Where to start

We all had to start somewhere when we first discovered our passion for wine. I have just started my journey and I'm hoping that those of you reading this will be able to give me some direction. I understand that this can be quite a broad topic. Basically what I'm asking for is how you think I should go about learning about wine. Anything from vocabulary to the scale of dry-wet (as in Cab-Sav is drier than a Merlot, along those lines) to what region has the best type. I want to know all there is...eventually, so feel free to be as copius or terse and pithy as you like. Thank you all for the help!

First of all, welcome Andy.

This may sound rather silly, but the best way to learn about wine is to pop those corks and taste, taste, taste.

Read other people's WTN and if something sounds interesting, buy it and see if you agree. Wine appreciation takes time, but it is, IMHO, time well spent.

Great answer from Bruce. Try to visit as many winestores as possible, the ones with a tasting bar!! On a good session, you might have a selection of 4/5 open bottles.
Good idea to let us know where you are situated, then forumites can point you in right direction.

Visit wineries! Take a weekend and make the rounds. Ask questions while you're there. Another suggestion is learn about wine making. Even if you don't plan on making wine yourself, learning about the various techniques and grape varieties is very interesting. Everything from simple, still whites, to deep dry reds, to Port and Sherry to bubblies.

Andy

I'll echo the taste, taste, taste mentality. However a good book on winetasting can be very useful at setting context and offering you to pick away at what facets make a wine interesting to you. I personally rate Michael Schuster's 'Essential Winetasting', but there are plenty of other good books in the area.


For me it helped to pick on a small sub-set of wines (mainly Australian) to start with, build up an understanding there and use it to spread out elsewhere. Sometimes to sheer variety of wines/regions can be confusing. For some, starting relatively narrow can help. e.g. I know I like Washington Merlot, so I'll try Shiraz, Cabernet etc. from the producers I like. Or I like Riesling from Alsace, so I'll try Aussie, German, Austrian, etc, rieslings and see what else I like.

regards

Ian

You may check to see if there are any wine appreciation classes offered in your area. I got my start many years ago by taking one at Purdue University that was offered on Monday evenings. It gave you all the basics that you are asking about to include major grape varieties, regions, terminology, etc. We also tasted 3-4 wines every class related to the subject of that class, usually all from the same region.

vocabulary to the scale of dry-wet (as in Cab-Sav is drier than a Merlot, along those lines)

1) The opposite of dry is sweet. All wine is wet.

2) The question of whether a wine is sweet is a function of whether there is residual sugar, i.e. whether sugar remains after the fermentation. That varies across regions, grapes, and producers. So, you wouldn't want to say Cabernet Sauvignon is drier than merlot, it wouldn't make sense. Generally speaking, most red wine is dry, i.e. without residual sugar, so there is no drier than dry.

3) What you may be referring to is Cabernet Sauvignon's tendency to be more astringent than Merlot. Or, put another way, Merlot's tendency to be softer and more supple than Cabernet Sauvignon. That is primarily related to the tendency for more dominant tannins in Cabernet Sauvignon.

I hope the following is helpful. It was originally written in answer to a similar question on an Australia wine forum a few years ago. I've put more relevant links for the US.

Ah, learning to taste and educate the palate. Sometimes I think its like learning to play golf. You really need instruction to get the technique down and then its practice, practice, practice. And that practice should include thinking about the flavours in things other than wine, like food, because the biggest stumbling block is not having a large library of flavour descriptors to help you accurately describe what you are tasting; even if you are the only one listening!

For example if a wine tastes like the wringing from a camel drivers loin cloth its important that you have that experience stored away in memory so that you can bring it out and show everyone the depth and breadth of your tasting experience!

Seriously, education through quality Wine Appreciation or Tasting classes is an important first step. Most of the best courses will go through the technical aspects of tasting and should also include tasting of different wine styles. You can often meet others at such courses who are willing to taste after class which will at the very least expand your wine exposure and maybe even be the start of a serious tasting group. Its been so long since I did this type of course that I can’t recommend anything, besides most of the courses I did were in Australia. The Local WIne Events site (see below) may list wine tasting/appreciation classes in your area.

Books on tasting are also important. It seems there are more books on wine than anyone can ever read, and so everyone has their preferences. Some of mine are as follows. Michael Broadbent's Wine Tasting was one of the first books I read on wine tasting. Its a little dated but still very useful. Another is Emile Peynaud’s The Taste of Wine: The Art and Science of Wine Appreciation. Peynaud’s book is quite technical and can be a struggle but its well worth reading. Jancis Robinson’s How to Taste : A Guide to Enjoying Wine is very good because it suggests some comparative taste tests that will help you understand the differences between grape varieties, wine styles etc. Her The Oxford Companion to Wine is a must for anyone wanting to expand their wine knowledge, or just as a reference work.

You should also find a reputable wine shop, preferably a specialist wine shop and not the local supermarket. Many specialist shops have tastings of different wine styles and you should go to these as often as you can. These tastings should bring you into contact with more serious and experienced tasters than the wine appreciation course and you can learn a lot by watching and talking to them. Look at the Local Wine Events site to see what tasting are being offered in your area.

You can be as serious as you want about developing your palate. You can spend countless hours recording your impressions of various tastes, tracking down wines, drinking wine, and in general debauchery. But remember in the end its just fermented grape juice and there to be enjoyed.

It can be hard (read expensive!) to do but you should also follow the Len Evans’ Theory of capacity.

Enjoy,
Mike

Andy,

1. Taste lot of stuff across varietals, regions, styles, and price points.
2. Spend as much time sniffing as swallowing.
3. Take notes.
4. Don't buy a whole bunch of the first wine that you really, really like.
5. Purchase a copy of the "Wine Bible". It gets dissed alot, but I think it is and excellent reference for beginners.
6. Above all else, do not taste Burgundy... EVER!

I have to agree with all those who recommend tasting wines at every opportunity. But I also strongly agree with Mike who said read about wine. The paperback book I used recounted the history of wine in interesting and described all the wine-growing regions. I'll have to get the title/author when I get home this pm and I'll let you know what it was. It sure added to my appreciation of wine with multitude of solid facts and quasi-facts like the one about Charlemagne getting in trouble because he had red wine staines on his clothes so he planted white wine grapes instead, hence we have Corton Charlemagne.

In addition to the other wine books recommended, I particularly like "Wine for Dummies" and Andrea Immer's "Great Wines Made Simple." I still refer to the "Dummies" book sometimes for quick information about a wine region. Immer's book guides you through sample tastings where you might compare a warm-weather white wine to a cool-region white, etc. It helps you distinguish characteristics of the different varieties of grapes and see which ones appeal most to your taste. I too took some wine appreciation courses (at the Adult Education Center at the University of Maryland.) Look for classes at a community college or university or ask if any of the wine shops or restaurants in your area hold wine classes. The wine shop managers should know what of that type is offered locally.

I'd like to suggest another book on wine tasting; you can never have too many books on wine. This book I have only just purchased and so I have not read it completely, actually just skimmed through a few sections of interest to me. However it looks like a really good book on wine tasting. Its Andrew Sharp's Winetaster's Secrets: A Step-by-Step Guide to the Joy of Winetasting . Its a cent over $11 on Amazon.com which seems very inexpensive.

I'd never heard of Sharp but he has been described as Canada's top wine taster and educator and was chairman of the InterVin International Wine Competition. Sharp was a syndicated wine columnist and author as welt as a Jehovah's Witness minister who taught Bible studies. He died April 5, 2000 at age 57.

Mike

I think the main thing is not to lose track of your personal taste. In your tasting travels you will find losts of people and books and the like telling what wine is good and even great. ALWAYS keep in mind that your taste is every bit as good as any "expert" in determining what you like. Reviews are good at giving you ideas on what you might like to try but don't let anyone tell you what you should like.

Good luck,
Glenn

Thank you all for your help. I'm definitely in the "tasting, tasting, tasting" phase. I plan on visiting some wineries in my area too (near Charlottesville, Va). Also someone at a local restaurant/wine bar recently told me about a book a friend of hers wrote entitled "My First Big Crush" by Eric Arnold. I intend to get it and some of you might enjoy it as well!

Andy,

One more thing: there is a lot of misinformation, half information, and general bad information floating about. Just taking more than one wine class will show you that process in action. There's also healthy disagreement on information, such as the simple quote that "dry is the opposite of sweet." Although Rahsaan's comment contains a general truth, the topic is more complicated than that quote leads one to believe, and you touched on the complication by mentioning the incongruity of something wet being simultaneously dry.

Tasting, taking classes, and reading books will help; beyond that, learning wine is a daily education.

For however many years I have participated on this Forum, ten maybe, I have spoken about virtually nothing but Bordeaux (not counting marginally wine related topics). At the same time, I have read extensively about all aspects of wine. At some point I became aware that you can not learn about wine, never mind "all there is." The more I learn, the less as of a total percentage of the whole I feel I know. This might be the most important aspect of wine as a hobby or passion. It is inexhaustible. So I think it might be your attitude that makes you a connoisseur or not, not how much you know. If you have the respect and maybe awe, and attempt to learn, you are a connoisseur from day one. When you dive in you are as wet as anybody else, to use your perfectly good wine term, which you will nevertheless never again use.

I have another book to recommend: Kevin Zraly's Windows on the World Complete Wine Course.

You could also do a lot worse than to start right here, the home page of this forum. I found the tools there quite helpful in my formative tasting years.

I plan on visiting some wineries in my area too (near Charlottesville, Va).

You're in a good spot, then. If you use the search function in this forum, you might check for Tony Fletcher's reports (last summer or so, if I'm remembering correctly) of his visits to VA wineries. But you're close to Horton and Barboursville, to name just two. Wineries are great places to taste, talk, and learn. Please let us know how your journey proceeds.

I think the best thing to do is to determine what you like. Try a bunch of different grapes and regions. Then, when you go to wine stores, you can tell the people that work there what you like in terms of characteristics and examples of wines. They can then recommend more. Personally I like to read about wines as well. Jancis Robinson published a guide to wine grapes. I also like the Wine Bible by Karen MacNeil. It goes over regions in a comprehensive manner. The Science of Wine: from Vine to Glass is interesting as well. All of those books helped me understand the differences regarding soil, weather, regions, grapes, etc. Now, instead of saying that I like a particular grape variety, I understand what countries and regions that I prefer. I started out liking Cabs and Zins but now prefer blends. It is interesting how your taste in wine will evolve. Enjoy!

I think the best thing to do is to determine what you like.

You know, I have always had a problem with this oft repeated phrase, but didn't know why.

My wife, Lynn, told me about some woman stating in a women's magazine that it took her until she was fifty to finally figure out what made her happy. Lynn, who is 65, laughed about how crazy that statement was. We now go to bed at 8:00 p.m. (not a.m., like in the old days) and watch whatever is on TV for the relaxation. It makes us happy. It would be like Lynn writing an article in which she counsels women to just get in bed at 8:00 if they want to be happy.

For the past fifteen years I have said to myself and others that I like Bordeaux. That's restrictive and constrictive. I like whatever I order at the moment. To Hell with Bordeaux. You must live! To know what you like is to be a dead man.

...To know what you like is to be a dead man.

Reminds me of a cartoon I saw many years ago. The Supreme Court Justices were all seated at the bench and one of them says "I may not know what pornography is, but I know what I like".

Andy,
I am new to this site, and the whole concept of talking about wine on line, but I’m quite impressed, so far with, the level of wine knowledge here, and think the answers you already have to your question are pretty good. I’ve been talking about wine and teaching new wine drinkers for almost fifty years, and can only add a few thoughts to what you have already read.
1. As you taste, protect your palate. Don’t smoke, or taste around those who do. Avoid wearing strong smelling stuff (after shave, etc.) and people who do. Don’t taste in confined places with strong cooking odors and expect the wines to be the same outdoors…. they won’t be. Learn that it’s OK to spit, as you don’t really have to get a buzz on to evaluate the elements of wine; too much to drink does dull all your senses, including taste, smell and memory. Pick up the habit of cleansing your mouth with a bite of bread or cracker (I like oyster crackers for this) and a sip of water between wines. When the tastes seem to get muddled, stop tasting.
2. Learn how wines change over time. Open a bottle you want to try with plenty of time…. then nurse it over time, seeing what exposure to air does to it. Leave the last bit in the glass overnight, covered with a saucer, and see what it’s like in the morning. Try to find different vintages of the same wine, and give yourself a two or three wine vertical tasting. Buy a case of $20 a bottle Merlot, Cab or Syrah, and leave it in the cellar for a year and a half before beginning to drink a bottle every other month, or so for two years and take notes. Red wines aren’t really ready to drink until the tannins start to bond to each other to form sediment. Learn to wait to open good red wines until you start to crud in the bottle, and then stand them up for a few days before opening so the crud settles in the bottom of the bottle.
3. Take notes and save labels. As your wine library grows, glue labels on all the blank pages and write about the wine and meal. You thus record your personal history in books you might then want to pick up again. Stick those cocktail napkins and paper placemats with quick notes in there, too.
4. Subscribe to at least one wine publication, and keep the copies. Also, pick out a couple of internet sites, and there are hundreds, and join to get e-mail letters. I love Nat Decants by Natalie MacLean, but there are many, including Gary Vanerchuck of WineLibraryTV fame. Also, many Wineries have great newsletters. The Internet is the best wine library on earth, and I say that owning about 700 books on wine; learn to use it.
5. Educate your palate by using it. Besides the advice too taste, taste, taste… which, of course, is right on, get used to making wine a part of your life every day. It need not be expensive or a lot, but even a glass of good box wine is better than no wine at all with food.
6. Get in the habit of talking about wine with others where you buy your wine. You will discover, if you haven’t already, that we wine lovers love to talk, both at site4s like this, and damn near anywhere else. Not everything you hear will be equally valuable, but you’ll find some real pearls of wisdom over time.
7. Finally, learn the joy of the new wines that are always appearing. Before they start getting the write ups, they are less expensive and are therefore, by definition, the real bargains. The Super Tuscans, when they first appeared, were just ordinary Italian table wine.
Bill Hopkin

Two books that I thought extremely helpful when I started and to which I return:

Oz Clarke's Pocket Wine Guide has been indispensable...it's kinda like a small encyclopedia with entries on regions, varieties, producers, etc etc. I still look at it most every day for some question or other

Karen McNeil's Wine Bible...simple, comprehensive, never condescending... great resource....lots of info to answer the question you have or will have..

Oh, and keep notes of the wines you drink.. they don't have to be long or full of description, but it will help you start to remember producers, what you like, etc. I kept a Word file of everything I drank..and still do, but now on Cellar Tracker...

You may check to see if there are any wine appreciation classes offered in your area. I got my start many years ago by taking one at Purdue University that was offered on Monday evenings. It gave you all the basics that you are asking about to include major grape varieties, regions, terminology, etc. We also tasted 3-4 wines every class related to the subject of that class, usually all from the same region.

So, Brian, was that class taught by the aptly named Dr. Vine? If so, do you know that he retired a few years ago? The class, thankfully, lives on.

Mark Lipton