Getting to Know Wine

Getting to know you,
Getting to know all about you.
Getting to like you,
Getting to hope you like me.
Getting to know you,
Putting it my way but nicely.
You are precisely,
My cup of tea.
Getting to know you,
Getting to feel free and easy.
When I am with you,
Getting to know what to say.
Haven't you noticed,
Suddenly I 'm bright and breezy,
Because of all the beautiful and new
Things I'm learning about you
Day by day.

The above lyrics from Rodgers & Hammerstein’s musical The King And I came to mind when I started to think about this month’s feature on learning and reading about wine. Intended to be sung by a British teacher becoming acquainted with her Thai students, they convey an easiness about learning that I wish were more frequently associated with wine.

All too often, wine seems to be a subject that intimidates neophytes and elicits condescension from oenophiles. I can’t begin to tell you the number of my readers who write in feeling ashamed about liking blush wines or thinking that their palates are incapable of appreciating “fine wines.” What is it about wine that seems to intimidate so many people? Why do we hesitate to tell the waiter that the bottle of wine he’s just opened doesn’t taste good? Who of us doesn’t think twice before returning a bottle to the store that just tasted awful? Is there something wrong about preferring fruity wines to dry?

I think if we began to regard wine more like a beverage than as a work of art or an investment, we’d be more comfortable with it. After all, who hasn’t sent back a soda for being flat or a beer for being too warm? Who won't argue the merits of Dr. Pepper over Coke?

The first step in becoming comfortable with wine is defining what you like and finding those wines that suit your tastes. Simple words like “juicy” and “fruity” should be enough, as are “dry” and “crisp,” to define your likes. Want to be more precise? Then try some specific tastes like “pineapple,” “green apple,” or “gooseberry” for whites or “raspberry,” “cherry,” or “black currant” for reds. That’s really all it takes. Finding wines that meet your flavor requirements should be relatively easy.

After tasting a few bottles, you might then want to look a little more closely at the style of wine. Do you like them “big,” “bold,” and “full bodied” to go with heavy fare like stews and steaks or do you prefer “fresh,” “understated,” and “light bodied” to complement lighter dishes like fish or poultry? What’s important is that you spend a few minutes tasting and thinking about what you’re drinking. No need to go into rituals; but simply jotting down a few notes will force you to verbalize and to remember what wines you like as well as those you don’t.

As you become more familiar with wines, you can consider qualities such as “nose,” the fragrance of the wine, or “structure,” the balance of fruit, tannin, and acidity, or “length and finish,” how long the wine’s flavors last as well as its secondary aromas. I should point out here that a wine’s “nose” (its initial aromas) as well as its “bouquet” (the aromas that develop in a the bottle over time) frequently pose stumbling blocks for new drinkers. All too often, many novice drinkers simply can’t find the words to define them. A lot really depends on one’s familiarity with smells. For example, those who frequent the kitchen may be better at identifying a wine’s spice or herbal characteristics, while those who spend time in the garden may more readily discern its floral or grassy aromas. If neither one of these is your milieu, how about “smoke,” “tobacco,” “vinyl,” “earthy” or even “barnyard.” Use words you know; after all ,you’re describing what you smell and only you know the “right” answer for that.

An excellent book that can help you define your likes and dislikes is Oz Clarke’s Introducing Wine: A Complete Guide for the Modern Wine Drinker. This prolific author knows how to have fun with wine and can make even the most intimidated novice comfortable with the subject.

OK. Now that you know what you like, it’s time to find the wines that match your tastes. In this endeavor, a good wine merchant is priceless. He or she should be able to translate your roughest description into the perfect bottle for you. Unfortunately, these days, good wine merchants seem to be few and far between. All too often, a clerk at a check out counter, who, at best, might know how to direct you either to the domestics or to the imports, is all the service that's available.

This is where being able to read a wine label and knowing a little more about a wine’s provenance helps. Although Clarke’s book provides some useful information on wine regions and labels, I think there’s no better work than Kevin Zraly’s Windows on the World Complete Wine Course. Now in its 14th or 15th edition (I’ve lost count), it takes you methodically through all of the world’s great wine regions, classifying their major production areas and singling out their best producers. It’s easy to read, brilliantly formatted, and chock a block with essential information. In fact, it was among my first wine books, and yes, I still refer to it. I believe it’s one of the finest resources for becoming familiar with wine regions, classifications, and labels.

Again, keep in mind that reading alone is not enough (unless you’re under age). You must taste. Take Zraly’s book, or one like it, with you to the store and use it as a map through the aisles. Buy a bottle or two that he recommends, sip, and see if his assessment matches your own. And do pay attention to the labels. The more familiar you are with reading them (don’t worry too much about pronunciation), the easier it will be to find new wines that you like. Remember there’s no rush. Take your time tasting, reading, and learning.

Eventually, however, you may want to know more. And there are plenty of books out there as specific as you like: entire tomes devoted to specific regions like Bordeaux and Burgundy; monographs on single varietals like Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay; textbooks on specialized aspects like sensory perception. The most comprehensive, intermediate-level book I suggest most often is Jancis Robinson’s Wine Course, another world-wide wine tour but one with, what I consider to be, unique insight, especially when it comes to varietals.

For sensory perception, I highly recommend to the more experienced wine drinker, Alan Young’s Making Sense of Wine: A Study in Sensory Perception. It's loaded with useful charts, diagrams, and color illustrations essential to explaining the material.

The pairing of food and wine is yet another topic that many of us have trouble with. Again, choosing the best wine for a particular dish is highly subjective, and if, for example, you like sweet Sauternes with your steamed lobster (as I do), go ahead and indulge. However, when selecting wines to complement a menu for a dinner party, you may want to consider your guests’ likes and dislikes. While most of the books I’ve cited offer at least some advice on this topic, there’s one work that I’ve found to be particularly useful, Joanna Simon’s Wine with Food. Its last chapter, “Matching Wine and Matching Food” is a handy, two-part quick reference guide to finding the best wine for a particular dish or the perfect food to complement your favorite bottle.

Another popular type of resource is the buying guide. The market is flooded with them, and there’s no way I can recommend the right one for you. My advice here is to find those wine critics whose tastes most closely match your own and buy theirs.

Finally, if you’re the scholarly type and just have to have a reference book on your shelf, there’s no better, in my opinion, than The Oxford Companion to Wine. Edited by Jancis Robinson, it’s a brilliant compendium of wine knowledge and contains detailed articles on almost every aspect of wine and wine regions written by scholars and experts in the field. While it may not be as attractive as many coffee-table books, its breadth and depth of information make up for what it may lack in beauty.

Well, those are my suggestions for getting to know wine. And once, to paraphrase our opening song’s lyrics, you’ve gotten “to know what to say,” you should begin to “feel bright and breezy” about a subject that, all too often, is just too snooty and stuffy. Keep it fun and you’ll enjoy bottle after bottle.