Become a Wine Expert in 5 Easy Steps

Tempranillo varietal wine bottle and glass, sh... — What are your favorite tips for becoming a wine expert? (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Learning about wine is an intellectual pursuit of its own right. It’s fascinating just how many flavors you can get in wine and how complex a simple glass of alcohol can be. Many people feel intimidated by wine tasting, and they avoid trying different types of wine for fear of “not doing it right.” At Snooth, they published a list of 5 Tips for Becoming a Wine Expert. Namely, they recommend budding oenophiles to avoid snobbery, drinking wine in “squares,” learning about the varietals and producers, tasting blind, and being honest about opinions.

That’s all great advice. After all, by tasting all kinds of wine, you can find out what you like and don’t like – and you’ll find out that you like (or don’t like) wines that surprise you. I’d offer the advice that you need to come to your wine tasting with an open mind. Just because you didn’t like one varietal produced by a winery doesn’t mean you won’t like another. For instance, we really enjoyed Bargetto Winery‘s Chaucer’s Mead. We did not, however, enjoy other wines we tasted from them. They were fine, they just didn’t have the same effect on us as other wineries. Also, the quality of wine can change from year to year depending upon the weather and the grapes. Just because you haven’t liked one winery in the past, doesn’t mean you should avoid everything from them forever – you may be surprised. Not only that, but over time, your palate will change.

That being said, I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to bring myself to drink mass-produced wines like Gallo, Wild Vines, and Franzia for the same reason I don’t touch Budweiser, Millers, or Coors.

What is the best piece of tasting advice you’ve received? Are there wines you won’t try?