Today was our last day of lectures at LU. We heard from Dr. James Ross about some historic environmental issues. It was interesting that a lot of the environmental issues were derived from introduction of animals. Remember how New Zealand is an island, therefore, making its ecosystem very volatile. As explorers and immigrants began to arrive, they brought with some of their native animals and plants. A lot of these have now naturalized themselves here and some are now self-sustaining.
Next up, we got to enjoy some more New Zealand wine. Dr. Roland Harrison provided us with some history of the wine industry and then offered a structured wine tasting. Wine is NZ second largest agriculture export that is consistently growing. The wine industry has been around since 1895 with Romeo Bragato introducing a variety of grape that was an American and European combination variety. The different types of wine are grown in different areas because of soil types and regional climate.
For example,
Sauvignon Blanc = Marlborough region
Riesling = Canterbury
Pinot Noir = Central Otago
Merlot = Aukland
North = Reds
South = Whites
We got to go through a crash course of structured wine tasting. There are five categories to help us understand the wine we are tasting. Its a personal experience when we see, smell, and taste the wine. As we taste though it is important to respect what others are saying and be brave enough to describe our sensations.
The five categories include:
(1) Color and clarity
(2) Aroma - aroma wheel: fruity, veggie, nutty, woody, pungent, earthy, spicy, chemical, etc. (broad) leads to specific of say fruity- citrus, berry, tree fruit, tropical
(3) Taste and Flavor - sweet, sour, bitter; balance of flavors go back to aroma descriptions
(4) Mouth feel - hot, cold, wet, warm, smooth
(5) Liking - scale 1-10, would you drink it again?
I really enjoyed this opportunity. I enjoy wine and this will help me understand the different kinds of wine and what flavors I am really tasting. After we were done with this lecture, we had to have our overnight bag packed for Kaikoura and eat lunch.
After lunch we headed to the International Antarctic Center in town. This was a pretty cool experience. I think it would be awesome to visit Antarctica for like a week. The conditions there are quite extreme that your body adapts quickly, but I believe that it is a part of this world that not many people get to experience that through photography I'd love to share it with them. So I've added it to the bucket list! While at the center we learned about its history as a collaboration between U.S.A., New Zealand, and Russia as well as got to see some rescued blue penguins! It was a quick trip but quite intriguing.
Next, it was back on the bus to Kaikoura. Once we got to town and were all checked in, everyone was on their own for supper. A group of us headed to Whalers and enjoyed a delicious steak meal before calling it a night.
No comments:
Post a Comment