“The Trentino Pinot Grigio for her, and the d'Arenberg Shira for me please,” he requested. I liked that he sounded extremely confident in selecting something, especially since I hadn't seen him even look at the wine menu. “Bring the bottles, please.”
“Excellent again. I'll be back in just a moment with your wine, sir” she said before hurrying off to put in our orders. The staff was so formal and polite with all the sirs and ma'ams. I certainly felt rich.
“Trentino Pinot Grigio?” I asked, picking up the wine menu from the table. I had no idea what that was.
“It's an Italian, dry white wine with light undertones. It will match your lobster nicely,” he explained. “I could get champagne if you prefer, but I didn't want it to compete with the sauce.”
I set down the wine menu without even looking all the way through it for my wine. “No, that sounds great. You know a lot about wine?”
“It's a hobby.” He shrugged the nonchalant shrug of someone who is actually an expert. “I eat out a lot—lots of business meetings—so I started paying attention and talking with the sommelier.”
I nodded. I only knew that a sommelier was the wine expert at fancy restaurants because Emma had talked about them. I had a feeling that working with Kathryn, I would begin to meet them at her business dinners. One of the perks of working for wealthy bosses was getting to have nice things.
The waitress returned then with two bottles of wine and accompanying ice buckets. She quickly uncorked his first, and handed him the cork when he stretched out his hand. He smelled it while she poured a small amount of red wine into his glass, then waited.
He spun the liquid in the glass slowly, his eyes taking in every detail of the rich red liquid. He inhaled the vapors like a perfume and then tasted it, rolling the wine around on his tongue. “Perfect,” he said, finally.
She smiled and added more wine to his glass before placing the bottle in an ice bucket next to our table. She then repeated the motions with my white wine. I did my best to mimic Aiden's steps.
“It's good,” I said. It smelled good, but tasted like regular white wine. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to be looking for. The waitress finished pouring my glass and set the bottle into the second ice bucket.
“Your food will be out shortly,” she informed us, and then hurried off.
“What do you think?” Aiden asked as I took another sip of wine.
I fiddled with the stem of my wine glass before answering. “Honestly? I don't know anything about wine and I have no idea what I just did.”
He took a sip of his red. “Would you like to?”
I nodded and he smiled. He turned and snagged two empty wine glasses from the table behind him and set them on the table. “We'll start with yours. First, look at the bottle. Evaluate the shape, the size and it's condition. Then look at the cork. The cork tells you a lot about the wine. Is it a nice cork? Is it cheaply made? Does it smell good?”
I pulled the cork from the wine bottle and inhaled the scent. “It smells good. And it's not falling apart, so I guess that means it's a good cork?”
“Yes,” he said with a nod. “Though, the cork is becoming less important as wineries shift to plastic or even screw-top to prevent corked wine.”
“Corked wine?” I asked.
“Where the cork has contaminated the wine,” he explained.
“Oh, okay.” I held up the cork. “This does not have that.”
“Next, the sample.” Aiden poured a small amount of the golden liquid into an empty wine glass. “Look at the wine. Look at the color. It tells you about maturity and quality. Color changes with age—whites darken and reds lighten. It should also be clear and not have anything floating in it.”
The wine looked golden and soft. I couldn't see anything wrong so I nodded for hi
m to continue.
“Now, swirl.” He demonstrated the gentle rocking motion with his wrist. “See how it runs down the glass? Those are the 'legs'. The faster they run down the side, the less alcohol and body it will have. Long legs indicate a fuller body and more alcohol.”
“How do my legs compare?” I asked, looking at my wine and trying to decide if the liquid was moving fast or slow. I didn't even think of the sexual implication until he bent to the side and lifted up the table cloth.
“You have short legs, though very nice ones. Much like your wine.” Aiden winked and flashed me a cocky smile that made my stomach flutter.
I blushed, embarrassed that I had walked so blindly into that, but took the compliment.
“Now, the most important part: the smell.” Aiden watched as I put the open glass to my nose and inhaled. “Swirling it helps aerate the wine and increase the smell. Close your eyes and tell me what you smell.”
“I smell... wine.” I opened my eyes, feeling defeated.