Valerie and I get people in the shop all the time that say they have never done a wine tasting.  Very often they seem a little embarrassed.  Why?  It is not like they teach wine tasting 101 in school.  (No, none of those college parties count, and they were probably mostly beer anyway!)  Most people have never had any instruction, or practice, tasting wines.  It certainly is nothing to be embarrassed about, and it is pretty easy to learn the basics. 

Someone told me that the two things you need to become a real wine expert are good senses and a good memory.  That makes a lot of sense to me.  To be a real expert you have to be able to sense, through smell and taste, the subtle differences in the wines you are sampling.  You also have to be able to put into words what you are sensing so that others can understand it and try to sense the same things.  Memory is important because you have to remember what certain wines are supposed to be like, and the differences between the wine you are tasting today and the wine you tasted three weeks ago.  For instance, the Merlot you tasted three weeks ago may have had characteristics of blackcurrants and cherries.  Is that right for a Merlot?  How does that wine compare to the one you are tasting today?  What else do you taste that was not in the 75 others you have tasted?  Are those subtleties the same as the last Merlot you tasted from the same region?  How does it differ from other regions?  Being able to sense those small differences, and remember over time what you sensed, is really important to being an expert.

Now, that said, as in most things, most of us are not lucky enough to have been blessed those refined senses or great memories.  That not a problem because for the majority of us wine tasting does not have to be that refined, and it can be, for the most part, pretty simple, and a lot of fun.  When I make wine, I rely on my senses to understand how the wine is progressing and to make choices about what steps I want to take to make it better.  While I consider my senses to be pretty good, I certainly do not claim to have the refined senses that some experts have, and I certainly do not have the memory to catalog all that I have tasted.  Most of us have good enough senses of taste and smell to at least get a good idea of the aroma and tastes of the wine, and to learn over time what certain varieties are supposed to taste and smell like.  We may not get all the subtleties, but we can get the main smell and taste components.  Over time we may even get good at sensing some of the more subtle nuances that make wine tasting so special, but that takes practice amd experiance.  How cool is it that the only way to get better is to drink more wine!

There are many resources on the Internet that can help you learn how to taste wines, so I won’t try and do that here.  WikiHow has a great article at http://www.wikihow.com/Taste-Wine, and another good article is at YourLoveOfWine.com http://www.yourloveofwine.com/howtotastewine.php.

Do your own search and you will find many good resources.  Then start tasting!  We would love to have you visit us at the winery for some show and tell.  When people visit the winery and are interested in learning, Valerie and I always try to take away some of the mystique associated with wine tasting and make it as simple as possible.  We will make the process simple, entertaining, and not at all intimidating, and a lot of fun.  We promise!

The other important thing to remember is that you do not have to be formal all the time.  There is always room for just enjoying your wine in a casual way without the formalities associated with a structured wine tasting.  I find that the more educated I get on wine, the more I can enjoy it because I recognize things that I never thought to look for before.  I am also careful, however, to take time to just relax and enjoy the wine I am drinking.  In the long run that is what it is for anyway!

And, as always, my motto remains the same:  Drink What You Like!