How to appreciate wine

There are many books and websites that will tell you how to appreciate wine through the ritual of wine tasting.

Photo by Pawel Czerwinski on Unsplash

Looking at the colour – or the 'robe' – the swirl, the sniff, the sip, the washing machine effect and then imitation of a cat’s anus you do with your lips to draw air in.

All well and good, but whenever people ask how they can learn about or appreciate wine more, I believe it goes a lot further than simply learning how to taste or reel off flavour descriptors.

There are far more important cardinal virtues that ought to be borne in mind.

In my opinion they are:

Take an interest

This is possibly the most crucial piece of advice there is.

Wine is a huge topic and you'll never really learn anything about it unless you actively take an interest and seek to absorb a little bit of knowledge.

If you don’t then fine, but there’s no magic pill to help you otherwise.

When it comes to opening a bottle, take a moment to think about what you're drinking.

Does the back label offer any tasting notes? Can you smell or taste any of them?

Read articles, follow suggestions, and photograph labels from the bottles you really enjoyed as an aide-memoire.

Taste widely

You'll only learn and expand your palate and knowledge, likes and dislikes the more you try.

Don't be put off by names you can't pronounce, or wine from countries you didn't think made wine.

If it's in your price range, give it a go. Not every wine will rock your world, but the chances of it being so utterly, utterly terrible it's undrinkable are slight.

And if you don't love it, ask yourself why.

Make a mental note for the future but also don't count the grape/region/country out entirely because it's important to...

Have an open mind

Just because you didn't like something once doesn't mean all wines of that ilk are the same.

Wine is very varied and tastes can change.

Also, don't believe foolish old fallacies like Italian wine ‘not travelling well’, or Australians only sending the rubbish wines to Britain, or French wines are all overpriced.

All claptrap and bollocks. God-alone knows how and why that kind of nonsense has been able to persist.

Don’t believe the tripe. Have an open mind.

Challenge yourself

The more you learn and grow in confidence with wine, challenge your learning.

Have a friend or partner pour a glass without showing you the bottle and taste it 'blind'.

You don't have to find the vintage, producer and vineyard.

First of all, do you like it? Why? What can you taste? Then go for the bonus points. Is it from Europe or further afield?

And if you're confident, perhaps try guessing a grape variety or country too. And the game can evolve the more you learn.

After a while (if you’re taking an interest) you might be surprised at how much you’re able to spot.

Pay more

Wonderful as it is to drink cheap wine on holiday, the truth is, wine is increasingly expensive in the UK and Ireland thanks to punitive tax policies.

There also tends to be another mistaken belief that there is no point paying for wine because it ‘all tastes the same’.

Or people lack the confidence in themselves to tell the difference so stick to very narrow parameters.

First of all, if you live in London you're now paying north of £7 for a pint of beer (that’s a 40% increase since this article was originally written in 2020).

If you’re willing to buy five to six pints of industrial lager to casually pound on a Friday night, you can afford a £12-£20 bottle of wine occasionally.

Secondly, believe me, if you follow some of the above steps your taste buds will be rewarded if you push the boat out from time to time.

Do a little experiment. Buy a really cheap bottle of wine, a Chardonnay say, and then go and buy an equivalent that costs more.

Taste them side-by-side and you will only be lying to yourself if you don’t see the difference.

Proceed sensibly

That said, don't overspend.

Be sensible, spend what you’re able, splash out where you can.

It’s probably better, in the first instance, to spend more money on a grape variety you know you like than one you’ve never heard of.

If you do, you allow yourself the leeway to be disappointed here and there, but without killing your enthusiasm.

And finally… enjoy yourself

I mean, it’s wine after all. Take the points above on board but also realise that wine is not the be-all and end-all of existence.

Not every bottle needs to be dissected in detail, not every bit of received wisdom needs to be treated with absolute reverence.

Wine is about joy and pleasure (and getting a bit pissed occasionally), and enriching your life with friends and family.

But if you choose to make space in your life to learn a little, the rewards will be infinitely greater.

VPQ