Days of wine and flowers

More than two decades ago Tony Marino tasted Chardonnay for the first time. The next day he went to the market and picked up three more bottles of different Chardonnays, expecting them to taste the same as the one he enjoyed the previous evening. He was both surprised and delighted.

“They all tasted different in one way or another,” Marino said. “They’re all so different and wonderful.”

Ever since, Marino has employed himself in the Chardonnay business. For the last 16 years Marino has been among 10 or so wine seminar instructors presenting at 2 and 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays at the Orange County Fair.

Seminars run by the Orange County Wine Society are held in the courtyard of the fairgrounds. The society is celebrating its 30th Orange County Fair competition this year. The wine society raises thousands of dollars toward college scholarships at the fair each year, through sales of wines submitted for the fair’s commercial wine competition.

“A winery enters six bottles as an entry [to the competition],” said Craig Rowe, one of the directors for wine society activities at the fair.

No more than two bottles are used for competitive judging.

“The others we sell [at the courtyard] to pay for expenses to run the competition and help support the scholarship fund,” Rowe said.

Marino’s 90-minute seminars cover the ins and outs of Chardonnay and general wine tasting. The retired schoolteacher covered topics such as malolactic fermentation, palette cleansing and even took time to give a proper bottle opening and storage demonstration.

“There are so many things involved, different sugar levels, different tastes,” he said. “Malolactic fermentation determines the shelf life of your wine. The more fermentation, the less the wine will hold.”

For Marino the most lasting impression a wine leaves on his palette occurs in the finish, or the aftertaste of a wine.

“Finish is what is still there after you drink the wine,” he said. “With a good finish I could be talking to you 2-3 minutes later and still be tasting the wine.”

For $25 Marino’s students receive a guide to the Orange County Wine Society awards at the fair’s competitions for both homemade and commercial wines, a free Orange County Fair wine glass, and eight -- or so -- tastings, some from Marino’s personal stock.

Marino would be lost without his wife, Janet Marino. She prepares snacks and water for seminar students, organizes Tony’s supplies, and stands by for any other thing her husband may require.

“My wife is instrumental,” Marino said. “She works full-time [organizing volunteers] for the Orange County Rescue Mission, yet she participates in every seminar since we were married 16 years ago.”

Sixteen people attended the 2 p.m. seminar.

“Normally we limit seating to about 20 people,” Tony Marino said.

Marino caps the class sizes due to the amount of servings or “pours” available in each bottle of wine.

A “pour” for a tasting in Marino’s class is one ounce, and there are 25 pours in each bottle of wine. Marino likes to leave a few tastes at the end of each bottle so students can enjoy their favorites at the end of the seminar.

The seminars work for any level of wine connoisseur.

A few of Marino’s regulars showed up Sunday for a taste of Chardonnay. Hugh O’Connell has been a member of the wine society for the past 16 years, and has attended Marino’s seminars for the past eight years.

According to the seminar’s instructor, O’Connell always picks the Gold Medal winner in the bunch.

“Altogether it’s a nice time to be together and they learn a lot about the wines,” Marino said.Credit: PHOTOS BY CHRISTOPHER WAGNER / DAILY PILOT dpt-17-wine-2-cw-CPhotoInfoU81T0GVL20060717j2j2voncCredit: Caption: (LA)Above, Donna Nielsen of San Clemente samples a glass of Chardonnay at the wine seminar in the courtyard at the Orange County Fair in Costa Mesa on Sunday. At left, wine connoisseur Tony Marino pours a glass during one of his 90-minute seminars. dpt-17-wine-1-cw-CPhotoInfoU81T0GUV20060717j2j2tnncCaption: (LA)Above, Donna Nielsen of San Clemente samples a glass of Chardonnay at the wine seminar in the courtyard at the Orange County Fair in Costa Mesa on Sunday. At left, wine connoisseur Tony Marino pours a glass during one of his 90-minute seminars.