aquire a taste for wine?

Question

i wouldnt know a good wine if somebody poured it over my head,how do i train my beer and lager battered pallet

Answer 1

Tesco frequently have special offers on wines. You can buy a couple of bottles each week (different types of course).
Most supermarkets (especially Asda) also sell a selection of half-bottles.

Make a careful note of the Grape Varieties (e.g. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Shiraz etc) and the makers names of the ones that you like. Also note the type of food you drank it with Then you can buy more of your favourates and gradually try more varietis as you get used to them.

Use the leftovers of the ones you didn't like for cooking.

When you're comfortable with wine drinking at that starter-level you could buy a decent wine book (e.g. Jancis Robinson's guide or Marks & Spencer also do a small one) to find out more and train your pallate to appreciate wine. You'll soon know enough to deflate a wine-snob or pushy waiter.

One bit of advice - it may seem harsh but don't waste your time or money on the really cheap stuff. If you spend less that £4/bottle you will almost always be disapointed. Cheap white can be very sharp and vinegary, cheap red is usually harsh to the tongue and can be 'rough' and not taste of anything nice. Buy a New Zealand (for example) red for about £6 and you'll detect all sorts of fine flavours and textures.

When you're confident enough then start spending £10 + per bottle and you'll appreciate the difference.

Sorry it's been a long ramble, but welcome to the world of wine.You'll not regret it.

Answer 2

The WSET (Wines & Spirits Education Trust) have courses that you can enrol to. These take you through the process of not only wines, their production and the tasting of, they also educate you in Spirits and how they come to be. Superb stuff and if you can last the course (and afford it) keep going all the way to your diploma, as by then you basically have to know the winemakers shoe size and what he had for his tea when the wine was maturing; BUT the wines you get to taste then are the mutts nuts.

If you have any spare time, and are living in the UK, try getting a part time job with Oddbins, they will help you learn about wine as they expect you to be able to sell it.

They also have (or used to back in the days when I worked there) staff tastings for new products or a winemaker turns up while doing a tour of the UK, and you get pissed, sorry, educated there as well. And there is always the staff discount (again if still available).

Hope this helps.

Answer 3

I started with a wine atlas of France. Then I tried each grape variety. I made a note of the ones I loved, liked and thought were grim. I then tried the grapes I loved and liked from other countries to see whether they tasted better or not.

It did became a bit of a hobby looking down the isles of shops for the right grape from the right country and region.

Try a Riesling/Gewurztraminer blend from the Alsace region of France if you want a great white wine. Cote De Rhone des Villages is a good red. Happy tasting - oh and you'll need some head ache tablets for some of the wines...

Answer 4

It took me a long time to develop a taste for wine, I think I had to develop a taste for dry spirits before I could drink white wine (probably because my family drink quite dry wine), and a while longer to drink red wine. Now I love both, and you don't have to buy expensive wine to get nice wines. You should be able to tell whether a wine is off, or very acidic, I am no great connoisseur but I know what I like. Buy some reliably good inexpensive wines like Gallo, Jacob's Creek, Banrock Station, Stowells. You just have to keep drinking them and you will gain a taste for wine, I am sure.

Answer 5

Visit a winery and take a tour/tasting. Very educational.

Trader Joe's offers wine tastings.

Have a wine tasting party. Everyone brings a bottle and you all sample each other's selections.

Above all, don't buy into anyone else's "rules" about wines. Taste them yourself and decide what you like, and what you don't. Unless you run with a snooty crowd. Then just follow the leader.

Answer 6

Start out with the more mild, sweeter wines, and work your way to dryer, stronger ones. Try zinfindels, pinot grigios, reislings first - these are ususally easier for beginners. Then go to chardonnays and light reds. If you go to a wine store, they are happy to help.
There are good wines at even the lowest price levels. I suscribe to a magazine that gives you ratings on best buys (generally for less than $10 a bottle). Hope this helps.

Answer 7

Drink as many different wines as you can-within normal limits of course.
You'll recognise from an early stage that some wines are different from others and I don't just mean telling the difference between white and red!
Then you'll begin to like some more than others and you'll learn to recognise them just as readily as you would one beer to another.
And from there you're nearly home.because a pound to a penny those wines you like the best will be.........
................the best wines

Answer 8

I would say to go to a winery and learn how to drink wine. I never liked wine either, but then my husband and I took a tour at a winery and they showed us the proper way to drink different types of wine, what foods to pair with certain types of wine, and even how to cook with wine. It made such a difference. When you drink it the right way, from the right glass, and eat the right food with it, it tastes so different.

Answer 9

Simple, if you like it its good !, not everyone has the same pallet so what might be good to others may taste crappy to you ?.

Start off with some mellow wines, its really trial and error !!.

Answer 10

a) Drink some, frequently.
b) Become an Australia.

A good wine is the one you enjoy.