Wine is not some mystical thing. Sure, it's amazing how it comes to be, what it takes to make a great wine, and all the work that goes into it, from vine to bottle. But it's a shame that wine baffles/embarrasses/intimidates people so much. It only takes three things to become comfortable with wine: 1. Geography: knowing where a country is and what surrounds it is very helpful in understanding why some wines work and some wines don't. 2. Grape types (varietals): combine that geography with a knowledge of what grapes are grown where, and you are well on your way to having the ability to choose a wine, either at a retailer, on the web, or at a restaurant, without any "hints" (i.e. tasting notes from a snob) 3. Storage: many good wines can go bad with improper handling, by the retailer or by you. We'll talk about this in a future post.
Since this is my first post, I feel like I should talk a bit about why I have chosen to do this. I love wine. I am not rich. I do not believe that good wines can only be found at high prices. I have had some very good, very cheap wines. Do not be suckered into the philosophy "if it costs me my paycheck, it must be good." Not true. Some wines are exorbitant, some are not. Some of those pricey ones are phenomenal, some are not. The price of a wine comes from several factors, including, coincidentally, the three points listed above- they apply here too. Where your wine comes from, what grape it is, and how it was handled all factor in the price. That's not to say those are the only things. But again, this is all for future blogging. Feel free to challenge me with any questions- if I don't know the answer, I'll not only admit it freely, but I will locate the best answer I can find. I also plan on including some tasting notes- for the wine newbies, this is just a summary of the look (appearance), smell (nose or bouquet), and flavor (palate) of a wine. (Terms in parenthesis indicate snob terms.) I'll walk you through the methods of tasting (evaluating) a wine. I'll try to post a new note each day, as I tend to open a fresh, new bottle each night, regardless of what I did not finish the previous night (this rarely happens).
One more thing I want to make clear. I know many wine snobs. I do not necessarily hate wine snobs- but most of them dislike us. So let's demystify it and show them what we can do.
