Wine is a beverage to be enjoyed. Unfortunately, too many people get intimidated by the jargon and allure of the elitism too often found by those who appreciate wine. Tell your friend to ignore that nonsense and just enjoy a nice glass of wine regardless of what he or she knows or doesn’t know!
If he or she wants to get more familiar with the wine jargon, learn about the different grapes and wine regions, etc, then it’s easy to look online for summaries of the different wine regions, what grapes are grown and used to create the most common wines, and what flavors and tastes are associated with the various wines. Going wine tasting is another great way to learn as you try different wines. Dining at a restaurant with a sommelier and asking questions about what and why wines pair so well with the food is another good way to learn. Don’t be afraid to ask!
The biggest intimidation factor to my mind is when people use exotic descriptors to describe the wines they drink. The vocabulary can scare off people. Don’t get scared. Describe the wine using the words you know. Other people may taste the same thing but use different vocabulary than you—that’s OK! Don’t worry about it. If confused, you can ask.
My biggest lesson—don’t assume white wine is for fish and red wine is for meat. That’s not always right and is often wrong!
My second biggest lesson—-understand that the more expensive the wine, the more likely it will taste great and even better when it’s older...but not necessarily any better than a much cheaper wine when it’s younger! Spending a lot on a bottle of wine is most often pointless if it’s younger...so enjoy a cheaper wine if it’s younger!
My third lesson—-not everyone will like the taste and flavors of older wines. That’s just the way it goes. On the other hand, a lot of people who think they don’t like a certain type of wine (Cabernet) will discover they really will like an older one.
My final lesson—-don’t assume all wines from the same grape taste the same. There are many STYLES of winemaking that can make the same grape (i.e. Chardonnay) taste wildly different from another.
Experience will teach everyone even more.
I say all this as a major wine fanatic with a graduate certificate in winemaking from UC Davis—even though I’ve never been nor ever will be a winemaker! I just love wine. But I also love to see more people discover wine and enjoy wine and not be intimidated by wine.
Good luck!
Last edited by bhrubin; Dec 26, 2017 at 8:27 pm