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Jiko Wine tasting
- Thread starter cfry06
- Start date
Thanks, @jpittore1. We are far from knowledgeable about wine...just thought it might be fun! Thank you for the feedback - it is appreciated!
Ariel484
Well-Known Member
Hi! My husband and I did this on January 1 of this year. I'm pasting my write-up of it from my trip report here...let me know if you have any questions. 
We thought it was a great experience and totally worth the money. My husband is more of a beer drinker but he really liked it and wants to do it again!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
But now, something else to be excited about...WINE!
I first read about the Jiko Wine Tasting on the Disney Food Blog. It's held each Wednesday and for about $30 one gets an hours-worth of wine education, including the opportunity to sample 3 wines along with some cheese and fruit. Over the last few years I've really started to prefer wine over beer and mixed drinks (except for certain instances...for example, when one hangs out in a cabana on Castaway Cay, it's much more fun to down Coronas rather than sitting there sipping red wine). But I still know next to nothing about wine, so this was something I really wanted to check out. Will agreed to come along even though he's pretty much strictly a beer drinker.
And BONUS...it was at Jiko, right in our resort. We're quite fond of Jiko...it was our big, fancy dinner on our honeymoon in 2009.
We also had Thanksgiving dinner there with Will's parents later that year.
I LOVE the decor in here. We have a room in our house with super high ceilings and I have no idea what to do with it. Maybe Jiko can sell me these birds and I can hang them up. That'll look totally normal in a tri-level in the Midwest, right?!
I think this display may have been made of chocolate...
Jiko's Christmas tree:
There ended up being 7 of us total in the "class." Our table was already set up and the tasting started at 3PM.
I'm pretty sure this is the same cheese plate served at dinner. The orange stuff next to the strawberries was some sort of honeysuckle. The purple cube thing by the crackers was actually another gelee, but unlike the Le Cellier one it was berry-flavored and tasty. To the right of the plate is a piece of paper with the names of our wines printed out for note-taking, along with a card describing the cheese plate.
Our tasting this afternoon was run by CM Marty and featured 3 red blends...the Black Pearl (cabernet/shiraz blend), The Left Bank (shiraz/merlot blend) and Thelema Mountain Red (shiraz, petit verdot, cabernet, merlot, grenach blend). Interestingly, they were all screw-top wines. Marty said that's something that used to be looked-down-on, but as the technology gets better and better more wines are going this route. The main reason being they want to prevent cork-tainted wine...where the wine bottle is stored on its side and some sort of bacteria grows in the cork, which they gets into the wine. Um, yuck. Anyway this was all welcome news to me as I'm kind of a dummy when it comes to uncorking a wine bottle. Screw-top wine, I can handle that no problem. I'm a champ.
So basically all of the wines looked like this...seemed kind of silly to take 3 separate pictures.
I can't remember all of what Marty said, but this was a really fun experience. He was super knowledgeable about wine in general, particularly South African wine and what regions of South Africa produce certain blends (best climates to grow certain grapes, how they're harvested, etc.). Apparently Jiko has done a lot for South African vineyards by bringing their wines to Disney and selling them. Whenever a South African wine distributor has new wine, they always call Jiko first. Pretty cool.
Anyway, the Black Pearl was far and away my favorite, followed by the Left Bank, then the Thelema Mountain Red. I mostly like white wines but I like smooth reds, and the Black Pearl was definitely smooth. I liked it so much that I've been trying to look into how to get it at home, and so far it looks like the only way I can get it is through an online dealer. Hmm...
So anyway, we basically sat there drinking our wine and listening to Marty talk. He also encouraged us to ask lots of questions. I wish I'd come up with more to ask, but I'm such a wine dummy I didn't even know where to start. I did come away from the experience knowing I like smoother reds with pronounced berry flavors, so that was good to know (so basically it sounds like I like wines that taste the most like juice). Will really liked the tasting too...I think he's getting more into wine after this trip, especially reds. His favorite was the Left Bank.
HOWEVER...this was 3 tastings of wine. And, in general we do NOT drink very much. Will has a beer with dinner maybe 4 nights a week and I normally have one glass of wine per week. One PER WEEK. Soooo...by the end of this thing we were feeling goooood.
So I would definitely recommend this experience to anyone wanting to learn a little more about wine. For $30 I thought it was a pretty good deal and would love to do it again - the neat thing about it is that the CM running the tasting (there are 2, Marty and one other) picks the wines beforehand sort of on a whim, so when we do it again it could be all whites, some whites and reds, or maybe 3 totally different reds than what we'd just tried...never the same 3. Very cool. Cheers!
We thought it was a great experience and totally worth the money. My husband is more of a beer drinker but he really liked it and wants to do it again!---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
But now, something else to be excited about...WINE!
I first read about the Jiko Wine Tasting on the Disney Food Blog. It's held each Wednesday and for about $30 one gets an hours-worth of wine education, including the opportunity to sample 3 wines along with some cheese and fruit. Over the last few years I've really started to prefer wine over beer and mixed drinks (except for certain instances...for example, when one hangs out in a cabana on Castaway Cay, it's much more fun to down Coronas rather than sitting there sipping red wine
). But I still know next to nothing about wine, so this was something I really wanted to check out. Will agreed to come along even though he's pretty much strictly a beer drinker.And BONUS...it was at Jiko, right in our resort. We're quite fond of Jiko...it was our big, fancy dinner on our honeymoon in 2009.
We also had Thanksgiving dinner there with Will's parents later that year.I LOVE the decor in here. We have a room in our house with super high ceilings and I have no idea what to do with it. Maybe Jiko can sell me these birds and I can hang them up. That'll look totally normal in a tri-level in the Midwest, right?!
I think this display may have been made of chocolate...
Jiko's Christmas tree:
There ended up being 7 of us total in the "class." Our table was already set up and the tasting started at 3PM.
I'm pretty sure this is the same cheese plate served at dinner. The orange stuff next to the strawberries was some sort of honeysuckle. The purple cube thing by the crackers was actually another gelee, but unlike the Le Cellier one it was berry-flavored and tasty. To the right of the plate is a piece of paper with the names of our wines printed out for note-taking, along with a card describing the cheese plate.
Our tasting this afternoon was run by CM Marty and featured 3 red blends...the Black Pearl (cabernet/shiraz blend), The Left Bank (shiraz/merlot blend) and Thelema Mountain Red (shiraz, petit verdot, cabernet, merlot, grenach blend). Interestingly, they were all screw-top wines. Marty said that's something that used to be looked-down-on, but as the technology gets better and better more wines are going this route. The main reason being they want to prevent cork-tainted wine...where the wine bottle is stored on its side and some sort of bacteria grows in the cork, which they gets into the wine. Um, yuck. Anyway this was all welcome news to me as I'm kind of a dummy when it comes to uncorking a wine bottle. Screw-top wine, I can handle that no problem. I'm a champ.
So basically all of the wines looked like this...seemed kind of silly to take 3 separate pictures.
I can't remember all of what Marty said, but this was a really fun experience. He was super knowledgeable about wine in general, particularly South African wine and what regions of South Africa produce certain blends (best climates to grow certain grapes, how they're harvested, etc.). Apparently Jiko has done a lot for South African vineyards by bringing their wines to Disney and selling them. Whenever a South African wine distributor has new wine, they always call Jiko first. Pretty cool.
Anyway, the Black Pearl was far and away my favorite, followed by the Left Bank, then the Thelema Mountain Red. I mostly like white wines but I like smooth reds, and the Black Pearl was definitely smooth. I liked it so much that I've been trying to look into how to get it at home, and so far it looks like the only way I can get it is through an online dealer. Hmm...
So anyway, we basically sat there drinking our wine and listening to Marty talk. He also encouraged us to ask lots of questions. I wish I'd come up with more to ask, but I'm such a wine dummy I didn't even know where to start. I did come away from the experience knowing I like smoother reds with pronounced berry flavors, so that was good to know (so basically it sounds like I like wines that taste the most like juice
). Will really liked the tasting too...I think he's getting more into wine after this trip, especially reds. His favorite was the Left Bank.HOWEVER...this was 3 tastings of wine.
And, in general we do NOT drink very much. Will has a beer with dinner maybe 4 nights a week and I normally have one glass of wine per week. One PER WEEK. Soooo...by the end of this thing we were feeling goooood. So I would definitely recommend this experience to anyone wanting to learn a little more about wine. For $30 I thought it was a pretty good deal and would love to do it again - the neat thing about it is that the CM running the tasting (there are 2, Marty and one other) picks the wines beforehand sort of on a whim, so when we do it again it could be all whites, some whites and reds, or maybe 3 totally different reds than what we'd just tried...never the same 3. Very cool. Cheers!
Thank you so much for your response and including your report overview @Ariel484! I ended up booking it a few nights ago for my husband and I in early October. Reading over your review has increased my excitement tremendously! We are staying at AKV for the first time, and are so looking forward to exploring the entire resort and all it has to offer. This looked like a great bonus event.
Our fave resort area is The Boardwalk ... Love that area so. But looking forward to being immersed in all that is AKV/AKL and checking out something new. We are traveling with our 3yo, my sister & her BF. They are watching Wes while we have our mini date afternoon/ evening for the wine tasting...wahoo! Thanks again for your feedback!
Our fave resort area is The Boardwalk ... Love that area so. But looking forward to being immersed in all that is AKV/AKL and checking out something new. We are traveling with our 3yo, my sister & her BF. They are watching Wes while we have our mini date afternoon/ evening for the wine tasting...wahoo! Thanks again for your feedback!
Ariel484
Well-Known Member
It really was a very cool thing to do. I could totally see us doing it again. We loooooved staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge - the resort is so beautifully detailed and it really transports you to another place. Yes, you have to take buses everywhere, but we thought the bus system was pretty good overall - and we were there during the busiest week of the year. I think the fact that it's so far removed makes it quieter and more relaxing, which we liked.
We love the Boardwalk too, but I think AKL definitely gives it a run for its money. Have a great trip!
DO IT. GO TO JIKO. It's sooooo good!
ABQ
Well-Known Member
Thanks to the OP for asking about the wine tasting and thanks to @Ariel484 for her trip report excerpt. I've eaten at Jiko 8 times and from the first time it went to the top of the list as the very best restaurant on property (though I've never tried V&A's and Flying Fish is just a fin shy of Jiko) I'm going to have to try the wine tasting event at some point.