birthday during the first month we were in Rome. The first My Italians tasting I attended was lead by one of the other sommeliers. My second tasting at Vino Roma (that I didn't blog about, but Mac did ) was for their Sparkling Saturdays, which was lead by Mac's boss, and owner of Vino Roma, Hande! I immediately fell in love with this woman. Her energy and passion for wine is so inspiring, but most of all the vast knowledge she has as a sommelier really encourages all of her guests to look at wine in a different way than they ever have before. 

After my experience meeting her at Sparkling Saturdays, my excitement for Ladies Night (aside from the fact I got to spend it with so many lovely ladies), was to have Hande lead me though the classic, My Italians, tasting, where we tasted three white and three red wines from all over Italy. 

Vino Roma's Wine Tasting Table

Vino Roma is a truly educational experience. Unlike the tasting I attended in France at O Chateau, or future tastings I am sure I will attend in California, we are simply not just drinking wine for the sake of trying it. We are learning how to properly drink wine. In Italy, Italians, always drink wine with their food. It goes against their culture, and the concept of maintaining the bella figura, to drink to become intoxicated. 

Hande went through all of the steps on how to taste wine. First, you start with your eyes, followed by the nose, and then you finally taste (always two tastes!). If I were to go through this tasting in detail, I would be giving away the beauty of experience you obtain at Vino Roma. To simply put it, it took us thirty minutes into the tasting before we even go to try the first wine. No one complained, because it requires that much time for Hande to give a proper explanation about wine culture in Italy, and truly provide us with the proper knowledge we need to taste wine. 

Me and Mac;

UCSD Gals: Amy, Me and Mac;

B9 Apartment Mates: Danielle, Me, Abby and Mac

Everyone was so great during this tasting. And like the diligent students we all are, we all avidly took notes on the sheets provided. Our tasting even ran late because of the amount of questions and knowledge being shared around the table!

Hande and Mac

Grazie Mille Hande e Mac!

A huge thank you to Mac for organizing this awesome tasting. You definitely had all of the girls, including me, very excited to attend. Also, a big thank you to Hande, for letting us all come to your business, and sharing so much wine knowledge. I have learned an extreme amount about not only wine culture, but Italian culture, amongst many other wise tid bits you have been willing to share. Mac is so fortunate to have such an awesome internship with you- you truly are a great "Sensei!"