How to Pick Wine with Which You Will Be Pleased, Part 2

If you have decided that wine is something you want to learn about, or if you just want to waste less money on bad wine, there are things you can do to hone in on your preferences and expand your wine world.

Many people I meet in my family’s tasting room feel uncomfortable. Wine seems fancier than almost anything else we consume: it can be expensive, and you feel lots of pressure to know what you’re doing when you spend money on something so transitory. Besides, wineries often take themselves so seriously that it’s difficult to relax. My father likes to say that when he started visiting Napa wine country in the 70’s, it was like visiting a mausoleum to worship dead grapes: there was a lot of marble, the soundtrack was slow and funeral-like and the employees’ tones were hushed and serious. It was not a joyful experience -- and wine should be joyful!

There isn’t a magical solution for finding your perfect wines right away. Preferences and tastes are unique. I recommend a systematic approach. Start with inexpensive wines so that you can taste a little of a lot of things. Order by the glass in restaurants so you’re not overcommitted to a bottle that you might find disappointing. Attack one varietal at a time (maybe this week you think about Pinot Noir).

Here are some ideas for self-directed wine experimentation.

• As discussed in this post, start with some comparative varietal wine tastings in your home. Once you have conducted some initial in-home tastings, you will have identified a few things you like. Perhaps you found that you liked the Zinfandel the best of the red wines, and within the Zinfandels you preferred the fruitier selections. Maybe the Sauvignon Blanc was your favorite white wine, and you preferred the selections from New Zealand to those from South America. These examples and keywords will help you read labels and seek good suggestions. Try different stores in your area. Usually, even if it’s your corner liquor store, there’s one person in the store who is the WINE GUY or GAL. Ask for their advice in selecting wines based on what you know you like. Be clear about your budget and your plans for the wine (Is it a special occasion? Will you be eating it with fish?). If someone is unhelpful or inaccurate, shop around for a different person or store.
• I recommend hole-in-the-wall wine or liquor shops because you will often find unusual wines from smaller wineries. Many chain stores and restaurants have a centrally-approved wine list where all their locations carry the same wines. The only wineries that will be featured on this type of corporate list are large-production wineries making hundreds of thousands of cases a year. All that said, Costco is a great source for wine. They do have independent purchasing, but I have yet to find a really knowledgeable salesperson, so expect to be on your own in that regard.
• There are good mass-production wines out there, but I believe you will have better experiences on the whole with smaller wineries. Not only because the wines are generally better, but also because you will be able to connect with a business that will provide you with individual service as you seek to expand your horizons.
• If you don’t have access to a store you like, try the Internet. There are good wine sites withwide selections. My favorite is The Wine Library, a shop in New Jersey with a comprehensive online store (shipping available only where legal). Do not hesitate to call them and ask for suggestions.


• In restaurants, ask for the advice of the server or the sommelier (a person who is responsible for selecting and sharing information about wine and pairing wine with food). Tell them in general terms what you like and ask them to make recommendations. Consider asking for a couple of wines to arrive at once: order a couple of Cabernets by the glass and taste them side-by-side. Some restaurants will pour you a tiny tasting sample of wines that they sell by the glass. Don’t be pushy, but do ask!
• Call the wineries that make your favorite wines. Ask them to recommend similar wines they produce and good choices from other wineries. I have had these kinds of conversations when working in the winery, and they can be very fun. Also ask them if they will be participating in any special events in your area, or if they can recommend any local restaurants that carry their wine. My parents travel around the country 3-4 months out of the year in order to conduct tastings and winemakers’ dinners and attend festivals. If you have access to these kinds of events, they are great way to taste a wide variety of wine easily and affordably.
• There are wineries in all 50 states in this beautiful country. I lived for many years in Alaska, maybe the most unlikely place to find a winery of all, and can personally verify this. Plan a weekend outing to the winery nearest you! Not all states offer climates optimal for wine production, so you may not love the wine, but I promise you will love the opportunity to ask questions about winemaking and tasting. Find out if you can take a winery tour or even volunteer to assist winemaking.
• And here is the nerdiest advice of all: take notes. Use an application on your phone, a notepad, a dry erase board, or scratch paper from your recycling bin. When you’ve perhaps had a few glasses, your notes, no matter how simple, will help you remember the things you like and didn’t like. This is particularly helpful to people that are beginners to tasting wine.

You may notice that I did not recommend joining a wine-of-the-month club or subscribing to the Wine Spectator. Both of these routes are valid, but may keep you drinking high priced or high production wines. Many high quality and small, family-owned wineries cannot compete with large, fancy wineries at those quantity or advertising budget levels.

Good luck.

How to Pick Wine with Which You'll Be Pleased

I grew up, a little, in the wine business. I think most people expect me to know more than I do about wine -- to have an encyclopedic knowledge of wineries, vintage years, soil types -- but I don't. I have a very practical knowledge of wine, mainly acquired from listening to my father. My brother goes to classes. I have been to one. There was a powerpoint presentation about French regions. Since then, I have focused my learning on thoughtful wine consumption. With that in mind, I hope to share my learning-on-the-job experiences with wine and many other things here.

This is the central piece of advice: drink what you like. Feel no shame about drinking what you like. I promise that the things that you like will be inconstant, but that’s not a bad thing. I will work on “what next” in future blog posts.

Where to Begin

Most of the really inexpensive wines in the grocery store or corner liquor store are sweet. You probably know this from sipping on some box wine in your youth, but this is true even of wines of reasonable quality. As you begin tasting wine, the key will be to begin with inexpensive but still drinkable wines.

Either red or white, inexpensive wines might contain 1-3% residual sugar, which may not seem like a lot, or even taste like a lot. But they make the wine more easy-drinking. For people who are new to wine, this will probably taste great.

There are many inexpensive wines that are perfectly drinkable and respectable to drink. Most common red wines will be something slightly akin to jam- some acidity, some sweetness, lots of fruit flavors -- only with the boozy depth and effects of wine.

A white wine probably has a slightly different crutch. Not just the sweetness of residual sugar, but also the buttery oakiness of a Chardonnay. This is achieved through generous exposure to French-style oak. This is popular, but it’s not for everyone.

There are many factors that can affect the flavor of wine, and we will talk about that soon.

If you are not sure where to begin with wine, either red or white, take $20 out of your wallet and go buy 3 bottles of the same kind of wine. Set yourself up with a little tasting: pour a glass of each of the three wines and grab a friend or spouse. Taste each of them together and talk about what you taste. Talk about whether you like it. Talk about why you like it, or don't like it. Maybe take a few notes with the key words describing what you like or don't like: "sweet"; "cherry"; "grassy"; "sour"; "vinegary".

If the wine is truly terrible ("vinegary"), throw it away. You won't be sad, because you only spent a few dollars. If not, you’ll have some information about what you like. This will give you a talking point or label-reading point or something to Google for your next venture to the store for an $8 bottle of wine. This is the beginning. Consider conducting other varietal tastings to expand your horizons. Americans generally like Chardonnay (buttery) & Zinfandel (jammy), but that doesn't mean you will. You might like Sauvignon Blanc (grassy, acidic) or Pinot Noir (earthy, smooth).

A final note. A sweet wine is not achieved by adding sugar to the finished wine product. To make a sweetish wine, winemakers halt fermentation befor the yeast has converted all the sugar to alcohol, leaving some of the grapes’ original sugar in the wine.

Of course I am biased for my family's wines, but I enjoy many others as well.

Stand-By Inexpensive Wines of Which I Am a Fan:

• Marietta Old Vine Red (any vintage) is a great, inexpensive red wine. It's not a varietal designate, which is to say it's a blend of many varietals. It's gotten sweeter over the years, but it's still pretty nice. Usually $9 - $13.
• Chateau Ste. Michelle 2009 Dry Riesling is a fruity, drinkable, $9 bottle of wine. Widely available.
• The Meeker Vineyard, my family's winery, offers several wines in the $10 - $15 a bottle range, including white wines under the Pacific Wine Works label and a whole world of reds.