Beginner’s Guide to Wine Whether you’re just get started with wine or work in the industry, this page contains many useful resources that will round out your wine knowledge. If you like what you see here, subscribe to receive more great stuff. The Basic Types of Wine Wine is made with grapes, but not typical table grapes you’ll find at the grocery. Wine grapes (the latin name is Vitis vinifera) are small, sweet, have thick skins, and contain seeds. There are over 1,300 different wine grape varieties, but just a few of them are planted all over the world: 8 Common Types of Wine The Many Different Types of Wine (Infographic) See More Wine Variety Articles Serving Wine and Choosing Glassware Wine is a peculiar beverage because even the shape of the glass will change the way it tastes. So, here are 7 things to know when it comes to serving wine. 7 Basics to Serving Wine and Choosing Glassware Buy the Basic Wine Guide Poster Develop Your Sense of Taste

Learning to taste wine will help you pick out flavors and also notice wine faults. The 4-step tasting method practiced by professionals all over the world. How to Taste Wine (The 4-step Method) Wine Faults and How to Sniff Them Out The Difference Between Taste vs. Flavor Are You A Supertaster & Don’t Know It? Identifying Fruit Flavors in Wine Wine Aroma vs Bouquet How to Write Useful Tasting Notes Watch a video on Sabering Champagne in slow motion Enjoy the guide above? Below are some additional articles that offer more information on handling wine like a pro. How to Open a Bottle of Wine How to Pour Wine Without Dripping How to Open Champagne Safely Everytime Why Wine Serving Temperature Matters How Long Wine Lasts Open Choosing The Right Wine Glasses How Many Glasses in a Bottle of Wine How To Swirl Wine Trick to Make Cheap Wine Taste Better How to Saber Champagne in Slow Motion The Trick to Clinking Wine Glasses

How to Clean Wine Glasses Like a Pro How to Remove Wine Sediment Buy the Adv. Food and Wine Pairing Poster Pairing Wine and Food Basic Wine and Food Pairing Chart Advanced Wine & Food Pairing Chart Wine With Chicken & Other Poultry Wine With Lamb & Different Cuts of Beef Foods That Don’t Pair With Wine 6 Examples of ‘Perfect Pairings’ All Wine and Food Articles Where to Buy Wine Online (a Comparison of top retailers) Tricks Buying Good Cheap Red Wine Up and Coming Value Regions and Lessor Known Varieties Italian Red Wines for Under $20 120 Wine Descriptions & What They Really Mean Buying Wines for a Wedding or Other Large Events How to Order Wine at a Restaurant Why Vintage Matters (an explanation of vintage variation) New World vs Old World Wine How to Become a Wine Expert Want work in the wine business? Here are a few articles that will help you succeed. How to Become a Sommelier

The One-Stop Guide To Wine Education Courses Tips on Passing the Certified Sommelier Exam Best Wine Books Picked by Pros At its heart wine is a beverage best enjoyed in the company of others. best wine filterA little bit of wine knowledge goes a long way by opening doors to new flavors and styles. black ink wine comExploring wine is an inexhaustible adventure for which you’ll need to enlist your friends and family.best countertop wine cooler reviews No one likes to go to the wine aisle and feel overwhelmed. best wine under 20 dollarsHave you bought wine based on arbitrary ratings, ambiguous tasting notes, or the label? best wine bars west side

How would you like to walk in, confidently find your favorite wines, and leave 100% satisfied? Improve Ability to Taste/Smell Tasting/smelling wine doesn’t have to be an exercise in snobbery. best fruit red wineIt only takes a brief pause to develop an awareness of what you’re drinking. Knowing what you like will make it much easier to consistently find similar wines. This isn’t limited to wine, learning a few basics can improve the taste/smell of just about anything. The wine world is immense. We like to see this as an opportunity rather than an obstacle. Do you have a favorite sports team, fashion designer, tv chef, or movie director? What if I told you that there are celebrity winemakers and that if you found your favorite winery/winemaker you’d never have to drink bad wine again?Stay In The Know Join thousands of wine enthusiasts who subscribe to Wine Folly’s weekly wine newsletter.

Never miss a tip that will get you drinking better wine.Edit ArticleHow to Acquire the Taste for Wine Three Methods:Tasting Wine CorrectlyTrying Different VarietiesExploring Wine with OthersCommunity Q&A Some of us are enamored with the idea of going on wine tours or drinking a glass of wine on special occasions but can't help but be turned off by the strong taste. Fortunately, acquiring a taste for wine is easier than you think. It's mostly a matter of letting your taste buds become accustomed to the flavors that characterize wine. After all, there are so many different varieties, there's something out there for everyone! Pour a glass of wine and let it sit for 5 to 30 minutes. Use a proper wine glass. Swirl the wine in your glass. Observe how the wine sticks to the side of the glass or if it sloshes around quickly. Additionally, look at the color of the wine. Experts can tell how a wine will taste just by looking at it. For now, you want to pay attention to how the wine behaves compared with how it tastes.

When a wine has “legs,” that means it sticks to the side of the glass and contains lots of fruit juice. The darker and deeper the color of a wine, the bolder the taste should be. Take a sip of wine. Make sure it flows over the tip of your tongue, both sides, underneath, and into the back of your mouth. After noticing the tastes, either swallow or spit out the wine, then breathe in through your mouth drawing air over all those parts of your tongue again. This will cause the tastes from the wine to change, sometimes quite suddenly and sharply. Tasting notes are the individual flavors you can pick out of the overall experience of a certain wine. At first you might not be able to pick out flavors like chocolate or oak, but practice will train your tastebuds to recognize unusual tastes. You can cheat by looking at the bottle's label or asking someone else what they taste until you can start picking out specific notes on your own.Keep track of what you taste in certain wines and what you like and don’t like.

Write down your impressions of each wine. This way you can go back and reference past tastings and look for patterns in your preferences. Wines have four basic components: taste, tannins, alcohol, and acidity. Each of these components ranges in intensity in different wines and will affect whether you like a certain wine or not. As you continue to try different wines, you may find that dry red wines are not your favorite, but you enjoy a dry and tart white wine variety. Try different kinds of wine. Narrow things down by starting with one type of wine. Don’t be overwhelmed by the amount of wines that are available. The easiest way to break them down is into white and red categories. From there, you can begin testing your palate on blends, ages, and even individual vineyards. Sweeter white wines like Viognier or Riesling may be easier for a novice to appreciate than a very dry Sauvignon Blanc or an oaky Chardonnay. Similarly for red wines, Zinfandels with more pronounced fruit flavors may be more accessible than drier wines such as Cabernet or Pinot Noir.

Different blends of wine combine the characteristics of varietal grapes to create balanced and complex flavors. There is more to wines than simply red or white. Blushes, ice wines, sparkling wines, madeiras, ports, and sherries are all different methods to process the fruit, juice, or the wine. Experiment with wines from different countries. Depending on where a wine is sourced will determine how it smells and taste. Some of the most popular and accessible wines come from France, Italy, Spain, Argentina, and the United States. Different countries will vary in soil types as well as production methods. This creates a whole new world of options to try. In general, new world wines from California and South America have more pronounced fruit flavors and are less dry than wines from France or Italy. Compare old wine and new wines. Mix wine with other ingredients. Wine snobs turn up their noses at the idea of mixing wine with other things, but wine on ice, mixed with fruit juices, mixed with liquors or liqueurs, or other things often results in great tasting beverages.

Add ice, especially with heavier, sweeter, or very rich wines. The coldness of the ice slightly numbs your taste buds, easing the strength (and the astringent qualities) of some wines, especially reds. Go to a wine tasting. The best way to learn more is to attend wine tastings with friends at local wine shops, bars, or even art galleries. The advantage of going to a wine tasting is that you can try several kinds of wines without committing to buying a bottle you may not enjoy. Some wine tastings have small refreshments for cleansing your palate in between wines as well as buckets for spitting out wine so you don’t accidentally drink the equivalent of a whole bottle. Don’t take advantage of your host. The goal is to taste new wines, not get drunk. Visit a vineyard and take a tour. Wine tours are popular throughout the world and they’re a great way to learn about the process of making wine and all of the details that go into a simple glass. Come prepared to walk the grounds of the vineyard and remember to stay hydrated.

Look into the fees and prices. Sometimes if you buy a bottle during the tour, some of the costs may be waived. Go with a group. It can be more fun and may be cheaper as well. Pair different wines with different foods at meals. Oftentimes a review or the wine bottle label will recommend different cheeses or meats to consume with the wine you’re drinking. Eating and cooking is simply balancing the aspects of fats, acids, salt, and sweet tastes.[6] Wine pairings are a great excuse to make a meal centered around a certain red wine and steak and inviting your friends over to try it. Some wines are best paired with foods from the same region. For example, a wine from Northern Italy may pair best with a goat cheese from a farm in the upper regions of Italy. Pairings are helpful because you may not like wine for its acidity, but if you know that eating a sweet fruit with it helps to balance the flavors, you may enjoy it more. Listen to how other people talk about wine.

You don’t have to learn all of the lingo that wine experts use, but pay attention to how they talk about a wine’s aromas and tastes. Just by listening you might gain a deeper appreciation for a certain variety or grape or production method. Your friends and family are also good gauges. If you share similar tastes, ask them for a recommendation and why they prefer a particular type. At the very least, learn to pronounce the names of the various types of wines. Drink wines in various settings and occasions. Wine is appropriate for all sorts of events and places and different wines suit different settings and even seasons of the year. You may find that you prefer to drink wine instead of a beer at sporting events or enjoy wine with dessert only. A sparkly or sweet wine may be best for a celebration and a dark red might better suit an evening at home with a good book. Some people agree that chilled wines are best for warm summer days and warm, mulled wines are best for long nights in the winter.

Continue to try different wines. Show more unanswered questions A quick way to tell when a white wine is no longer fit for consumption is by color. White wine should have a light, golden hue. When the color is darker and closer to orange or light brown, it is no longer fit for drinking. Wine is especially susceptible to oxidation. An opened bottle of wine will spoil quickly by reacting to the air, and is best consumed within 24 hours. Life is too short to drink wine that you don’t enjoy. Listen to your own tastebuds when picking out a bottle or glass. Do not drink and drive or operate mechanical equipment. Drink in moderation, and pregnant or nursing women should drink only if their health care provider deems it to be safe. Alcohol consumption, especially in combination with any medication, can pose serious health risks. Some people are affected by the acidity of the wine causing sensitivity in teeth. Some people have a food allergy to wine.