Keynote Speaker Jan McInnis offers quick wine tips

Don't just drink wine, learn about it! Keynote Speaker and Comedian Jan McInnis not only tours for a living, she tours for pleasure! Recenetly McInnis toured the Willamette Valley in Oregon and developed some quick wine tips to share with others. Check out her notes below and impress your friends with your knowledge.

The Willamette (rhymes with Dammit) Valley is an area in Oregon that specializes in Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wines. "We did 14 wineries in 5 days and it was an adventure in tasting and learning!" notes McInnis.

1. NAPA is big. The Willamette Valley is bigger! 5 NAPAs can fit into this area!
2. ot all stress is bad IF you're a wine vine. Wine grapes are grown on hills because the slanted angle stresses out the roots and makes them dig down deeper. They find water and become more resilient if they have deeper roots.
3. You can't make bad wine taste good, but you can make good wine taste bad by using the wrong glass! Riedel makes glasses for many varietals of wine. (NOT football helmets or the H.S. in Grease!)
4. Tannins in red wine aren't always the bad guy. Many people THINK these are what cause your headaches, but it COULD BE the histamines . . .take an antihistamine before passing on the Pinot.
5. After 2 years, an Oak Barrel is called a "Neutral Barrel" and they're used for wines that don't need oak flavoring. They're also cheaper as new barrels can be $1400 or more!
6. The R in Rose wines stands for Re-Inventing . . . they're making a delicious comeback. To get that color, winemakers leave the skins on for a VERY short time during fermentation. One winery took the skins off after 15 – 30 MINUTES.
7. We're not the only ones who like wine . . the Phylloxera bug does too! Okay, he prefers the roots and leaves, but he's still killing the vines and ruining it for everyone.
8. Unless you like to drink smoke, 2020 was bad for Willamette Co. wines because of the fires. The air quality index was usually 125, but some areas reached an AQI of 500!
9. Many of the wineries in the WV are smaller. The smallest one we visited produced 3500 case a year. Compare that to the bigger wineries like Gallo at, oh, 100 million cases!

About Jan McInnis

Jan McInnis is a noted comedian, keynote speaker, author, and Master of Ceremonies. She has worked with thousands of associations, corporations, and businesses across North America. She was featured in the Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, and The Washington Post, and is the author of two books, namely "Convention Comedian- Stories and Wisdom from Two Decades of Chicken Dinners and Comedy Clubs" and "Finding the Funny Fast- How to Create Quick Humor to Connect with Clients, Coworkers, and Crowds." McInnis is also an accomplished comedy writer who has written for many people, places, and events including the Tonight Show monologue with Jay Leno.