Our customers represent every wine interest level imaginable, from non-drinking gift-givers to collectors of trophy bottles. One of the fun aspects of working here is fielding various questions from this broad group and this has inspired me to put together a list of topical subjects and advice that wine lovers will hopefully find useful.

1) Hold the wine glass by the stem, not the bowl. I can think of three reasons for this: The palm of your hand accelerates the warming of the wine. It encourages and facilitates swirling. And lastly, fingerprints mar the clarity of the crystal bowl.

2) After the wine is poured and you swirl and inhale the aromas, don’t evaluate it in terms of its “legs.” Legs refer to the viscous-looking streams that slowly move down the inside of the bowl. This phenomenon is merely the centrifugal separation of alcohol and is essentially meaningless in terms of wine appreciation.  

If the subject of legs fascinates you then I suggest the following topic: Compare and Contrast – Tina Turner and Beyonce.

3) It’s no big deal if you can’t toss out wine descriptions such: a toasty wood fragrance offering hints of tobacco, coffee and hazelnut.  On the palate: notes of cinnamon, molasses, espresso and pinecones. Does this address a red or white wine? Don’t bother guessing, I just made it up. But it’s not so different from many wine publication reviews.

So how do you go about describing a wine when words such as “forest floor” don’t exactly work for you? I suggest buying three wines each from California, Australia, and France: Three Chardonnays, three Cabernet based wines and three Syrah based wines. Open each version of the varietal and compare. This should give you a beginning sense of distinguishing between “Old World” and “New World” styles.

Then think about the differences and play around with your instinctive reactions.

“Big, bold red fruit?” or “austere?” Lot’s of “oak,” or “clean?”  Tannic or not?

Rarely a wine merits more than a few descriptive words. Don’t agonize about being less than a Poet Laureate.

And stay tuned, I promise to write more on this topic.

4) When trying to comprehend the price of a bottle of wine, keep in mind that at some point it’s more a matter of the “right” to own the wine more so than what the wine’s price / quality ratio is about. A $300.00 bottle of wine does not taste six times better than a $50.00 bottle. And to your own individual palate, a $25.00 bottle may taste better than a $50.00 or $300.00 bottle of wine.

For wines priced under $50.00, the quality difference between a $9.00 bottle and a $50.00 bottle will be significant. The $50.00 wine may have been in expensive French oak barrels for 18 months and this process will create a more complex wine than the $9.00 option. The aging time and barrel costs are reflected in the price. A $300.00 bottle of wine may have production costs fairly similar to the $50.00 wine, but due to reviews, reputation, rarity and basic supply and demand, the marketplace has supported sales at this astronomical price point.

5) One doesn’t assign rating points to a painting or a restaurant entree, so why is the wine media so hell bent on giving grades to wine? This is a major topic in and by itself. Just because a wine is rated 95 points, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll like it. What you enjoy about a wine may be the exact opposite of what a reviewer assigns big points to.  

As often as possible you should try a wine without any knowledge or regard to what score it received. -- Preferably by a producer or region unknown to you.  This is how you discover the hundreds of unsung gems out there.

Resist turning into score-whore. -- Think Sly and the Family Stone: “Everybody is a star.”

6) Don’t drive yourself crazy by collecting “verticals” of a particular wine. (Verticals are purchasing every vintage year over a long period of time.) I did this in my beginning collecting days with Beringer Private Reserve and Chateau Montelena Cabernet.  For a few years, everything was wonderful, but then prices escalated from $25.00 a bottle to $90.00 a bottle. It broke my heart to no longer be in the position to purchase these wines, but one soon appreciates that many fish swim in the sea.

It’s perfectly fine to date a winery, just don’t make any commitments.

7) Join and / or form wine tasting groups. This is the best way to learn about wine and your individual palate. Reading books, magazines and newsletters is part of the equation, but there’s no substitute for tasting as many wines as possible.

Pick a theme, for example: “Syrah blends.” Each person then brings a bottle or two. With bread and cheese on the table, hang out and briefly discuss the wines. – Not a bad way to pass a couple of hours.

Over the years I’ve been in a few groups and each one significantly expanded my wine awareness and knowledge.

I am currently part of one that meets every week. Some members have cellars rich in recent new world wines and others possess older vintages of European wines. This chemistry has greatly expanded each member’s wine tasting history and that’s the beauty of wines groups – your learning curve is accelerated.

8) Don’t be a “wine snob.” Hey, when all is said and done it’s only a beverage. Every now and then a customer recites a litany of expensive collectable wines he owns (it’s always a he) and turns his nose up at lesser known, less costly wines.  I confess the temptation to take him downtown so to speak and respond: “Yeah I had that, but the 1961 in a magnum blows its doors off.” But I take a deep breath and catch myself. -- I refuse to fight snobbery with snobbery.  

The ability and means to appreciate wine is a blessing -- not an affectation.

9) Always keep in mind: You are the world’s leading expert on the subject of your palate. Let no one intimidate you in any way when it comes to wine.

It all starts with: Do you like it? Only you can answer that.

As time goes on, your tastes may change but the timing and distance of this journey belongs to you alone.

10) Support shops that know about wine.  When you come into our store and tell me you’re having chicken tonight, I’m going to ask you if it’s being roasted or barbecued before I even come up with an option. A warehouse store employee is going to shrug and say: “This one sells pretty good.” You’re always in good hands with boutique sized wine stores because knowledge and passion cannot be case stacked to the ceiling.

11) Visit and tour wineries. There is so much to learn about wine and direct exposure trumps reading any day.  In witnessing the process from vineyard to bottle, you gain greater insight into what it takes to make a quality wine. The perspective of the winery staff is often the most insightful one possible.

Wine regions tend to be located in scenic areas and more times than not, wonderful restaurants are close at hand.  Sounds like an ideal vacation to me.

12) In the process of learning about wine, you are exposed to a bigger world. One cannot be intrigued with wine without absorbing bits and pieces of history, geology, culture, commerce, agriculture, climatology, foreign languages, and the context of local food associations. Drink it all in.

Wine is an ancient pursuit. Its pleasure resonates and reverberates in the hearts of those who embrace it. Keep it simple and enjoy!