Tip 1: Know 3 wines that you like and why:
Just try to keep things super simple – otherwise wine selection can be totally overwhelming.
If you have 3 wines already in mind, perfect! Let’s use those. Otherwise you can pick up 3 wines from the following selection, taste them and see what you think.
White:
Red:
- Cabernet Sauvignon
- Pinot Noir
- Shiraz
Tip 2: Taste those 3 wines with food:
This tip is linked to tip 1. One way to find out if you like a wine is to taste it with different food flavours. By doing that, you can appreciate how the wine can change taste dramatically with food. So the next time you are out and about having a lovely dinner in a restaurant you will be able to pick up your wine more confidently.
Steps for Tasting Wine with Food
- Firstly, have a small sip of the wine you have selected to try today without any food.
- Eat something sweet, just pure sugar will do the trick. Have a sip again…can you taste the difference?
- Clear your palate with a bit of water or plain bread.
- Do the same test with salt (salty crisps) and acid (lemon). Incredible isn’t it? I couldn’t believe the huge difference in taste when I did this test for the first time.
Tip 3: Accept that the wine world is huge
Accept that the wine world is huge, and that nobody knows it all. Yeah, that is the reality when it comes to wines…the more you know, the more you realise that you know very little! The wine world is huge, yeah, super huge! However, at the end of the day, it is really simple: you either like the wine that you are drinking, or you don’t. It is a personal choice.
So, knowing 3 types of wine and knowing why you like them will definitely make your wine learning journey so much easier. It is like learning a foreign language, you just start with some basic holiday words, and who knows…maybe you end up moving to that country and become a local, speaking their lingo perfectly!
Bonus tip: Share your knowledge with friends!
But, not in a snobby way…share your knowledge of one of the wines you like with your friends, tell them why you like it and encourage them to give it a try and to let you know if they also like it.
Ask them which wine they like the most and why. I am sure you may learn something interesting too.