Swirl, sip and savor

At three round tables, Kellie Jankowski and 16 of her friends and family members gathered at Filipo Marc Winery in Clinton Township for a Friday night outing.

On each table were three types of cheese, some crackers, salami and a pitcher of water. There were also lists of wines available.

As the group chatted, Gerard Giacona, his wife, Tressa Giacona, and assistant Candace Brenner were setting up bottles of the main ingredient for the night’s festivities. Up to 15 wines were reserved for the evening.

Every week, the Giaconas host groups like Jankowski’s at their wine-tasting events, which take place at 7 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays and at 5 p.m. Saturdays.

For a $25 deposit and $8 per person, groups of 15 to 35 enjoy two hours of wine tasting and find out how the Giaconas make a variety of wines, including reds, whites, blushes and a number of fruit blends.

„I discovered this place last year when a group of us were supposed to meet at Jet’s Pizza and they were running behind, so I decided to see what this place was all about,“ Jankowski said. „I thought this would be the perfect place to have a group.“

The Giaconas have owned Filipo Marc Winery for 2 1/2 years. The couple bottle 45 types of wines on the premises and offer samples to the patrons. Brenner works with the couple, making it a staff of three. Occasionally, family members help.

As Gerard Giacona kicked off the wine tasting with Jankowski’s group June 30, he used humor to urge them to keep an open mind and to be honest if they had too much to drink.

„We ask you to put your guard down and try something you would not normally try,“ he said. „If you feel like you are getting to the point where you can’t drink anymore, share with us. I am responsible as the winery owner. I want people happy but not too happy.“

Taking the tour

On the first stop, the guests visited the section of the winery where the wine is made, called the blending room.

Gerard Giacona joked that he would be monitoring them.

„I don’t want to see any snorkel straws. There is also no tank diving,“ he said.

Inside the room were numerous stainless steel vats in which the wine is made and housed before it is bottled. The tanks can hold enough wine for 5,000 bottles, Giacona said. The winery uses stainless steel vats instead of oak barrels because they are cleaner and can be reused.

Giacona also showed the group several wines that were blended earlier in the day and demonstrated the fermenting process.

The winery is able to make wine year-round because it gets crushed grapes from all over the world. The grapes can last up to two years if they are frozen, Giacona said.

He also has a filtering process, so the wine will not have sediment at the bottom of the bottle.

„In Europe, wine has residue at the bottom,“ Giacona said. „The residue is what’s good for you, but American consumers don’t want to see stuff in their stuff, so we clear it, using a filtering process.“

Filipo Marc wines are free of sulfite and have a shelf life of about four years, he said.

„It’s more enjoy-now wine, not collector’s wine,“ he said.

Time to taste

After the trip to the blending room, members of the group went back to their seats to try the wine.

They started by tasting the red wines. The first was an amarone.

„First, look at the color. Americans like clear, and Europeans like residue,“ Giacona said. „Swirl it in the glass to see its clarity, or the legs of the wine. The coating on the side tells you if there is alcohol in it. Then hold it under your nose for the aroma, breathing in lightly. The next thing you do is taste.“

He told the group to sip the wine and swish it around in their mouths to let it go over the four zones of taste, which are sweet, sour, bitter and salty.

In addition to the amarone, the group tried other red wines, including cabernet Shiraz, pinot noir, Spanish rioja and Sangiovese. As for the white wines, they sampled gew|rztraminer and piesporter.

The blush wines included white merlot, and the specialties were blackberry cabernet, cranberry Chianti, green apple, raspberry white zinfandel and strawberry white merlot.

„This was very informative, and the atmosphere was casual and relaxed,“ said Jennifer Salo, 35 of Clinton Township. „He was a very good speaker,“ she said of Gerard Giacona.

As the group dispersed, many of its members headed straight for the counter to purchase their favorites of the evening.

„I thought this was pretty nice,“ said 38-year-old Brian Jankowski, who lives in St. Clair Shores and was considering purchasing cranberry Chianti or black raspberry merlot. „I don’t drink too much wine, and when I do, it’s usually the whites, but the reds they served tonight were really good.“

At $8 per person, Gerard Giacona refers to his events as getting more than a movie sans the cost of popcorn.

„We try to offer a learning experience in a fun environment,“ Tressa Giacona said.

source: @freep.com