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Smarter by the Sip
A dozen wine glasses wait on a long wooden table. Soft jazz music plays in the background. A forest green velour couch on top of stained concrete floors takes center stage against partially exposed brick walls dotted with local art. The space feels like a photoshoot out of Vogue. Luckily, it’s the scene of our neighborhood wine bar.
Soma, which opened last year, stands for its location off South Main. But this winery isn’t just for drinking; it’s for learning what we’re drinking.
The learning is what we’ve come here for today, and it’s why a table full of empty glasses awaits. As a self-proclaimed wine snob, this once-monthly “Soma Wine 101” class is just my style.
“Wine tasting is a sensory experience,” Brian Virk says. Brian, 40, is co-owner of the bar with his mother, Laddie Virk. The family is from Southern California and brings sommelier-level training to this posh venue in the Near Southside.
photo credit: Kelsey Shoemaker
Our mission today: Explore the sight, smell, and taste of the four reds on the table. (For the purposes of this article, we’re focusing on red wines.)
Brian brings out a sheet of white paper for us to examine the first one. We tilt a full glass of red against the sheet, almost spilling it, to see the color. Every grape varietal (for example, pinot noir or cabernet sauvignon) creates a different shade of red. In the light, there’s a “rim” and a “heart” that shows ruby, purple, true red, or garnet shades.
Like fine dining, wine tasting is a progression, starting with lighter wines before graduating to heavier, more tannic varietals. That’s why we started with an Italian nebbiolo, which tasted somewhat like a pinot noir. It was bright and less tannic than the other wines on the table. The sun shimmered through the light ruby in our glasses.
The next sense we employ is smell. After swirling the glass on the table to aerate it, my untrained nose picked up a hard spice. Brian said it smelled like plum. Brian is right.
As any foodie will tell you, the first bite of a beautifully prepared piece of dish provides the brain with incredibly complex information about the food; we can pick up the delicate details. After the tenth bite, our palette is happy but less inclined to notice the herbs, the cheeses, or the mixture of oils.
It is the same with tasting wine.
The next sense is taste, which is also known as “mouthfeel” in fancy winespeak, and it’s a measure of the wine’s acidity and tannins. Here’s how to test it: Hold the first sip of a new wine in your mouth for a few seconds. Swallow it (yay!) and notice how much your mouth salivates. If your mouth is salivating a lot, you might be drinking a pinot noir or a sangiovese. Cabernet sauvignons are typically less acidic.
As for the tannins, after holding that wine on your tongue for a few seconds, you can feel the tannins as a rough feeling on the tongue. Tannins bind with proteins, which is why a full-bodied cabernet sauvignon or malbec pairs so beautifully with a perfectly rare steak.
“Food impacts how wine tastes,” says Brian. “Not the other way around.” This is why fine restaurants have a sommelier on staff to curate their wine list and make recommendations. Food and wine pairings are a beautifully precise, scientific process. The sommelier and the chef work together to create a memorable culinary experience.
I’ve been to Sonoma County twice. (I haven’t been to Napa County yet, but I’m working on changing that!) I’ve always leaned heavily into pinot noirs from Sonoma County — a region with the abundant sunlight and mild winters needed to make the pinot noir grapes shine.
Brian says that Texas is coming up as a premier wine-making state, but we’re still about 20 years off from really competing with California or Oregon. A good place to see our state’s progress is Fredericksburg, which is now home to over 50 wineries and tasting rooms. It’s also home to my favorite Texas-bottled (but not sourced) pinot noir from the Ferris & Fletch family winery.
People tasting white wine during a masterclass.
If you’re just beginning to drink wine, this might be overwhelming. Not to worry, novice wine lovers! Education does not equal intimidation, and Soma has an easy-drinking vibe. In fact, Laddie, Brian’s mom, started her wine education with boxed Franzia, which is exactly the type of wine I had at my wedding many years ago. Whoo.
The palette, just like the mind, can grow.
Soma’s wine club costs $65 a month and includes two bottles of wine and a tasting. To sign up for the Soma Wine 101 class, just visit the website. The winery also does a yoga and wine class and is working on creating a “Bottles and Books” club for literature lovers.
For dorky wine lovers like me, wine storage can become problematic. All wines need to be stored at around 55 degrees to prevent the wine from aging too quickly. There are lots of wine bars in Fort Worth that have clubs to join, but only one place I’ve found for storage: Classic Wine off Riverglen Drive, near Bellaire and Trader Joe’s. If you’re really into wine but short of space, they will help you keep your wines cool and safe.
So if you want to seem cooler the next time you’re at a fancy work dinner, Fort Worth fundraiser, or just a hot date, join a wine club. Intelligence is sexy, and a wine education looks, smells, and tastes great no matter how you swirl it.
Sarah’s Favorite Wine Clubs in the Fort
- WineHaus (includes private member-only tastings)
- CRU Food + Wine Bar (gets you 40 percent off retail price)
- Soma (high-end education in a swanky space)
Restaurants for Intelligent Food + Wine Pairings
