New to the world of wine? Read this first…
a few things that will make it all make sense.
If you’re just “getting into wine” you’ve opened the proverbial Pandora’s box. Prepare for the avalanche.
There are few things that we ingest that have more experts and posers and insiders and evangelists and zealots involved telling us what to buy, when to consume it, how to consume it, why it’s good or why it’s bad.
I’ve been on both sides of the coin. I was the rabid consumer; collecting bottles my bank balance had no right trying to afford, matching glassware to vintages, attending all the tastings. Saying all the right things (Not likely).
I’ve sold it, drank it, bought it, worshipped it and wrote about it. Now I make it. I’m a professional wine maker at a modest winery and I make my own Pinot Noir called Black Cloud. I truly enjoy making it and drinking it. But why?
It comes down to the first rule of wine: drink what you like. It’s so easy to lose track of that. There’s a ton of people out there who are intent on making you love wine. Usually the wine they love or are being paid to love. When you first start in on wine, there’s lots to learn. Along the way, obvious favorites begin to emerge from the masses of wineish literature. You are inclined to believe the experts because, afterall, they are experts. That’s fine. But remember the first rule. And that brings us to rule number two.
Taste. Taste lots of different wine. Taste, taste , taste. Notice I didn’t say ‘drink lots of wine’. That will just make you look increasingly silly. Go ahead, give it a try. Ultimately, if you want to verify all that recent acquisition of knowledge from all that reading and listening to wine people you’ll have to taste and that could get expensive. But if you sharethe costs with friends and have some food on hand, good things will happen. The third point is then…
Wine is food. Sure there’s alcohol in it. But from a historical and social perspective, wine’s place is on the table. That’s where it is at its best. There are lots of quips and funny sayings about wine and food but the point is: there are few joys in life as complete as sharing wine and a meal with people. Speaking of people…
People change and so do wines. If you’re very lucky, you’ll have a few relationships in your life that will endure for decades and perhaps for your entire life. But that’s rare. Most people come into our lives and then move on, hopefully leaving favorable memories but sometimes not. This is a lot like wine. The ones we love and think, at first, we would always love, change. Either our taste changes or the wine is made differently or it just doesn’t bear the years in the cellar well. Don’t let it get you down. Time to move on. There are plenty of fish in the sea. Which reminds me of fish and wine…
Break some rules. You’ll be told what wine goes with what food, what temperature you should drink it at, what glass to use, what region produces the best, what grape is superlative, what price to expect and who knows what else. Once in awhile, have red wine with fish. In other words, strike out on your own expedition of taste and find out what you really like. Or don’t like. Deliberately go somewhere slightly off the known chart and blaze your own path. At this point, you can return to rule #1.
I’ve come full circle in wine. I went from drinking whatever plonk was being poured to memorizing obscure vineyard locations and their soil strata in Burgundy and, finally, back to drinking whatever is being poured. The difference being, of course, now I know when to pour the plonk out on the grass and go find the good stuff.
So as you head out on the long and winey road, try to remember those five little bits above and that may keep things in perspective. Also, I have one little favour to ask: please hold your stemware by the stem. Groping the glass like some starlet makes it look like a toddler’s sippy cup.
Cheers!
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