Le Tasting

As some Elk's Street followers may know, Tiina, after spending years in places like Australia and France, has become something of an eonophile. (OK, a wine connoisseur to you and me.) A couple of times a year, she organises a wine-tasting evening complete with her famous Experimental Kitchen. This April was the 10th anniversary of Tiina's Wine Club and your correspondent, although by no means a wine buff, was invited along.

As the event was being held in Tiina's flat, I was, exceptionally, housed in the Tapiola Garden Hotel.
 

View across to the Espoo Cultural Centre.



 The evening was organised such that first there was the welcoming speech; then the wine-tasting, which involved: a) ranking the wine, b) guessing the origin (country) and vintage of the wines, c) counting the points each contestant gained, where the number of points went down depending on how  many clues were needed; then a short lecture; and finally, the meal.

A good time was had by all, although your correspondent managed to get the perfect Eurovision Song Contest score of 'nul points' (zero points).

 The glasses lined up for the blind-tasting.

 The three wines in question - an Amarone, a Barolo, and a Sassicaia.

For those interested in these things, my order of preference was:

1. Sassicaia
2. Barolo
3. Amarone

But, of course, I am no expert.

The next day, on my way back home, I dropped by the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, which is conveniently located near Helsinki Railway Station.

The Kiasma building is architecturally interesting and there are nice views across to the Finnish parliament building.

 Finnish parliament building in the early spring sunshine.

Finnish parliament building with a crow on the roof.