Originally Posted by HKTraveler

For someone starting out as a total beginner, I would suggest the book Wine Folly. Unlike most wine books, this is targeted towards beginners and is filled with very useful information like the different tastes that you can look for with a certain type of grape. To enjoy wine, I think one need some basic knowledge to get going. Another thing that I have found helpful is to join a class and be led through a tasting by an expert. Wine bars like Corkbuzz in NYC run classes regularly and you only have to do it once to get a feel for what serious wine geeks do when doing tasting.