Have you ever been surprised by someone or something?

If you consider yourself part of the human family, I expect you’ve been surprised a couple of times, right? But did you ever see that surprising moment as a learning moment?

As a young lad growing up on the farm, I was surprised to learn that a wrench could slip off a nut as you were trying to tighten it. I expect my father told me that a “few” times but who listens all the time? So when it came time to reset a tractor tire, I grabbed the wrench and went to work.

The nut was very tight and I pushed with all my strength to loosen it and the wrench surprisingly slipped right off the nut resulting in my hand smacking into the exposed bolt and causing just a bit of blood flow. What did I learn from that surprise? To listen to the experienced wisdom of my father and to not be so full of myself. I bear the scar on my hand to this day.

When wine came into my life, I took that farm hand scarring experience to learning about wine. I was surprised by how much I didn’t know and how much there was to learn about wine.

There were so many different kinds of wine, from all around the world, grapes could taste differently depending on the soil in which they are grown, the vintner makes a difference, the wind, rain, temperature and on and on…

What I came to learn from all those surprising revelations was that I didn’t know a darn thing. And, that made it all the more fun and interesting! Those surprising thoughts came back to me at a recent wine tasting event.

I had the honor to host such an event and began putting together a game plan for the afternoon session. Where do I begin? What do I say about what? So many questions and, then, I began to think about my attendees. From prior conversations with a couple of them, I knew they were not versed in vinology and then the surprising thought came to me about just starting at the beginning.

I assembled six different wines to see, smell and savor. I arranged all the needed items for the tasting: a map, glasses, water, crackers, napkins, paper and pens, bottle opener, etc. The tasting tables were set and the guests arrived. I was astonished at their reactions to the set up! They never expected such a setting and questions flowed about why everything that was there, was there.

The party began with a history lesson — how old wines are, where the historical records of them were first discovered, how wines spread across the world, the difficulties related to a world wide bacteria killing of all the vines and the recovery of wine in today’s environment. Once again, I was amazed at their questions and interest. We hadn’t even gotten to the six wines yet!

The wines that had been selected were three reds and three whites. In each color, I attempted to go quickly across the tasting spectrum from sweet to dry and to impart a bit of the sense of terroir (environment) of each wine brand.

The reds: Pogglio Sweet Red from Italy, Yellow Tail Shiraz/Grenache blend from Australia and a Dark Horse Merlot from California. The whites: Pacific Rim Sweet Riesling from Washington, Sun Garden Gewűrztraminer from Germany and Menage á Trois Gold Chardonnay from California.

A little pour of each was made and the people were asked to tell what flavors they tasted in each wine. I got a couple of people saying they tasted wine and I replied that’s a good first step. We went a bit deeper then. Again, I was amazed how the tasters really got into the event — the questions, smart remarks and learning was so rewarding to me.

Each attendee was then asked to state their personal favorite of the tasted wines. A couple went for the sweet red, some liked the Chardonnay and the sweet Riesling but nobody liked the Shiraz/Grenache blend — too much pepper and hard taste, they said.

I was pleased with all their attention –the session was about two and a half hours long — and they all happily were given a bottle of their favorite wine and left the room all laughing and talking about when we would meet again.

Sitting down later, I reflected on what just happened and was again surprised at how each person got into the event and seemed to enjoy our time together. I lifted a glass Chateau Ste. Michelle’s Cabernet Sauvignon to all of them.

Looking down at the scar on my hand, I was once again reminded that surprises come in many different packages and we should always learn from those amazing moments.

May you have many surprising learning moments…