Local wine sommelier to lead OLLI@OSU class on Wines of the Northwest this fall

Bartlesville wine sommelier Katherine Powell got her start in the field by taking a class just for fun.

In 2009, an article on an upcoming sommelier class in Tulsa caught Powell’s eye. She had always liked wine, and she thought the class sounded fun, so like many things in her life, Powell dove in.

The former Phillips chemist didn’t realize she would be one of only four novices in the room of 40 food and wine professionals until she showed up.

“When we first started talking about oaked vs. unoaked, I couldn’t tell the difference,” she said.

Now Powell is the expert who teaches classes on wine. She is set to lead a class on 'Wines of the Northwest' this fall in Bartlesville as part of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at Oklahoma State University. During the course, she will share her 14 years of wine study in a class taught at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church.

The two-day class she took in 2009 was like drinking from a firehose, Powell said. She trained with three Master Sommeliers, including Tulsa-based Randa Warren, who is one of only 25 female Master Sommeliers nationally.

Warren took Powell under her wing, inviting her to wine tastings at her home until Palmer passed the introductory sommelier test. “Randa really gave me a lot of support,” Powell said.

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A sommelier is a trained wine professional. They are experts on serving wine and pairing food with wine. In a restaurant setting, the sommelier selects the wines served at a restaurant, chooses wines to compliment dishes and instructs the staff.

During her training, Powell learned a method called deductive tasting. Much like the scientific method, this involves evaluating the wine systematically using the various senses. You begin by looking at the wine, examining its color, the way it whirls in the glass and how it clings to the sides of a vessel. “A wine with strong legs has a higher alcohol content,” Powell notes.

Powell can also determine the age of the wine by watching it swirl.

Next, you smell the wine. “Here, you get a preliminary idea of what notes might be in the wine,” Powell said.

Finally, you taste, moving the wine around your mouth to engage all the taste receptacles in the mouth and throat. Taste might confirm or change what you initially smelled in the wine.

After gaining her sommelier status, Powell and her husband, Ben, a former Phillips researcher, enjoyed trips to wine regions, including a river cruise in France. She’s also been to Washington state, Napa, the Niagara region in New York and two surprising up-and-coming wine regions: Missouri and Texas.

Wine is an ideal hobby for Powell, who as a chemist appreciates the precision and science on what makes a good bottle of wine. Her social side enjoys teaching others what she knows. She spent her career in the sales and marketing side of chemistry because she loves “taking complicated ideas and making them palatable” to others, she said.

Powell is now passing that knowledge along through the Oster Lifelong Learning Institute, which is nicknamed OLLI. The OLLI classes involve no homework or tests and are simply for the joy of learning. According to the local OLLI representative, Ann Cleary, Powell’s last wine-tasting class was very popular.

“I learn by doing,” Powell said. “That’s why I get excited about these classes.”

Powell will teach another class in Bartlesville this fall. This class will focus on wines of the northwest. “Most people think all you get out of Washington and Oregon is pinot noir. But there are some marvelous cabernets and sauvignons,” Powell said.

The classes are limited to 15 people, which means Powell can give individualized attention and get intimate. “I think I have more fun than the students at the class,” she said.

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Students will learn some history, where different grape varietals come from, the proper glasses for different varieties and all about tasting. One session will focus on how to read labels. “It’s difficult to go into a wine shop and know,” she said. “I like demystifying the process.”

Powell will also offer practical tips, like refrigerating red wine ten minutes before serving it. “As it warms, you start getting that taste and smell from it,” she said.

With white wine, do the opposite. Take the wine out of the refrigerator ten minutes before serving “to get those special nuances,” Powell said.

Powell has a piece of advice for when dining out. “When you go into a restaurant, if they have a sommelier, their entire job is to make you happy, not to intimidate you,” she said. “And if you find one that is trying to intimidate you, leave.

“That is the whole reason why people do this: as an act of appreciation,” she said. “I like it as an act of service.”

Wines of the Northwest will be taught at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church for three weeks on Tuesdays from 1:30-3:30 beginning Oct. 17, 2023. You can enroll at olli.okstate.edu and course catalogs are available at area libraries, Arvest and other places.

The OLLI@OSU online catalog with registration information is available at education.okstate.edu.olli.

This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: Local wine sommelier to lead OLLI@OSU class on wine this fall