This passage is best read when paired with a 2005 Shiraz from The Gates.

Tuesdays are more than just Gordon Ramsay night on Fox. There’s something wonderful happening every other Tuesday that flips up the switch on my Happy.

Every other Tuesday, a very special lady named Diane road-trips from the wine country of Oz — actually, Champaign, Ill. — sharing new tastes with Brix Wine and Cheese‘s manager, Heather.  Through a series of non-hilarious coincidences and banter, Diane and Heather invited my wife, Victoria, and I to slide down the bar and share.

Afterward, it was decided that we must spread the word on these every-other-Tuesday-tastings and so, with Diane and Heather’s blessing, I tell the tale of our most recent Tuesday.

We arrived at Brix close to 7 p.m., waved hello to Heather and parked it at the bar, where Diane, the wine pusher, was setting up the evening’s tastes — a mix of red and white wine, a sparkling Prosecco and a port.

Kelley

Diane usually begins her Tuesday evenings at Hy-Vee Wine and Spirits, where she conducts a two-hour customer tasting from 5 to 7 p.m. of 3 or 4 different wines. So, if you want to start earlier and taste wines that she will not sell to Brix, you can start there.  But always check with Hy-Vee and/or Heather to make sure which Tuesday it is.

So, I like wine, a lot. I used to strictly be a beer man — my only exposure to wine being of the more sacramental variety. Nowadays, beer has been left pouting in the backseat, while wine has claimed the shotgun seat. But, even with my love of wine, I still haven’t developed the palette to skillfully announce the notes and flavors in each particular wine.

If you were to ask me why I like a Shiraz or a Pinot Noir, I may try searching for a poetic verse of taste before simply uttering, “because it is good.”  And sometimes, at a tasting, I’ll forget the standard operating procedure of swirl, sniff, tilt, legs, swirl, taste, tongue, swish, etc. and resort to simply grabbing, swallowing, and stating, “YES!”

But all that doesn’t change how I feel about wine. I know what tastes good to me, and I try my hardest to respect what tastes good to you, even if it’s White Zinfandel. It’s about the shared experience among everyone in the room, no matter if you‘re a world-class sommelier or a simple wine-lover like me.

That’s what a Tasting Tuesday is like at Brix — one big wine-loving shared experience.  All stuffiness and snobbery has been left at the door.  By the end of the tasting, Victoria and I ordered a couple of bottles of the new wines we liked. We also met some new people who will very likely become friends and Heather decided to start offering wine flights every day, which was EXCELLENT news (more on that in blogs to come).

I am a huge supporter of wine tastings and flights. What better way to discover what you like?  The alternative is playing it safe with the stuff you’re familiar with or gambling on a glass or bottle of the unknown that you may end up hating.  To be fair, a lot of places will pour a taste from an open bottle before you commit to a full glass, but for me, a little variety ensures a ticket to Excitement City, unless, of course, all the wine stinks.  Thankfully, that rarely happens.