While you may be a wine enthusiast, there’s a chance that you aren’t saying the names of your favorite selections correctly. On July 5th, our Let's Toast: Wine 101 panel at the ESSENCE Fest Food & Wine Festival Experience with ESSENCE’s Senior Lifestyle Editor Victoria Uwumarogie and Ingrid Best, founder of IBestWines, and Carissa Stephens, founder of PurNoire, explored how to savor the best flavors, understand what makes wine so different and distinctive while encouraging our audience members to become more confident as a burgeoning wine aficionado through a tasting experience highlighting of our favorite Black-owned wine brands.
Both Best and Stephens came to love wine pretty organically. “I like to say wine is in my blood. I didn't realize it was, but it is. I've had the great fortune of working for some big organizations with beautiful wine portfolios for years. So that's really where I got introduced to wine. And my love for wine began. So it's been a long love affair,” said Best, who’s worked for large lifestyle spirits brands like Bacardi, Hennessy, and Diageo.
As for Stephens, her love for wine was developed through her travels. Really, through my travels and also learning by tasting wine, I became very intrigued when I realized how much goes into wine production and the nuances of wine in general because there's so much to know and learn and appreciate about wine; it was like a never-ending adventure,” she said to the audience.
Regarding their favorite wine, they are leaning towards blends and Chardonnay. “ I love my rosé wine and our red blend,” said Stephens. Best agreed with Stephens, when it comes to white wine. Next, the dynamic duo shared with the audience the wines people find the hardest to say, like Chenin Blanc, and doled out their best tips for tackling tough varietals. “I also want to make sure that you guys hear from people like us; there are no wrong answers in wine. Yes, you want to nail it. You want to be able to say the varietals right, but you just got to practice it. And if you don't think you're pronouncing it correctly, ask someone who could teach you how to pronounce it correctly.
Stephens’ advice regarding food and wine pairings? Don’t overthink it. “I love food and wine pairings. We all love to eat, but it’s simple. Try not to overthink it. There's room for trial and error. So, as a general rule of thumb, speaking in broad strokes, if you will, the flavor intensity of the food you're having should match the flavor intensity of the wine you're drinking,” she stated.
Stephens continued, “The idea is that you never want one to overpower the other. In a perfect world, they're friends, they get along, they do a little dance, and that's when you create a whole new experience, separate from the food and the wine.”