Learning To Trust My Palate—Understanding Wine At ICE

By Hossannah Asuncion, Understanding Wine Student

After drinking 80 glasses of wine I've come to this conclusion: wine goes with everything, even burgers. Yes...burgers.

The revelatory burger and wine pairing was Frog's Leap's "Shack Red," a blend expressly designed to pair with the Shake Shack "Shackburger," and was just one of the many surprises I experienced during ICE's groundbreaking new wine course, Understanding Wine. This 10-session program, developed in partnership with Union Square Hospitality Group, focuses on getting to know your individual palate, learning to respect the diversity of wine and taking the risk of trusting yourself and your own taste.

Each Tuesday evening we were supplied with a bottomless barrel of expertise and knowledge, overseen by John Ragan, master sommelier and wine director at USHG. Over the course of 10 weeks, John was our seasoned guide on a tasting tour of the world's major wine regions (an overview of the program's curriculum is available here).